Antipersonas: What, How, Who, and Why?

Summary: Antipersonas help anticipate how products can be misused in ways that can harm users and the business.

What Is an Antipersona?

Imagine a safe-manufacturing company. Such a company would need to design safes that:

To address the first of these two requirements, the company has to research its target customers and understand their needs. But to address the second, it must study the burglars’ behaviors, methods, and tools — even though burglars are not among the company’s target audience.

Definition : An antipersona is a representation of a user group that could misuse a product in ways that negatively impact target users and the business.