of a customer segment in the form of an idealized person. Personas should always be based on thorough research of the users of a service or product. A large number of users/customers should be interviewed and the results of the interviews should be analyzed and clustered according to common traits. Based on the clustering the persona categories emerge with different traits influencing their interactions and/or attitude towards the service. From these traits and other commonalities between the individuals in the cluster an imaginary person is constructed. The various personas constructed should together capture all important attitudes which are held by the users of the service. As the design process continues, the personas are used as stand-ins for the actual users of the service to check feasibility of ideas and that any important features aren’t missing. Personas, however, are not meant to replace the actual users, rather they are meant to be a good way of reflecting on user needs. Source: April Starr Other sources: The British Standard for Service Design (BS 7000 -3, BS 7000 -10, BS EN ISO 9000). Morelli, N. (2002): “Designing product/service systems. A methodological exploration.” Design Issues 18(3): 3-17. http://servicedesign.wikispaces.com/ Shostack, L. G. (1982): How to Design a Service. European Journal of Marketing, 16(1), 49-63. Shostack, L. G. (1984): Design Services that Deliver. Harvard Business Review (84115), 133-139. Saffer, D. (2005): Designing for interaction: creating smart applications and clever devices. Berkeley. CA: New Riders