A user persona is not an actual person but a fictional one representing your product's audience. User personas are not projections of an audience you want but represent your existing audience based on surveys, user interviews, and user feedback. Personas help to bring your research to life.
Contextualizing your design process with user personas will help you make more informed decisions. Referencing your personas during these decisions will unify your team by focusing on your user's needs, experiences, and goals.
Gather your research in one place. Analyze your data, looking for recurring themes and characteristics.
Consolidate your data into precise demographics like age, education, interests, or technological capabilities and psychographics like goals, needs, pain points, or behavior patterns.
Give your persona a name and find a photo or illustration to represent them.
It is possible to have too many personas, and there is no magic number, but 3-5 should suffice. User personas are not fixed or permanent; keep them up to date as they will evolve over time. Create new personas as needed and remove outdated ones.