clock … watching time, the only true currency

Indi Young’s Mental Models: Aligning Design Strategy With Human Behavior dives into an approach to building products to solve the right problems. In Young’s words:

Mental models are simply affinity diagrams of behaviors made from ethnographic data gathered from audience representatives. [page 2]

I’m more familiar with personas. Young positions personas as an output of mental models; see this chart showing the “constellation…of user-centered design steps.” Makes sense, although I’ve used personas as an input to make sure we’re framing the customers’ problems in their words.

The book walks through the realistic example of addressing the needs of movie-goers. Different motives and interests bring very different segments to the movies. The example’s breadth helps make the point. I’ll admit that I zoned out through some of my reading, but I’m in 100% agreement with this core philosophy.

Talking to real people is the most important part of creating the mental model. [page 36]

I’d be surprised to work on a project where this entire process would fit into preconceived notions about how to proceed. Yet any support for talking to customers is welcome, and Young provides tips and evidence throughout for ways to make those conversations useful and how to refine and present the models. In flipping through this book now, I’m more positive on it than when I was reading it! I suppose it’s better as a reference than a straight-through textbook.

On a meta note… I am a sucker for the mixed-media offering from Rosenfeld Media. You can buy a DRM-free PDF for $19. But if you order the paperback book for $39, the PDF is included — and available immediately, of course. When I ordered, I opened the PDF and poked around, but waited for the book for a complete take. Also, all the illustrations are public on Flickr: note the link to a chart above. Nice touch, and the book homepage serves as an anchor for follow-up information and blog posts continuing the conversation.