Instinctive design: Maximizing the user's mental model

Article Description: instinctive interaction design.

recently, his colleague Grandpa aged 80, he sent an ipad. We all laugh at him too much, this high-tech thing grandpa how to accept. Didn't think he said: "Grandpa picked up to make, play Angry Birds, Tom Cat, listen to songs are all done." ”

This is really a very strange phenomenon: why the ipad regardless of the elderly and children can use, basic operation even rarely need assistance and instructions!

Is it easy for children to accept electronic products? Or are electronic products easy for children to accept?

This not only let me think, what kind of design can be "fair trade", the elderly, children can be used smoothly. Then, the interactive design should not be "elitist", more should be "fool-type", to pursue a more "instinctive" operation, like eating clothes as simple as.

How do you make design understood to be a "user instinct"?
1, understand your users

To regard users as advocating simple, picky, slow, very busy: can be less typing less input, can less click on less clicks, can think less and less thinking.

And the product is to be a nice guy: to be considerate, warm, tolerant, safe, easy to understand good communication. Sometimes to not give users unnecessary interference, a lot of pressure and responsibility to the backstage silently carried up.

2, fully understand and guide the user's behavior flow

On the one hand to understand the user may click Process, so that users each step to the next all arbitrary, on the other hand, the product should have a good information structure, operation Guide to High logic, but better understanding.

For the complete operation, there needs to be a guide to let users know where they are and what they need.

In addition, to facilitate the user to return, back, back to the beginning.
3, easy to understand the expression

Easy to understand the expression includes not only visual and text, interactive operation also to be transparent, the summary of the reference smelly fish is:

• Before the operation, the results are predictable.
• Action, the action has feedback.
• The operation can be undone after the operation.

Of course, some interactions need to be supported by a more external layer of visual elements.

The biggest difference between a GUI designer and a general visual designer or graphic designer is that the design has to be suggestive of some interactive behavior. For example, the Flip button on the ipad will give users a hint of where to flip. And a lot of PC products directly copied is not in line with touch screen users directly with the use of manual operation habits. More visual language metaphors can be relayed to the "chat icon message"

The Product Description language should also be concise, easy to understand and friendly. Writing is an understanding force, and when Apple launched the Macintosh, Jobs asked the user's manual to be easy to read. His team said, "We did our best, and the handbook only needs English in the third grade of high school." Jobs said: "No, the first grade of primary school can also be read." "Culture is not necessarily a measure, but product language can never be verbal, mysterious or complex."

Sometimes, the more surface users use simple products, is only the tip of the iceberg, behind the need to nurture more complex logic. Seemingly simple and easy interaction requires the designer to think more carefully and test the user with repeated tests.

Instinct design in short is to maximize the user's mental model for starting, the use of consensus or easy to learn easy-to-use operation, so that users less thinking, less doubt, less trouble.

In short, for "instinctive design", we have to pay more efforts, more thinking.