The psychology of design: mental model
This time we will talking about mental model in UX Design.
What is mental model ?
Mental model refers to the explanation of how something works like a website or a bike, we form models how that actually works and then apply the situation where the system is familiar. Which is, we use knowledge we already have from past experiences when interacting with something new.
Mental models are important for designers, because with users mental models you can improve their user experience. That makes users can easily understand how the new system works. Good user experiences are made possible when the designers mental model is aligned with the users mental model. One of the example of mental model in real life is confirmation bias, confirmation bias occurs when people ignore new information that contradicts existing beliefs.
Mental model example in UX Design
Have you ever wondered why Winamp app look the way they do? Because the designers had a mental model for what these elements should look like, which they based on control panels they were already familiar with in the physical world. Things like toggles, sliders, and even buttons originated from the design of their tactile counterparts.
In 2008, Google had a hypothesis that when it came to Google Maps and what information users wanted about what was around them, they would like to circle their current location or other common places they spent time at. Basically the users would not want to travel too far, and if using mobile phone, not too far from their current location. So if they searched for a bar they wanted a bar near where they currently were.
As designers, you must close the gap that exists between our mental models and that of our users. It’s important to do this because there will be problems when they aren’t aligned, which can affect how users perceive the products and experiences we’ve helped build. This misalignment is called mental model discordance, and it occurs when a familiar product is suddenly changed.
Why should use mental model?
Increasing usability: Users will transfer expectations they have built around one familiar product to another that appears similar, it easily users to use your product.
Help designers : Mental models can help designers understand and analyze problems in their designs through user testing.
Conclusion
By using existing mental models, you can create good user experience which mean the users can focus on their task rather than learning new models.
