Reflecting on Experience Models

Generally…

I think experience models must strike a balance between limiting users’ focus and allowing them to explore their capabilities as cyphers of information. The models can do anything that you need them to however it is up to the designer to articulate the parameters that restrict each model in order to make sense of large sets of information. Models allow us to understand relationships between the subjects that we interface with them by forcing us to categorize and compare. We use their generic characterizations as a starting point to understand the structure of an experience. From there we bend the models to best describe the story that we want to tell, one that is hopefully still guided by our source information and the necessary rigidity of our starting place, each model.

When taking into account Personas, Journey Maps, Mental Models, and Value Propositions, and Experience Ecosystems it is difficult to think of all of these models being deployed in unison or as a single initiative. It almost feels as if a need must arise for each one in order to make it worth the time and care required to use them. Through my and my teams time using these models, though, it has become very apparent that some can be combined to be more powerful tools. For example, combinations Personas and Mental Models or Journey Maps and Value Propositions allow you to see the context mapping and the resulting actions of agents within an experience in response to those contexts. This can sometimes present some predictive insight as to the effect of an experience on a consumer, business, or employee.