This wasn’t part of any UI\UX Design Services framework. No Nielsen Norman writeup. No double diamond. Just something I started doing because my design instincts were quietly failing me.
Everything looked fine. The layout was neat. The type hierarchy was sound. The interactions passed the sniff test. But people were still getting stuck. Or confused. Or just… bouncing.
The metrics said "probably okay." My gut said "something’s wrong." So I tried something odd: I made up a user.
Not a persona. A person. With a cracked phone, bad Wi-Fi, and a general mistrust of buttons.
Then I used my product like they would.
And it changed how I design.
What Is Fake Persona Testing?
It’s not real research. It’s not scientific. It won’t pass peer review.
It’s just this: pick a user who doesn’t exist (but might as well). Pretend to be them. Use your own product through their eyes. And see what breaks.
You’re not mocking anyone. You’re stress-testing your UX against real-world chaos. The edge cases. The distractions. The slow internet. The cognitive overload.
Because most of our design decisions are made in pristine figma frames. Fake Persona Testing brings in some mess.
The Cast of Characters
Edith, 69 – Retired librarian. Uses an old iPad Mini. Double-taps everything. Doesn’t trust autofill. Thinks modals are suspicious.
Dennis, 47 – Power user with a vendetta. Navigates by keyboard. Refuses cloud anything. Hates hover interactions with the intensity of a thousand suns.
Joel, 34 – Multitasking dad. One hand on a child, one on a phone. On 3G. In a car park. He’ll try once. If it fails, he’s gone.
Reese, 21 – Digital native. Hyper-tapper. Swipes instinctively. Skims everything. If your product doesn’t make sense on first touch, she uninstalls.
These personas are not about accuracy. They’re about pressure. They force you to re-see your flows.
What It Showed Me
- Hidden assumptions. Like "everyone knows this icon means settings."
- Fragile flows. The kind that break if you miss a tooltip.
- Interaction patterns that look slick but confuse just about everyone who isn’t me.
It also gave me a new internal barometer: if Edith, Dennis, Joel or Reese can get through this journey without friction, it’s probably decent UX.
How To Do It (For Real)
- Pick a live flow in your product
- Choose one fake persona
- Navigate the flow as them
- Speak aloud: what do they notice? Where do they hesitate?
- Fix just one thing
That’s it. No decks. No research reports. Just a quick dose of useful discomfort.
Why It Stuck With Me
Because I’m a designer. And I’m also a human with habits. Which means I overlook things.
Fake Persona Testing made me slower. More cautious. More generous.
It reminded me that good UX isn’t just clarity or delight — it’s resilience. Can it hold up under pressure? Can it tolerate chaos? Can it survive Edith?
I don’t do it every day. But when I feel too confident in my own work, I run a persona test.
And I always find something I missed.
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