{"id":697,"date":"2015-10-15T22:34:03","date_gmt":"2015-10-16T02:34:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ccsmfa.wordpress.com\/?p=697"},"modified":"2021-01-18T18:59:43","modified_gmt":"2021-01-18T23:59:43","slug":"designing-for-the-models-in-our-heads","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pangaro.com\/designconversation\/2015\/10\/designing-for-the-models-in-our-heads\/","title":{"rendered":"Designing for the Models in our Heads"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"From<\/a>
From “Using Conceptual Models in Interaction Design” by Hugh Dubberly<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

When we understand something\u2014let’s say\u00a0a concept, like a table\u2014we have some formulation of that “in our head”. That formulation is something we can manipulate while we’re thinking or conversing or acting.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

If I ask you to think of a green table with straight silver\u00a0legs, you manipulate a\u00a0model in your head to try to understand what I mean. The name for this formulation in your head is a\u00a0model<\/strong> or, more accurately phrased, a conceptual model. (More about models in general here<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

When we know how to use something, it’s because we have\u00a0a conceptual model of that thing. Now, if we’re designing something, we can design better if we think about the conceptual model of a person using it\u2014the model they have before they start using it, the model they need to use it well.<\/p>\n

But here’s a great presentation<\/a>\u00a0about the role of conceptual models in IxD that goes into all that beautifully\u2014lots of examples and even Steve Job’s definition of design.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When we understand something\u2014let’s say\u00a0a concept, like a table\u2014we have some formulation of that “in our head”. That formulation is something we can manipulate while we’re thinking or conversing or acting.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[6],"tags":[62,91,109],"class_list":["post-697","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-interaction-design","tag-design","tag-interaction-design-2","tag-models"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paKWzH-bf","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pangaro.com\/designconversation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/697","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pangaro.com\/designconversation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pangaro.com\/designconversation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pangaro.com\/designconversation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pangaro.com\/designconversation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=697"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/pangaro.com\/designconversation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/697\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3221,"href":"https:\/\/pangaro.com\/designconversation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/697\/revisions\/3221"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pangaro.com\/designconversation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=697"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pangaro.com\/designconversation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=697"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pangaro.com\/designconversation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=697"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}