Decoding Mental Models: A Comprehensive Exploration in Optimizing User Experience Design

Quinxy Mahardhika

Published in

Bootcamp

5 min readAug 30, 2023

What is a Mental Model?

Jakob Nielsen from the Nielsen Norman Group defines mental models as

“what the user believes about the system at hand”

To put it differently, a mental model represents a user’s perception of how to use a digital product like a website or mobile phone. These mental models are constructed within a user’s mind and serve as reference points to simplify their interactions.

However, people’s ability to accurately represent the world is always limited and unique to each person. Consequently, mental models are incomplete depictions of reality and are also considered inconsistent because they rely on context and can change based on the situation. In essence, mental models are dynamic and must adapt to changing circumstances and evolve over time through learning, as noted by Charles Sanders Peirce in 1896.

🧠 Cognitive Load

Cognitive load pertains to the mental processing capacity used by our working memory. Similar to computer processors, our brains have limited processing power. When the influx of information exceeds available space, it results in cognitive load, impacting performance, causing difficulties, missing details, and even frustration.

👁️ Perception and Behavior

Mental models play a crucial role in shaping perception and behavior, serving as cognitive tools for understanding life, making decisions, and solving problems. Although imperfect, mental models have several functions:

Aiding in understanding life.
Guiding perceptions and behavior.
Facilitating decision-making.
Assisting in troubleshooting.

Mental Model in UX

Mental models are belief-based, not factual representations; they reflect what users know (or believe they know) about a system like a website. Ideally, users’ thinking aligns closely with reality, enabling them to predict system behavior based on their mental models and plan their actions accordingly. Designers aim to make user interfaces communicate the system’s nature well enough for users to form accurate and useful mental models.

Mental models are individually internalized and can vary between users, leading to potential gaps between designers’ and users’ mental models. Additional experience or external stimuli can influence these mental models. When users engage with a product, they can utilize existing mental models, modify them, or create new ones, which underscores the value of understanding their mental model development and evolution.

When users approach a product, they can choose one of three actions:

Use an existing mental model as it stands
Make changes to an existing mental model
Create a brand-new mental model.

However, they can find even greater value in understanding how users are building their mental models and how those models change over time.

⚖️ Law of UX

Hick’s Law According to Hick’s Law, the time it takes to make a decision increases with the number and complexity of choices.

Source https://www.flowmapp.com/blog/glossary-term/hicks-law

Hick’s Law indicates that decision-making time increases with the number and complexity of choices.

Jakob’s Law Users spend most of their time on other sites. This means that users prefer your site to work the same way as all the other sites they already know.

Source: https://luiselias.com/7-tips-to-improve-landing-page-as-a-ux-designer/

Familiarity with mental models allows designers to create intuitive experiences, and user testing helps identify disparities between user mental models and UI functionality, enabling corrective actions before product release. Analyzing similar UIs aids in determining when to adhere to established design solutions and when innovation is viable.

🧪 Determine Existing

Understanding mental models aids in identifying usability issues. Mistakes often arise from erroneous mental models. Streamlining the user experience involves leveraging existing mental models and minimizing cognitive load, enabling users to focus on tasks. Monitoring the evolution of mental models offers opportunities for enhancing products.

3 stages of user with their mental model

User interaction with a product progresses through stages:

Familiarity: Users decide whether to employ an existing mental model or start anew, considering the product’s language and essential steps.
Proficiency: Users grasp product language and basic operations, receiving value to motivate further use.
Mastery: Users expand their knowledge to more complex aspects of the product.

The Benefit

Verbal feedback from users using a design provides insight into their mental models. More advanced methods can offer deeper insights, but quick think-aloud sessions often suffice.

Reduce the user’s cognitive load and ensure their attention isn’t being wasted on elements that do not help them.
By leveraging existing mental models, we can create superior user experiences in which the users can focus on their tasks rather than on learning new models.

Verbal feedback from users using a design provides insight into their mental models. More advanced methods can offer deeper insights, but quick think-aloud sessions often suffice.

🔑 Takeaway

In UX design, a mental model represents a user’s belief about the user experience. These models form from past interactions and inform designers when creating user-centered designs. Introducing new usability features should be done thoughtfully to avoid conflicts with existing mental models, ensuring a smoother user experience. In cases of misalignment, designers can adjust the system to match mental models or provide instruction to educate users about the system.

“What users believe they know about a UI strongly impacts how they use it. Mismatched mental models are common, especially with designs that try something new.” — Jakob Nielsen, 2010