How can you create prototypes that reflect the user's mental model?

One of my fav frameworks for this is Jobs-to-Be-Done (JTBD). It’s a way of understanding your users by focusing on their objectives. Every user is trying to complete a “job” and it’s often quite easy to imagine them. Here's how to it works: 1. Identify the 'Job': What task are your users hiring your product to do? Look beyond the surface to understand the real problems they're trying to solve. 2. Map the 'Job' Process: Break down the 'job' into specific steps, from start to finish. Understand what success looks like at each stage. 3. Define Success Metrics: Determine how you’ll measure success. Is it by speed, outcome quality, user satisfaction? Create prototypes and test these jobs and see how users react.

Aligning user experience with mental models involves user-led navigation—offering choices like tapping or swiping to proceed, or curating content based on their preferences. AI advances enable micro-level personalization, poised to transform user-friendly design. Understanding the user journey step by step is vital. Continuous observation of users interacting with the product reveals critical touchpoints needing enhancement and those that meet user needs effectively. This practice is central to refining user experience in a landscape where personalization and intuitive design are increasingly synonymous with success.

I believe there's no one-size-fits-all approach in design. Context matters, and designers must adapt to every user persona and problem scenario. But let's start here: Put yourself in the user's shoes: Grasp their needs and see the world through their eyes. Predict user actions, align prototypes with expectations, and meet their needs. Trust your instincts; they reflect users' minds, ensuring seamless experiences. Simplify complexity: Transform intricate ideas into intuitive prototypes. Envision seamless, intuitive interactions. Prototypes must embody this simplicity. Keep refining: Iterate based on feedback to enhance the user experience. Prototypes mirror user thoughts with empathy and precision.

In my experience as a designer, creating prototypes that truly resonate with the user's mental model has been a fascinating journey. It all starts with a deep dive into user research and the formation of personas that help us understand our audience's needs and expectations. I've found that empathy mapping and card sorting exercises can unveil invaluable insights into the way users perceive and categorize information. As I transition from low-fidelity paper prototypes to more refined wireframes, the goal has always been to align the layout and content hierarchy with the mental model I've extracted from our users.

-User test all terminology- especially the terms that are very industry specific- and update them to the words users naturally use and understand easily. -Have users rank order items in order of importance to them. Can be information, components, tools or anything. The tool doesn’t have to be functional for its intent to be perceived. -Card sort to understand how things are organized in their mind. For the love of all things holy do not shape the information architecture around the business departments! ??

Jacobs law states that users expect your product (website/app) to work like other sites that users are familiar with. Keeping things consistent can help meet users mental models and expectations. By ensuring consistency you help users leverage existing knowledge and experiences on other sites thus reducing cognitive load and improving the experience and enhancing usability.

Absolutely, adhering to established design patterns and conventions is another effective strategy for creating prototypes aligned with the user's mental model. Design patterns offer reusable solutions to common UX design challenges, addressing aspects like navigation, search, forms, or feedback. Conventions, on the other hand, encompass common practices or standards users anticipate in a particular system, such as logo placement, color usage, or button functionality. By following these patterns and conventions, you tap into users' existing knowledge and experience, streamlining the cognitive load and minimizing the learning curve associated with your prototype.

Indeed, the ultimate assurance that your prototype aligns with the user's mental model lies in testing and iteration with real users. User testing involves evaluating the prototype with a representative sample of your target audience, collecting valuable feedback, insights, and data on their perception and usage. Employ techniques like usability testing, interviews, surveys, or analytics to measure and analyze user behavior, satisfaction, and preferences. Subsequent to user testing, identify and prioritize areas for improvement or change, making necessary adjustments to refine the prototype and better align it with the user's mental model.

Prototyping is one of the best superpowers of design. Creating a clickable prototype in Figma unlocks the ability to understand desirability from users to understand their job to be done and to validate the consumer problem. Additionally, by writing user stories and following consumers through your prototype allows for you to validate the usability of your solution. It’s important to do this early and often as the cost of fixing an error after development is 100x that of fixing it before (reported by Dr. Susan Weinschenk).