👩🏼‍🎨 Essential Design Frameworks & Mental Models

May 5, 2023 . 7 min read . 253 views

title: '👩🏼‍🎨 Essential Design Frameworks & Mental Models' publishedAt: '2023-05-05' summary: 'Notes on designing memorable user experiences & building delightful products...' category: '#Product'

Two Types Of Decisions

Rational Decisions: These decisions involve slow thinking, taking deliberate time and applying reasoning before making a purchase. An example of a rational decision-making process is buying a car for most people.
Emotional Decisions: These decisions involve fast thinking, where people make a decision based on hard-wired psychological patterns that get activated when presented with a certain trigger. For example, many non-smokers smoke when consuming alcohol.

Implication: Understanding whether the product you are selling requires rational decision-making or emotional decision-making is crucial for product leaders.

By identifying which type of decision-making process your product falls into, you can design your product and marketing strategy accordingly.

If your product requires rational decision-making, it's important to provide customers with detailed information and a clear rationale for why they should buy your product. If your product requires emotional decision-making, it's important to focus on the emotional benefits that your product can offer and create a strong emotional connection with your customers.

3 Levels Of Human Thought

Visceral Level: First level of thought where the brain perceives something as good or bad, safe or dangerous. Example: Fear of heights.
Behavioral Level: Second level of thought where the brain can perform an activity subconsciously, if the underlying skill is already mastered. Example: Driving a car.
Reflective Level: Third level of thought where humans rationalize by evoking memories and past experiences. Example: Buying a house.

Implication: Understanding the three levels of human thought can help product leaders create better experiences for their customers by designing products that cater to each level of thought.

Designing For Each Level Of Human Thought

Visceral Design: Visual appeal of the product. e.g: The iPhone was very visually appealing compared to a Nokia.
Behavioral Design: User enjoyment & experience while using a product. e.g: The user experience on iOS is super smooth and delightful.
Reflective Design: Relies on user's memories & satisfaction with the product. e.g: An example of reflective design could be an app that follows Apple's design guidelines. If a user is a die-hard Apple lover, seeing and interacting with the app that looks and feels like other Apple products they use on a daily basis can evoke positive memories and experiences, leading to increased satisfaction and loyalty towards the product.

Implication: A good product has at least 2 of the 3 elements whereas a great product has all 3.

The Importance of Breaking Patterns in Memorable Design

Breaking Patterns: Designing unique objects or incorporating unexpected elements into a product can make it stand out and grab more attention.
- e.g: Tesla's Cybertruck broke the traditional pattern of how cars have been designed for ages, while Nespresso's use of pods was a unique and unexpected approach in the coffee industry.

Implication: To create a legendary product, it is important to incorporate multiple elements such as breaking previous design patterns, having great UI and UX, and creating an emotional connection with the user through reflective design. By doing so, a product can stand out and create a lasting impact on its users.

Legendary products = Breaks previous design patterns + great UI + great UX + reflective design (emotional connection)

Get The Basics Right ALWAYS!

Basics are important. When something expected does not happen, humans feel disappointed.
On the other hand, positive results elicit feelings of happiness, pride, and satisfaction.
- e.g, think of the ChatGPT experience. How frustrating it can be when it repeatedly sucks at doing a simple task.

Implication: Getting the basics right is crucial for any product or service to succeed. Even the most advanced features won't matter if the fundamental expectations of the user are not met.

2 Challenges Faced By Users When Using A Product

Gulf of Execution: This challenge arises when users have difficulty in understanding how a product works or what its features do. For instance, when using a crypto wallet for the first time, the gulf of execution could be figuring out why do I need a wallet, how to create a wallet, how to send or receive crypto, and how to keep the wallet secure.
Gulf of Evaluation: This challenge occurs when users have trouble in interpreting the feedback provided by the product or determining if they have achieved their goal. For example, when using a crypto wallet, the gulf of evaluation could be verifying if a transaction has been completed successfully, checking the wallet balance, and ensuring that the transaction is secure.

Implication: As a product designer, it's crucial to keep both gulf of execution and gulf of evaluation in mind while designing the user experience.

To minimize the gulf of execution, it's essential to provide clear instructions, intuitive interfaces, and feedback at every step of the user journey.

Similarly, to reduce the gulf of evaluation, it's important to provide accurate and timely feedback to the user, provide clear success indicators, and ensure that users can verify their actions with ease.

Bonus: 6 Object Properties To Make Users Cross The Gulf Of Evaluation

Affordance: Property of the object that suggests how it can be used. For instance, in the context of a crypto wallet, the "Send" button affords the action of sending cryptocurrency to another wallet.
Signifiers: Visual or auditory cues that communicate information. In the context of a crypto wallet, the "lock" icon signifying security, and the "green checkmark" signifying a successful transaction are examples of signifiers.
Constraints: Limitations that guide users towards proper use. In the context of a crypto wallet, the fact that users cannot send more cryptocurrency than they have is a constraint that prevents errors.
Mapping: The relationship between the controls of an object and its environment. In the context of a crypto wallet, the "balance" section mapping to the amount of cryptocurrency available in the user's wallet is an example of mapping.
Feedback: An effect that an object provides to inform the user of an action. In the context of a crypto wallet, the "transaction successful" message and sound effect when a transaction is completed are examples of feedback.
Conceptual Models: Abstract representations of how a system works. In the context of a crypto wallet, a conceptual model of how the crypto wallet is similar to a paypal wallet can be useful for the end-user.

7 Stages Of Action

These are the broad 7 stages every new user goes through before unlocking the aha moment of your product for the first time.

Stage-1: What do I want to accomplish? e.g: The user wants to purchase groceries from the app.

Stage-2: What are the alternative action sequences? e.g: The user can either search for specific items or browse through categories to find items they need.

Stage-3: What action can I do now? e.g: The user can open the app and begin browsing through items.

Stage-4: How do I do it? e.g: The app should have clear navigation and search options for the user to easily find the items they need.

Stage-5: What happened? e.g: The user finds the items they need and adds them to their cart.

Stage-6: What does it mean? e.g: The user has successfully found and added the items they need to their cart.

Stage-7: Is this okay? Have I accomplished my goal? e.g: The user reviews their cart and proceeds to checkout to complete their purchase. If the app provides a seamless and easy checkout process, the user will feel satisfied that they have accomplished their goal of purchasing groceries.