Wish you had more time to deeply understand customer reasoning before making communication and design decisions? Mental models diagrams represent the underlying philosophies and emotions that drive people's behavior, matched up with the ways you support them with your organization's products and services. Empathizing with people's underlying motivations opens up different avenues for supporting their behavior. A true model illuminates the users' world and allows you to generate better ideas and tell a more compelling story to product developers and business executives. In this presentation, Indi Young, author of Mental Models: Aligning Design Strategy with Human Behavior, discusses how to make sure this model truly represents the root of what is driving your users' natural behavior. It is easy to make assumptions; much research stops at a preference, task, or observation level. But there is so much more to find out about people. Indi addresses how to coax the model toward representing the true roots of people's behavior in order to provide a clear roadmap of where your organization should invest its energies, and also where it shouldn't, allowing you to stretch your limited resources and maximize your precious time. Mental models will also allow you to derive an information architecture from users' tasks that will last 10 years, and get everyone from discordant team members to busy executives on the same page with respect to design and planning. (Presentation given at the August 2012 meeting of a local San Francisco group of designers and writers.)

1. Mental Models, Empathy, and Design
Supportive Content for
Specific Folks
Indi Young

2. This Is Generative,
Not Evaluative,
Research

3. Evaluative
―(adj) determining the significance, worth, or quality‖
―assessing or judging the value of‖
―e·valu·a·tive adj. Philosophy expressing an attitude
or value judgment‖
―examining and judging carefully‖
Definitions from wordnetweb.princeton.edu, textanalysis.info, umich.edu cc by-nc-nd Indi, STC Meeting Aug 2012 3

4. Generative
―gen·er·a·tive adj. 1. Having the ability to originate,
produce, or procreate. 2. Of or relating to the
production of offspring.‖
―[jen-er-uh-tiv, -uh-rey-tiv] –adjective. capable of
producing or creating.‖
Definitions from thefreedictionary.com, dictionary.reference.com cc by-nc-nd Indi, STC Meeting Aug 2012 4

5. Techniques Uses
Preference Survey Visual Design
Opinions, likes, desires Focus Group Branding
Mood Board Market Analysis
Customer Feedback Advertising Campaign
Preference Interview
Card Sort
Evaluative Usability Test Test Interaction Functionality
What is understood or accomplished Log Analysis Test Screen Layout
with an artifact, process, or service Search Analytics Test Nomenclature
Customer Feedback Test IA
Card Sort
Generative Non-Directive Interview Interaction Design
Mental environment in which things Contextual Inquiry Information Architecture
get evaluated & decided Mental Model Alignment & Gap Analysis
Ethnography Contextual Information
Field Study
Diary
cc by-nc-nd Indi, STC Meeting Aug 2012 5

6. Generative: make a nest, Evaluative: take the ideas
paper the walls with outside the nest and see
empathy, be creative in how well they actually
that place, generate support people
supportive ideas
(debate about user-centered design: whether or not you invite
customers to co-create with you in the nest)
NTNU Engineering Sci & Tech BY-NC-SA; Bolt|Peters ―User 06‖ BY cc by-nc-nd Indi, STC Meeting Aug 2012 6

7. We Often Think We
Have Empathy …

8. cc by-nc-nd Indi, STC Meeting Aug
T-shirt created by Todd Wilkens, Dan Saffer, Jesse James Garrett 8
2012

9. The customer
objectives are to
increase satisfaction
and loyalty.
This is hard. We have difficulty taking off our employee hat.
Conference Table Discussion – Pulpolux !!! BY-NC-NA Flickr cc by-nc-nd Indi, STC Meeting Aug 2012 9

10. I considered myself a savvy traveler.
My own experience was all through
my perception of travel. Now I
realize I was approaching things
from my own point of view. I'm
looking forward to doing more
interviews … feeling the weight [of
travel] upon them.
cc by-nc-nd Indi, STC Meeting Aug 2012 10

11. Empathy Is Hard to
Sell

12. I am not comfortable with risk.
Give me proof that our product
will be successful. (But don’t
spend too much money on proof.)
Data is good proof. Data means
numbers—things we can measure
with accuracy. I want this
organization to be data-driven.
This is hard for your boss, too. He thinks more about protecting
the organization than supporting the customer.
Paul Buckle, CEO of Nestle – Flickr 28056346@N06/6263494650/ BY-NC-SA Nestle cc by-nc-nd Indi, STC Meeting Aug 2012 12

13. “Data-Driven” versus Qualitative
A lot of the work that we are
trying to do is less quantitative
and more qualitative.
This ―generative‖ research looks
non-numerical. It looks qualitative.
Paul Buckle, CEO of Nestle – Flickr 28056346@N06/6263494650/ BY-NC-SA Nestle cc by-nc-nd Indi, STC Meeting Aug 2012 13

14. Quantitative
―1. of, relating to, or involving the measurement of
quantity or amount‖
―2. of or pertaining to the describing or measuring
of quantity.‖
―… length, height, area, volume, weight, speed,
time, temperature, humidity, sound levels, costs,
members, ages, etc.‖
Definitions from merriam-webster.com, dictionary.reference.com, regentsprep.org cc by-nc-nd Indi, STC Meeting Aug 2012 14

15. Qualitative
―(adj) involving distinctions based on qualities‖
―looking for regularities and differences‖
―1. Referring to the characteristics of something
being described, rather than exact numerical
measurement. 2. Indicative only of relative sizes or
magnitudes, rather than their numerical values.‖
Definitions from wordnetweb.princeton.edu, textanalysis.info, umich.edu cc by-nc-nd Indi, STC Meeting Aug 2012 15

16. “Data-Driven” versus Qualitative
Non-directive interviews generate qualitative data
that can masquerade as ―data-driven‖
Stories are just data with a soul.
The Gifts of Imperfection – Dr. Brené Brown 12-Jun-2010 TEDxHouston cc by-nc-nd Indi, STC Meeting Aug 2012 16

17. “Data-Driven” versus Qualitative
The goal in conducting qualitative
research … is to obtain insight, direction,
and learning, rather than statistical
project-ability. Moreover, the confidence
one has in qualitative results comes not
from statistical reliability, but from the
degree to which the findings are
consistent across the discussions.
The Gifts of Imperfection – Dr. Brené Brown 12-Jun-2010 TEDxHouston cc by-nc-nd Indi, STC Meeting Aug 2012 17

18. Define Empathy?

19. Empathy
Experience of the feelings, thoughts, attitudes of another
cc by-nc-nd Indi, STC Meeting Aug 2012 19

20. ―Intelligence is a poor cousin to
understanding.‖
―Why do I want their words? To become
them for a second or two.‖
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21. Reading Stories to the Snake – Carolyn Wan cc by-nc-nd Indi, STC Meeting Aug 2012 21

22. Empathy Is Character Acting
The point is to understand people deeply—
— so deeply you could live their life, walk
in their shoes, and make decisions exactly
the way they would.
Navajo Moccasin – Gary Graves CC-BY-NC-ND Flickr ggraves/2745631003 cc by-nc-nd Indi, STC Meeting Aug 2012 22

23. You Can’t Gain Empathy by Only
Analyzing the Steps in a Process
Testing tensile strength – Argonne National Laboratory BY-SA Flickr argonne/3468640655 cc by-nc-nd Indi, STC Meeting Aug 2012 23

24. You Can’t Gain Enough Empathy Just by
Observing Activities
Yokosuka, Japan, Oct 29, 2002 – MilitaryHealth CC-BY Flickr militaryhealth/7029696503 cc by-nc-nd Indi, STC Meeting Aug 2012 24

25. You Have to Ask People to Know Their
Inner Thoughts, Reactions, Principles
Chat with a friend – Gary Knight CC-BY-SA Flickr garryknight/2919584686 cc by-nc-nd Indi, STC Meeting Aug 2012 25

26. What is he
thinking & feeling
while …
cc by-nc-nd Indi, STC Meeting Aug 2012 26

27. Introduction
to
Mental Models

28. What are mental models?
―Models people have of themselves, others, their
environment, and the things they interact with‖
Design of Everyday Things – Don Norman cc by-nc-nd Indi, STC Meeting Aug 2012 28

29. What are mental models?
Models your team has of others
cc by-nc-nd Indi, STC Meeting Aug 2012 29

30. Site Owners Measuring Success - Google Analytics Team, Jeff Veen cc by-nc-nd Indi, STC Meeting Aug 2012 30

31. Type I Diabetics Coping with Their Condition Daily – Adaptive Path Team cc by-nc-nd Indi, STC Meeting Aug 2012 31

32. Patrons Deciding What to Order – McDonald’s Menu Team, Jeff Pollard cc by-nc-nd Indi, STC Meeting Aug 2012 32

33. People Running an Information Center – Omar Sosa Tzec cc by-nc-nd Indi, STC Meeting Aug 2012 33

34. Buyers Purchasing Merchandise – Macy’s, Mary Piontkowski cc by-nc-nd Indi, STC Meeting Aug 2012 34

35. Photos from Jeff Patton, Todd Zaki Warfel cc by-nc-nd Indi, STC Meeting Aug 2012 35

36. Mental Spaces
Large Business Owners Deciding How to Address HR/Financial Processes – PeopleSoft Team cc by-nc-nd Indi, STC Meeting Aug 2012 36

37. Towers
Large Business Owners Deciding How to Address HR/Financial Processes – PeopleSoft Team cc by-nc-nd Indi, STC Meeting Aug 2012 37

38. Boxes
(behaviors,
beliefs,
reactions)
Support
Large Business Owners Deciding How to Address HR/Financial Processes – PeopleSoft Team cc by-nc-nd Indi, STC Meeting Aug 2012 38

39. cc by-nc-nd Indi, STC Meeting Aug 2012 39

40. cc by-nc-nd Indi, STC Meeting Aug 2012 40

41. Model of Capabilities
cc by-nc-nd Indi, STC Meeting Aug 2012 41

42. Large Business Owners Deciding How to Address HR/Financial Processes – PeopleSoft Team cc by-nc-nd Indi, STC Meeting Aug 2012 42

43. Mental models are in somewhat chronological order
cc by-nc-nd Indi, STC Meeting Aug 2012 43

44. Tower height does not indicate importance
cc by-nc-nd Indi, STC Meeting Aug 2012 44

45. Completeness of the model
cc by-nc-nd Indi, STC Meeting Aug 2012 45

46. How to Include
Empathy In Your
Design Process via
Mental Models

47. Pin the Tail on the Donkey Game – Motleye CC BY Flickr cc by-nc-nd Indi, STC Meeting Aug 2012 47

48. My Custom Pin the Tail on the Donkey – jsigharas CC-BY Flickr jsigharas/ cc by-nc-nd Indi, STC Meeting Aug 2012 48

49. Data exploration by Stamen Design – available at http://www.mysociety.org/2007/more-travel-maps/ cc by-nc-nd Indi, STC Meeting Aug 2012 49

50. Data exploration by Stamen Design – available at http://www.mysociety.org/2007/more-travel-maps/ cc by-nc-nd Indi, STC Meeting Aug 2012 50

51. Data exploration by Stamen Design – http://content.stamen.com/mtv_travel_time_maps_are_live cc by-nc-nd Indi, STC Meeting Aug 2012 51

52. cc by-nc-nd Indi, STC Meeting Aug 2012 52

53. This Feels Good
Please create this feature.
Wow! That is gorgeous!
You did a great job!
cc by-nc-nd Indi, STC Meeting Aug 2012 53

54. … But This Is Better … For the Customer
Please create this feature.
That feature, plus this
addition. Our empathy
research indicates we
should include it, and
focus on this perspective.
Okay … if it’s not risky.
This is gold!
Like it was
made for ME!
cc by-nc-nd Indi, STC Meeting Aug 2012 54

55. cc by-nc-nd Indi, STC Meeting Aug 2012 55

56. cc by-nc-nd Indi, STC Meeting Aug 2012 56

57. cc by-nc-nd Indi, STC Meeting Aug 2012 57

58. Support People
Better

59. People don’t just beat a path to
our door anymore. The website
wasn’t doing a good job of
replacing sales reps, so we
needed the mental model as
evidence to change it and
guide that change.
cc by-nc-nd Indi, STC Meeting Aug 2012 59

60. Testing tensile strength – Argonne National Laboratory BY-SA Flickr argonne/3468640655 cc by-nc-nd Indi, STC Meeting Aug 2012 60

61. cc by-nc-nd Indi, STC Meeting Aug 2012 61

62. cc by-nc-nd Indi, STC Meeting Aug 2012 62

63. The mental model showed us how people
trying to lose weight lived with completely
different situations. We decided we had to
produce content unique to each of the
three groups to be effective.
cc by-nc-nd Indi, STC Meeting Aug 2012 63

64. The Resigned
cc by-nc-nd Indi, STC Meeting Aug 2012 64

65. The Sidetracked
cc by-nc-nd Indi, STC Meeting Aug 2012 65

66. The Inconsistent
cc by-nc-nd Indi, STC Meeting Aug 2012 66

67. Match Mental
Information
Structures

68. Prospective students, hip to internet use,
were turned off by the old organization. It was
difficult to find what they wanted to know.
Cal State East Bay
Prospective Student
Mental Model
cc by-nc-nd Indi, STC Meeting Aug 2012 68

69. Credit to Archive.org cc by-nc-nd Indi, STC Meeting Aug 2012 69

70. Design by Laura Hansen, India Christman and team, sponsored by Lee Thompson cc by-nc-nd Indi, STC Meeting Aug 2012 70

71. Less Serious Passionate About
About Study the Topic
Carefully Consider Look Forward to the
Academic College Experience
Decisions
Lots of Other Means to an End
Life Experience
Worried About How
Exploring Paths
to Get In & Stay In
Student photos courtesy of Lower Columbia College via Flickr cc by-nc-nd Indi, STC Meeting Aug 2012 71

72. cc by-nc-nd Indi, STC Meeting Aug 2012 72

73. cc by-nc-nd Indi, STC Meeting Aug 2012 73

74. Skip Writing
Requirements
Documents

75. Big Document – Ernie of Ann Arbor, Michigan CC-BY Flickr EAHIV/ cc by-nc-nd Indi, STC Meeting Aug 2012 75

76. cc by-nc-nd Indi, STC Meeting Aug 2012 76

77. Left: Dan Arganbright, Quixtar; Right: Discussion – *keagy.com of XPLANE CC-BY Flickr *keagy.com/ cc by-nc-nd Indi, STC Meeting Aug 2012 77

78. DVD Release Dates – Redesign Proposal
Towers of Note in Mental Model
Get the DVD
Buy Special
DVDs Track Box Office Track Production
Competition Studio News
Quotes from Moviegoers
Track Box Track
Get DVDs as
Office Production
Gifts
Competition Studio News ―I own the extended editions.‖
―I own a lot of musicals … I have bought Meet Me in
DVD Release Top Box Office
Links to St. Louis.‖
Entertainment
Dates Performers
Websites
Links to Gross ―I get them as gifts a lot. DVDs … ‖
Income
Tracking on
Films ―I get DVDs as gifts for other people.‖
Links to Box
Office Websites
― … tracking the competition between the different movies.‖ ―I keep an eye on release dates.‖
― … scheduling strategy … Watching what strategy they ― … upcoming movie tracker that watches as projects
employ and watching to see how that plays out in the box are developed… I know a lot about movies that aren’t
office is an independent source of entertainment.‖ going to be out for another two years.‖
― … tells you a lot about what the studio thinks about the ―I subscribe to different mailing lists where they talk
movie… That interests me too–the whole dynamic of how about what’s coming out.‖
studios release and produce movies. There is a whole level
of personal politicking you can find out about through the ― … always read coverage off movie-related stuff in
magic of the internet.‖ the media… there are a couple of websites that I
read regularly that are movie related.‖
Observations
The current application, ―DVD Release Dates,‖ allows people to enter a movie title and by-nc-nd Indi,the upcoming
cc it will return STC Meeting Aug 2012 78

79. DVD Release Dates – Redesign Proposal
Wireframe
Airplane II
Releases
1982 25-Jun – Theater Release
1992 11-Sep – Director’s Cut Release Barbarosa
2007 29-Sep – Final Cut Release
2007 05-Dec – DVD Release
Cat People
Earnings
Press Dead Men Don’t
Wear Plaid
Observations
The current application, ―DVD Release Dates,‖ allows people to enter a movie title and it will return the upcoming release date.
There is a mode people can switch to that shows all upcoming DVD releases for the next three months, much like the board on the
wall at your local video shop.
The mental model and supporting quotes indicate that people do much more with DVDs. Not only do they look forward to the date
when a theater release will be available on DVD, either for themselves or as a gift (for which the current application is sufficient), but
they also find entertainment in watching box office competition, research the environment in which a movie came out years ago,
watch upcoming studio developments, and look up past films that might be available for purchase as a gift or for a collection.
To support these activities, the current DVD Release Dates application could be extended. Because people are browsing film
history and the environment of a release, we can list not only DVD release dates, but also the original theater release dates, special
edition release dates, and even release dates by country, since they are separate. Two other categories besides release dates
could be included: Earnings reports and other Press about the film, also filtered by country (and thus, language). This information
will help set the stage for the environment of the film’s various releases. Furthermore, since no film is released in a vacuum, …
Functionality
The currently selected movie displays as a poster image, along with three category entries: Releases, Earnings, and Press. Filters
across the bottom default to the country of the user and to a one month period which is the month of the DVD release in the
defaulted country. Films with theater releases, special releases, or DVD releases within that same time period in that country
appear in a scrolling list to the right.
Clicking a toggle expands and collapses a list of entries for that category. Each entry is a link to a page displaying the information.
(―Information‖ in the case of a Release entry TBD.) Scrolling appears when the expanded lists are too long for display in the vertical
space.
cc by-nc-nd Indi, STC Meeting Aug 2012
The list of co-released films to the right can be toggled on and off. Clicking one of these entries puts it in the primary display location
79

80. We still work with the Mental
Model we co-created in 2005. I
am pulling it out again this week
for a new piece of work. It really
has stood the test of time for us.
Connie Frenette, Bell / Aliant Canada, October 2011 cc by-nc-nd Indi, STC Meeting Aug 2012 80

81. We gave the advertising agency
the mental model as part of the
brief. It made the brief so strong
and rich that their first work back
to us was closer to the mark.
Meeting photo courtesy of Jens Vermeersch, storyboard photo courtesy of Just Johnny; http://www.flickr.com cc by-nc-nd Indi, STC Meeting Aug 2012 81

82. Ensure You Achieve
Empathy

83. Focus on the Participant
Focused
Only When You’ve Got the Beard Can You … – Tim Difford CC-BY-NC-ND Flickr timdifford/4117768132 cc by-nc-nd Indi, STC Meeting Aug 2012 83

84. Forget the Clock
Just Had a Conversation with My Coworker – CC-BY-NC-SA Flickr slworking/5146190471 cc by-nc-nd Indi, STC Meeting Aug 2012 84

85. Jot Down Their Words to Get Back To
(Assuming the conversation is recorded)
cc by-nc-nd Indi, STC Meeting Aug 2012 85

86. Empathy Is Generative, Not Evaluative
Reductive Expansive
Listening Listening
trying to figure just following
out what’s along the topics
relevant
Julian Treasure, 2010 TED Oxford cc by-nc-nd Indi, STC Meeting Aug 2012 86

87. Use Your Antennae
Shran, an Andorian on Star Trek - Blue Movie Reviews Wordpress 08-Apr-2009 blog entry cc by-nc-nd Indi, STC Meeting Aug 2012 87

88. Take the Time to Ask “Why?”
Why – Pierrette Wiseman CC-BY-NC-SA Flickr pjboudreau/4854288925/ cc by-nc-nd Indi, STC Meeting Aug 2012 88

89. Quit Thinking of the Next Question
Panicked
&
Distracted
Concentrate – Glenn Brown CC-BY-NC Flickr launceston_lad/178287398 cc by-nc-nd Indi, STC Meeting Aug 2012 89

90. You Are Not The Expert
Just the Facts – West Point Public Affairs CC-BY Flickr west_point/5163813671 cc by-nc-nd Indi, STC Meeting Aug 2012 90

91. No Words of Your Own
Chez Kent 418b – Nathan LeClair CC-BY-SA Flickr nathansnostalgia/444562330 cc by-nc-nd Indi, STC Meeting Aug 2012 91

92. Quell Your Reactions & Judgments
Disgust
Contempt
Hmm … – Matt Seppings CC-BY Flickr chumpolo/375892207 cc by-nc-nd Indi, STC Meeting Aug 2012 92

93. Learn to Recognize Three Things in the
Flow of Conversation
Behaviors
Reactions
Guiding Principles
cc by-nc-nd Indi, STC Meeting Aug 2012 93

94. Never Stop Adding to Your Understanding
… in parallel with design & evaluation
Brain- Proto- Eval-
Design
storm type uate
cc by-nc-nd Indi, STC Meeting Aug 2012 94

95. RosenfeldMedia.com Resources:
- slides & videos
- articles
- Q&A’s
- templates
SlideShare.net/indi
Code: INDI
(25% discount)
@indiyoung
indi@acm.org
cc by-nc-nd Indi, STC Meeting Aug 2012 95