Inspired By: Gift Guide Personas
Dec 17 • Written by Julie Dozier
Beyond giving us great ideas, holiday gift guides are brilliant from a design perspective! Let’s examine one technique with loads of potential for learning design.
As I was doing my holiday shopping this year, I came across this gift guide from The Strategist. It’s a curated list of ideas with a specific theme: “35 Gifts for Every Type of Brother.” Having two brothers and a few more brother-types to shop for, the title caught my eye.
Well, “every type of brother” is generous, but this approach is very different from the classic “20 Gifts That Dad Will Love.” For this list, the editors crafted 35 unique personas who will theoretically appreciate each of the carefully selected items.
As an example, “for the brother who can’t function without his coffee” — probably most of our brothers — there is a pour-over coffee contraption that looks like something interesting my brother probably doesn’t have and might appreciate. And if you trust the Strategist editors, which you do, then you don’t need to be certain your brother will love that exact item; you just need to know he falls into that category. Pretty clever.
To sweeten the deal, the editors support their selections with expert input. In this case, the recommendation comes from the owner of what I assume is a line-out-the-door coffee shop in New York City and is seconded by the head roaster of a coffee brand I’m not cool enough to know about. My confidence in this gift idea is now through the roof.
But let’s say my brother doesn’t fall into that category. Good news: The next recommendation is “for the brother trying to kick a coffee habit”: an interesting dandelion-based herbal beverage called Dandy Blend that promises “coffeelike texture and taste without the acidity or bitterness.” And “for the brother who’s more of a tea guy,” we have a well-designed electric kettle to elevate his experience. Most of our brothers would fall into one of these three categories, right? If not, there are 32 other types of brothers. Here are a few:
“For the brother second-guessing his quarantine beard”
“For the brother getting back to the gym”
“For the brother applying for jobs”
“For the sourdough bro”
“For the kid brother who’s already dreaming of being an Eagle Scout”
I reviewed the whole list. A few personas made me laugh. Several of them were close enough that they gave me great ideas. Most importantly, I felt more confident about my holiday gift buying situation than I did before.
Why does this work?
Taking a step back, this simple technique does many things.
The personas add humor and personality. The editors have added a lot of fun to what otherwise would be a fairly basic list. I found myself wanting to read to the end because it was helpful but also enjoyable. The personas are specific enough to be interesting, but not so specific that they alienate the reader. Each one is relatable, with the right balance of hyperbole and realism.
They organize the content. The personas provide structure to the list, making it easy to review quite a lot of content quickly. Some of the personas are grouped into themes, which also helps guide the reader.
They let the reader focus on what’s relevant for them. If I don’t want to review the whole list, I can quickly scan the headlines looking for key words that jump out to me. After all, I don’t really need 35 ideas — I just need a few solid leads.
What can we steal?
I’m sure you’ve already thought of some applications. Here are a few of my ideas.
For the platform owner optimizing their LXP
Give your users the gift of a filtered experience to meet a specific need they may be facing. Instead of just one learning playlist for all managers, create a few different playlists that are more personalized.
“For the new manager trying to figure it all out”
“For the manager facing team challenges with remote working”
“For the manager who wants to improve team communication”
The playlist title alone might plant a seed for those who would not have otherwise identified that development opportunity. It can also be comforting for learners to see there are so many common needs and targeted solutions that can help.
For the designer enhancing their learning solutions
What a fun technique to employ at the solution level!
Use personas to focus the content. At the beginning of a course, give learners a list of personas and ask them to choose one they identify with. This is a simple way to personalize their experience and deliver content that’s most relevant to them. Bonus: Learners will often review the content for other personas out of curiosity or because they identify with more than one.
Enhance storytelling and scenarios with more character details. So often we keep our storylines more general so they’ll apply to everyone, but adding fun details about a character’s personality or their interests can capture learners’ attention and help them connect with the content.
See what I did there? ;)
Your turn
What do you think?
How do you plan to use this technique?
Any good gift ideas for sisters-in-law??
Share your thoughts below!