An obvious, but not necessarily appropriate, persona to use as a design target is the one that brings in the most revenue. To highlight the importance of choosing design targets carefully, consider the following example.

A frequent business traveller would be a tempting target for the design of an in-flight entertainment system. However, this user would be familiar with both flying and computer use. By designing for the business traveller, the retired bricklayer going on holiday may not be able to use the system; yet it is possible to satisfy both personas by designing for the bricklayer, and then assessing the design using the business traveller.

Each persona should have three or four important goals that focus the design. Remember that goals and tasks are different, since tasks are things we do to accomplish goals.

• Experience goals describe how a persona wants to feel when using a product, examples include having fun, feeling safe or secure, or not feeling stupid or incompetent
• Life goals describe how a persona views the future and are often less useful in design, e.g. “Retire by age 45” is a valuable insight in designing a financial planning tool, but less useful if you are designing a mobile phone

Ideally, goals should focus on what the persona would get from using a well-designed product or service.