Customer Personas.

One page personas with mood boards. Build research informed profiles of the people you design and communicate for, so later decisions rest on evidence rather than assumption.

Interactive · Audience Segmentation MatrixBefore you build your five personas, explore five worked 2×2 segmentation examples with switchable axes (including budget). Open the interactive →

Why This Assignment Matters01

Marketing decisions improve when teams understand who they are designing and communicating for. Personas reduce assumptions, clarify priorities, and ground decisions in evidence. Here you build five research informed personas of meaningful audience segments, each paired with a mood board. They feed the next assignment, the Customer Journey Map, and later support your final proposal.

Read This FirstPersonas are analytical tools, not fictional characters. Base them on research, not stereotypes or imagination.

What You Will Produce02

Using the company from your Internal Report, create five customer personas. Each persona is a single one page document that combines written insight, visual cues, and evidence informed reasoning.

The One Page Format03

Each persona fits on one page and clearly includes all six elements:

Persona overview. A short descriptive title for who this user is and what matters to them.
Demographic and contextual profile. Age range, location, income, life stage, environment. Details support understanding, they do not define behaviour on their own.
Goals, needs, and constraints. What they want from the brand, and what gets in the way.
Behaviours and motivations. How they research, evaluate, and decide, and why.
Channels and device usage. How they interact with the brand, justified by behaviour rather than trends.
Mood board. A small set of real visual references that signal mindset, aesthetic, and context of use.

Customer Perception Map04

After your personas, include one simple perception map that compares key differences between them, for example value against price sensitivity, convenience against quality, or emotional against rational decision making. It should show how and why personas differ, not just who they are.

How To Approach It05

1Segment from evidence. Split the audience into five meaningful groups, not gut feeling.

2Define each in one line. If two definitions overlap, the personas are not distinct yet.

3Research each group. Reviews, comments, interviews, and search behaviour.

4Build the one page layout. All six elements, organised so it reads as a profile.

5Assemble the mood board. Real references that signal mindset, not decoration.

6Plot and pressure test. On the perception map, confirm the five sit in clearly different places.

Where To Find Your Evidence06

Reviews and ratings. Google, app stores, Naver, in the brand's own words.

Social comments. Replies on the brand and its competitors.

Short surveys and interviews. Even three to five real conversations beat assumptions.

Reddit, forums, communities. Unfiltered language and real frustrations.

Google Trends and related queries. What this audience actually searches.

Competitor audiences. Who follows and engages with rivals.

Sales, CRM, or loyalty signals. Anything real you can access.

Site or app analytics. Device, channel, and behaviour patterns.

Common Pitfalls07

Lose Marks HereStereotypes in place of research. Five personas that are basically the same person. Mood boards used as decoration. Demographics with no link to behaviour. Personas invented rather than evidenced.

Raise Your Grade08

From Complete To ExcellentGive each persona one real quote in their own words and a single jobs to be done line. Anchor each to at least one data point. Make sure the five sit in clearly different places on the perception map. Write them so your next assignment, the journey map, can be built straight from these.

How You Will Be Graded09

Criterion	Points
Structure and completeness. All elements present, organised on one page; reads as a coherent profile.	10
Demographic and contextual relevance. Realistic details clearly linked to behaviour, not stereotype.	15
Behaviours, motivations, and constraints. Explains why users behave as they do, grounded in evidence.	25
Channels, devices, and interaction logic. Choices justified by behaviour, context, and life stage.	15
Visual mood board and insight support. Purposeful visuals tied to mindset and context.	15
Evidence, research, and source awareness. Grounded in tracked, defensible sources.	15
Consistency, distinction, and usefulness. Distinct, consistent, useful for later decisions.	5
Total	100

Before You Submit10

Five personas, one page each, all six elements present.

Demographics clearly linked to behaviour; motivations explain why, not just what.

Channel and device choices justified; mood board visuals tied to insight.

One perception map comparing the personas.

Sources tracked and defensible for every persona; one file, PDF or Word.

Where This LeadsThese personas are not a one off exercise. They feed directly into your Customer Journey Maps, and together they become the audience logic behind your final proposal, campaign project, and pitch presentation. The sharper and more evidence based your personas, the more convincing every later decision you make will be.

AI use: AI tools may support your process, research, drafting, and feedback, but AI generated text, images, or summaries are not acceptable as core submitted content. Verify and cite everything you use. · Submit: upload on the course LMS, learning.hanyang.ac.kr.

Multimedia Marketing and Content Design · Hanyang University · Early Assignment Series · Matthew Clement