On Creating a Conceptual Model

Albert Einstein once said, "Make it simple, as simple as possible but no simpler." This is the goal of user experience. As easy as it sounds, it is not easy. I usually start by looking for visual representations of problems and solutions and draw only the essential items of the system and the relationship they have to other elements. The tasks themselves begin to reveal themselves, that is where the workflows begin and end.

The challenge is to get developers to view the solution from the users perspective, from the task rather than from how the software will function. Once I can do this, the question becomes, how do I present this functionality in a way that is obvious to the user, perhaps through a familiar analogy. This, by the way, is clearly the most difficult job of user interface design, creating the balance between the obvious user tasks and the system functionality. Analogies usually become the basis for the UI conceptual model.

A map is the artifact resulting from the conceptual model and is used for extracting information from the user's task domain as well as the implementation domain. It is useful in so many ways including a tool for tracking unnecessary features, inappropriate assumptions as well as unnecessary functionality. In interaction design, I transpose this model into a visual communication of wireframes as a communication tool. As a designer, I find the structure in information that is useful for an intended audience.