Should personas be real people?
Personas are fictional characters. You create personas based on your research to help you understand your users' needs, experiences, behaviors and goals. Creating personas will help you identify with and understand the user you're designing for.
Should UX designers use personas?
Build Empathy
Personas help designers to create understanding and empathy with the end users. Thanks to personas designers can: Gain a perspective similar to the user's. Creating personas can help designers step out of themselves and recognize that different people have different needs and expectations.
Are UX personas real people?
A UX persona is a fictional character which represents your target users. Personas are an extremely valuable UX tool, allowing you to better understand your target audience and make design decisions accordingly.