Research: Human Factors Research

Mental models derive from human perceptions. Kenneth Craik hypothesized about mental models in the mid-40s. His goal was a general clarification of human thought, taking into account the way people relate to the world through mental models. Basically, a mental model is a person’s intuitive understanding of how something functions based on his or her past encounters, exposure to information, and sound judgment.

What people perceive is completely subjective and depends on the way things appear to them. For example, imagine that someone tells a kid a frightening story about swimming. The child will hold that image in his mind for a long time and, thus, think of swimming as a perilous thing—until external forces contradict that idea and he learns to see things differently. Similarly, for some, investing in stocks is a risky affair. A person’s mental model that investing in the stock market is risky guides that person’s decision not to invest in stocks. Read More

When I had children, I became acutely aware of the challenges children have interacting with the world, as most parents do. Some of these issues stem from the fact that most of the world is not designed for children. But I had seldom considered these issues because my work had rarely focused on that part of the population. While I have always been passionate about accessibility issues, I naively figured that was good enough. Since then, I have done my best to ensure that, when I design for users, I take developmental issues into consideration. So my designs for children begin with design guidelines.

What Are Design Guidelines?

When beginning work on any sort of design, you have to understand the objectives of the design, as well as the principles or guidelines you should follow. You can determine these through user research, stakeholder interviews, best practices, or most likely, a mix of some or all of these. Once you understand what design guidelines you should follow, your design solutions emerge naturally. Read More

Far too often, perceptions of what is cool and useful drive interactive design trends. We use our gut instinct and intuitive sense to identify design solutions. But whenever I think about this, I remember what a college professor taught my class about a complex concept in aerodynamics. As a few of us nodded our understanding, he proclaimed, “If you think that makes sense, you are wrong. It’s counterintuitive, so just make sure to memorize it the right way.”

Our intuition is not always correct, and not all systems bear internal analysis. User experience and interaction design are structured, evidence-based practices. We should not just trust our gut, but always seek to understand how things really work with real people—and why. Read More