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i'm working on building personas at the moment, and was wondering how to choose gender for persona. According to gAnalytics and Facebook we have 70%, and 80% Female. Does this mean we should ignore Males in personas, and in design decision?

And if so, would that still be the case if their percentage is increasing?

Thanks in advance!

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  • Please would you add details about the scenario you are modelling with personas? I am trying to learn how they are used.
    – user67695
    Nov 30, 2016 at 17:41
  • where are you @Alvaro ? just answer it!
    – Jivan
    Dec 1, 2016 at 2:57

3 Answers 3

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What you have now is a clear statistical evidence that shows most of your audience is female, and that you should take special care about that evidence.

Statistical evidence also shows that AT LEAST 20% of your audience is male. That is a really big number. Just imagine telling your SEO or stock holders "oh, it's just 20% so we have no problem in giving that away".

More important: you don't provide any info on your service, but it obviously caters a female audience. Then... why do you have such important amount of males? There's something there. And in the few cases I have seen this happen, it ended in a very interesting opportunity.

Basically, it seems you have something that is a bit diffuse somehow, and with a few adjustments, it can become something else. Probably more users, or more sales from that existing group or whatever (again, I have no idea what your service is about, but you get the concept)

In short: not only you need male personas, but they're of utmost importance

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  • Thanks for your detailed response, that makes a lot of sense now! Dec 1, 2016 at 19:54
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So, if your product is exclusive (100%) for women (for example Period Tracker app or something like that) then your personas should be women. But, if your product will be used by at least 1 man, then you should create a persona that represents that target category, even if it's 1% of your target. Every user counts.

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Unless gender is the ONLY factor of interest, you should also create personas that encode ethnic identity, age, social class, and perhaps physical limitations.

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