4. Connecting Personality Types To Personas

[ Work in Progress – Reference Only ]

Personas and Personalities: Connecting Personality Types to Personas

Mini-series • Part 4 — Understand how psychology deepens persona realism. Learn to apply personality frameworks like the Big Five or MBTI to build personas that drive design, storytelling, and communication strategy.

Why Connecting Personality Types to Personas Matters

Most personas stop at demographics and job titles. That’s not enough anymore. To communicate effectively, brands need to understand how people think, decide, and feel. This is where personality theory becomes a secret weapon — turning a flat persona into a dynamic representation of real human behaviour.

When you connect traits (like openness or conscientiousness) to user motivations, your campaigns and product decisions become more empathetic, targeted, and sticky.

Personality Frameworks That Work in Design & Marketing

There’s no shortage of models, but these are the ones that integrate best with persona-building:

1. The Big Five (OCEAN)

Used in Part 2, the Big Five remains the most research-backed model for psychological profiling. It scores users along five key traits: openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism.

2. MBTI (Myers-Briggs Type Indicator)

Popular in business and HR contexts, MBTI helps teams understand work styles. While it’s less scientific, it offers relatable archetypes for creative and collaborative settings. Example: INTJ (The Architect) vs. ESFP (The Performer).

3. Enneagram

This model dives deeper into motivation and fear. It’s especially useful in marketing tone and emotional targeting. Example: Type 3 (The Achiever) personas respond to success-focused messaging.

4. DISC Assessment

Favoured for workplace behaviour. Helps teams tailor communication and collaboration — valuable for B2B persona modelling.

Mapping Personalities to Personas

Here’s how to merge personality frameworks into your persona system effectively:

Define Behavioural Archetypes: Start with your persona’s goals and frustrations, then map how personality traits influence decision-making.
Cross-reference Emotional Drivers: Use Enneagram or MBTI insights to understand emotional needs — recognition, control, creativity, etc.
Visualise Personality Scores: Use bar charts or icons to depict dominant traits for quick interpretation.
Adjust Communication Tone: Align copywriting, UX microcopy, and content tone to fit personality-driven preferences.

Example: Applying Personality to a Persona

Case Example — “Amira, UX Designer” (continued from Part 3):

Big Five Profile: Openness (High), Conscientiousness (Moderate), Extraversion (Low), Agreeableness (High), Neuroticism (Low)
MBTI Type: INFJ – The Idealist
Design Implications: Prefers meaningful, ethical design work. Dislikes manipulative UX patterns. Responds to storytelling and authenticity in brand tone.
Marketing Implications: Engage through thought leadership and emotionally intelligent messaging rather than hype-driven content.

By blending personality insights with practical data, you produce personas that guide not only design decisions but entire brand ecosystems.