Mental Models Analysis of marsdd.com & Proposed Conceptual Model
I chose the site “marsdd.com” to analyze its mental model.
A. A description of the site after a 60-second timer
The purpose of the site is to introduce the entrepreneur base MaRS, including what MaRS is about, services that it provides for startups, startups already in MaRS, career in MaRS, donating channels, contact information and social media links. Basically, it is a site aimed to explain what MaRS is, what strengths MaRS have, what accomplishments MaRS has made for now so as to attract suitable startups to populate the base, potential employees to work for MaRS, donators or funders to support MaRS, and other actors who are interested in MaRS to follow or connect with it.
B. A new description of the site after a 5-minute timer
There are four main purposes of the site: the primary purpose of the site is to inform visitors that MaRS is a Toronto-based startup incubator which provides various services and resources for entrepreneurs to grow their business in the startup base. And the second is to specifically introduce the services and resources, including venture services, funding, physical facilities, library of entrepreneurship, workshops, and courses. The third purpose is to update the current situation of MaRS, including the news, events, and profiles of the startups already based in MaRS. The last purpose is to provide other related information on the aspect of career in MaRS, donating methods, contact information, and social media links.
Generally, the site’s potential audience varies from entrepreneurs based in Toronto, potential donators or funders, people seeking jobs in the startup sector, to those who are interested in entrepreneurship of Toronto. For these visitors, the site is aimed to explain what MaRS is, what services and resources MaRS can provide for startups, what is happening in MaRS, and provide other available information on career, donating and contact.
C. How long step C took & How much my understanding of the site changed from step B to C
It took me 45 minutes to be fully confident that I grasped the purpose of the site and a general sense of what information is available. At this step, I clarified that my understanding of the concept “Venture Services” under the “What We Offer” section. At first, I thought it was a bit vague compared to the “Funding” and “Facilities” at the same level. After clicking through the section, I learned that “Venture Services” referred to expert consulting and startups could apply for “Venture Services” on the site to be clients of MaRS without being tenants of MaRS base.
With this in mind, I consider that the purpose of the site is to introduce the startup incubator MaRS that offers services, facilities, resources for startups so as to attract potential clients, tenants, supporters, and employees to join the MaRS network.
D. Proposed Conceptual Model & Top Level Navigation
During the process of proposing my conceptual model, what firstly came to my mind was that I should separate the concepts of services and facilities provided by MaRS. Meanwhile, the four purposes in the step B remained as a reference model for my own proposal. After several rounds of iteration and testing the draft version with my friends, I finally proposed “About MaRS”, “Services for Startups”, “Startup Space”, “Entrepreneurs’ Toolkit”, “Our Clients & Tenants”, “What’s New” as the six labels in the top level navigation. Besides, the auxiliary navigation in the global header will include “Support Us”, “Career”, “Contact”.
The proposed top level navigation and conceptual model are illustrated as follows:
I extracted “Our Clients & Tenants” to the top navigation, because I wanted to stress that there existed clients and tenants of MaRS, which implied that MaRS provided services as well as facilities or space for startups. In accordance with “Our Clients & Tenants”, I separated the original “What We Offer” section into “Services for Startups” and “Startup Space”. Specifically, “Services for Startups” will include venture services and funding services provided by MaRS, while “Startup Space” will include the “Facilities” and “Tenants services” sections.
With the three labels alongside the original “Entrepreneurs’ Toolkit” in mind, I supposed it could be understood by the audience that MaRS is an organization that provides expertise services, physical space, and other useful resources to help startups innovate and grow. Besides, I renamed the section “What’s Happening” to “What’s New”, which is more concise and implies what is happening and will happen in MaRS. The “What’s New” section will include MaRS’s blogs, events, and news. Also, I renamed the “Donate” section into “Support us”, since when I tested the draft version with my friends, some of them tended to think that MaRS is an NGO by referring to the “donate” section.
With the final version of the top level navigation, it turned out that my friends could understand the site’s purpose well during the testing.
