In the previous article, I introduced the idea of a target group—why it’s essential to know who your customers are, and how to analyse and describe them. But let’s be honest: a written description alone isn’t always the most inspiring format for a fashion designer. So today, let’s take those insights and translate them into something more visual and engaging. I’ll show you how to use what you know about your customers to create image boards and user personas.
Image boards
Image boards are visual collages designers use to communicate ideas that words alone can’t fully capture—such as atmosphere, impressions, or aesthetic experiences. When it comes to visualising your target group, two types of boards work especially well:
- Lifestyle boards illustrate the everyday life of your target group—their personality, routines, interests, consumption habits, and values.
- Product boards showcase items your customer owns or could own. They should cover a mix of categories (not just fashion), reflecting the customer’s broader lifestyle.
Using the example target group description from the previous post, here are the corresponding image boards:
Don’t you feel the difference already? Turning text into visuals makes it instantly easier to imagine who you’re designing for—and what kind of aesthetics resonate with them.
Tips for effective image boards:
- Be selective. Include only what’s most relevant and unique to your customer group. Avoid duplicates that represent the same value or product type.
- Create atmosphere. The aim of the image boards is to communicate what can’t be described with words. Think about colour, shape, texture, and layout. All of these influence mood and perception.
- Experiment with media. Try digital and physical collages. Mix photos with text, or even integrate materials, for added depth.
User personas
Image boards give us a strong visual sense of our customers, but to truly empathise with them, we need to go a step further and personify them. That’s where user personas come in.
A user persona is a fictional character who represents a typical member of your target group. Unlike a broad description, a persona gives you someone specific to design for. Since target groups often include multiple customer types, you may want to create several personas.
Start with the basics, then layer in detail: demographic and geographic information, lifestyle habits, values, pains, and desires.
Here are three persona examples based on the previous target group description:
Clara is a 26 yo psychologist who lives in London, sharing a 2 bedroom apartment with her boyfriend Mark. Clara loves her job as it allows her to spend a lot of time with people. In her free time she works out at the gym which she’s very dedicated to. Although she enjoys getting stronger, it’s sometimes difficult for her to accept how her body’s changing during this process. As a perfectionist, she may be very critical towards herself and the tendency to compare to others makes her very judgmental about her body. The size and shapes of her body keep fluctuating and seeing her clothes not fitting like they used to negatively affects Clara’s self-confidence.
Line is a 31 yo marketing manager in an international company who lives in Copenhagen with her husband Mikkel and their little daughter Julie. Line is a very caring person and she finds it fulfilling to nurture their family. However, sometimes she finds the new reality as a parent a bit overwhelming. With her need of belonging to the society, she wants to fit the ‘standards’ set by it. Unsurprisingly, the ideals occur unreachable, making her feel less worthy. Parenting is more difficult than expected, her body changed rapidly and she tends to put her needs aside and prioritizing the others. As much as she loves caring for people around, she feels like she needs to do something for herself to feel empowered in her femininity and approach life with more joy and confidence.
Emma is a 25 yo student of History of Art who lives in Aarhus, sharing an apartment with 2 of her friends. Her passion for the arts shows a lot in her appearance as she uses her looks as a way to express herself. She experiments a lot with her outfits and make-up. She also loves adventures and is always ready for new challenges. She travels a lot and often tries activities that give her adrenaline rush. The lack of routine in her life makes it difficult for her to keep healthy habits, which affects what her body looks like and how she feels about it. Even though she enjoys looking original, on some days when she feels less comfortable with herself, the internal need of belonging makes her tone down in appearance to minimize the risk of getting unwanted or triggering attention.
Creating personas helped me capture details and nuances that weren’t obvious in the general target group description. While these women lead very different lives, they share certain pains and desires. By addressing those common threads, I could design a collection that creates value for all of them.
A Final Note
When building personas, be careful not to make them too “idealised.” It’s easy to project assumptions or stereotypes instead of capturing real traits. If you’re ever unsure, the best solution is simple: go out, observe, and listen. Interacting with your users directly will ground your work in reality.
Now you’re ready to conduct your own target group analysis! It’s an exciting process that will not only sharpen your designs but also spark new inspiration. A target group description + image boards + user personas already give you a strong foundation for meaningful, customer-focused design.
And if you’d like to dig even deeper, stay tuned—I’ll be introducing more tools in upcoming posts.