Picture a scenario with two different customer profiles, the first user is all about quick, efficient content discovery on a streaming service—they just want to relax after work and get to the goods quickly. The second, loves to curate films and watch trailers, savouring the process of building a watchlist for the weekend.
While both are using the same platform to find something to watch, their needs are completely different, as are their motivations. The first wants instant, streamlined recommendations. The second? They need deeper control over search and customization, more information. If you don’t understand these nuances, you risk losing one of these users.
So how do you ensure that you keep both customers? The secret sauce missing in so many UX designs is that they don’t go deep enough. The user personas are falling short and aren’t comprehensive enough. If we want to truly understand users—not just what they do, but why they do it, we need to dig beneath the surface.
This is where Activity Theory comes into play.
It gives us a lens to explore the real motivations, behaviours, and contexts that shape how users interact with products. And trust me, it’s a game-changer for anyone looking to build UX personas that actually resonate.
So, what exactly is Activity Theory? Originally developed by Soviet psychologist Lev Vygotsky, it looks at human behaviour through the lens of activities—focusing not just on what people do, but why they do it, who they interact with, and what tools they use. This holistic approach is especially useful for UX because it helps us see users not as static demographics, but as dynamic individuals whose behaviours are shaped by a broader context.
Here’s where it gets interesting. Traditional personas often focus too much on basics—age, profession, income. While these are important, they don’t tell the whole story.
Activity Theory helps us go deeper by asking questions like:
- What’s driving this user’s actions?
- What tools do they rely on?
- Who are they interacting with, and how does that shape their behaviour?
- What social or environmental factors impact their decisions?
Personas are only as strong as the insights behind them—so don’t settle for surface-level. Next time you create or refine personas, challenge yourself to go beyond demographics. Instead of relying on basic facts like age or job title, use Activity Theory to focus on:
- Goals and Motivations – What drives users to take action?
- Tools and Activities – What are they using to achieve their goals, and how?
- Social Context and Environment – Who are they interacting with, and what external factors impact their behaviour?
- Rules and Constraints – Are there any regulations or norms influencing their decisions?
This deeper dive will help you build personas that are rich, real, and aligned with how users actually experience the world. This is where true user understanding—and, ultimately, great UX—begins.
Written by Mae Foster