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Mental Models
There is no single methodology for creating the perfect product--buy you can increase your odds. One of the best ways is to understand users' reasons for doing things. Mental Models gives you the tools to help you grasp, and design for, those reasons. Adaptive Path co-founder Indi Young has written a roll-up-your-sleeves book for designers, managers, and anyone else interested in making design strategic, and successful.
299 pages, ebook
First published January 1, 2008
215 people are currently reading
4792 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 39 reviews
August 13, 2010
This book wasn't at all what I expected it would be. But in a good way.
My understanding of mental models came from Don Norman's The Design of Everyday Things, where he talks about a mental model being the concept someone has about how a product works. When a user's mental model for how something works doesn't match the model the people who made a product use, you end up with things that are really difficult to use, frustrating end users.
But this book is about a methodology for user research that results in a comprehensive visual representation of what users need from a product/service and what is currently being offered. While the complete methodology is quite intensive and would only be appropriate for certain types of projects, there's a ton of little details that can be pulled out and applied to pretty much any user research.
My understanding of mental models came from Don Norman's The Design of Everyday Things, where he talks about a mental model being the concept someone has about how a product works. When a user's mental model for how something works doesn't match the model the people who made a product use, you end up with things that are really difficult to use, frustrating end users.
But this book is about a methodology for user research that results in a comprehensive visual representation of what users need from a product/service and what is currently being offered. While the complete methodology is quite intensive and would only be appropriate for certain types of projects, there's a ton of little details that can be pulled out and applied to pretty much any user research.
March 17, 2014
This book is unique in that it is focused on a singular goal and follows the topic through until the reader is fully competent. The singular goal of Mental Models is to teach the reader when-to, and how-to create and use Mental Models for documenting how users think about a problem space (for example: going to the movies).
Mental models are affinity diagrams with purpose.
While I have done a lot of affinity diagramming. I felt that stopping at clusters was and is an underutilization of the time and energy it takes to surface insights. Mental Models takes these same insights and creates a durable artifact that can be leveraged by colleagues across disciplines to better think like their target audience.
Why I gave this book five stars:
- The author Indi Young focuses on Mental Models and refers you to other books for authors that have tackled broader context; the book doesn't spend a lot of time talking about other user research goals, or what affinity diagrams are or spend much time talking about the universe beyond affinity diagramming at all. I think this is a very good thing, too many books aim to appeal to everyone and result in a lot of content and pages that add little value to the overall books purchase.
- The author proactively answers many questions you will have in the book. It doesn't leave black holes for you to figure out "what if a task goes in to more than one tower" or "is this a task or not a task"
- The author provides you with enough step by step information to 'design' your Mental Model. Everything from font size to ideas on how you might customize it on your own. Too many books make generic statements like "layout the tasks on your diagram" >> the author even recommends software tools for a number of challenges.
While the book provides too much detail for those looking to be convinced that Mental Models are worth the effort. I appreciate the energy invested in ensuring those interested in applying Mental Models have enough depth to execute it without hitting dead ends.
Mental models are affinity diagrams with purpose.
While I have done a lot of affinity diagramming. I felt that stopping at clusters was and is an underutilization of the time and energy it takes to surface insights. Mental Models takes these same insights and creates a durable artifact that can be leveraged by colleagues across disciplines to better think like their target audience.
Why I gave this book five stars:
- The author Indi Young focuses on Mental Models and refers you to other books for authors that have tackled broader context; the book doesn't spend a lot of time talking about other user research goals, or what affinity diagrams are or spend much time talking about the universe beyond affinity diagramming at all. I think this is a very good thing, too many books aim to appeal to everyone and result in a lot of content and pages that add little value to the overall books purchase.
- The author proactively answers many questions you will have in the book. It doesn't leave black holes for you to figure out "what if a task goes in to more than one tower" or "is this a task or not a task"
- The author provides you with enough step by step information to 'design' your Mental Model. Everything from font size to ideas on how you might customize it on your own. Too many books make generic statements like "layout the tasks on your diagram" >> the author even recommends software tools for a number of challenges.
While the book provides too much detail for those looking to be convinced that Mental Models are worth the effort. I appreciate the energy invested in ensuring those interested in applying Mental Models have enough depth to execute it without hitting dead ends.
March 26, 2018
An awful book which will - maybe - hit you down. The method itself sounds interesting BUT it is like Waiting for Godot. 1) It's terribly edited and sometimes chaotic. 2) The core of the book is in the last 3, 4 chapters. The rest is useless (unless you're completely new to the user research) 3) The main focus is on the basics of user research, the method itself and applying it is describe very briefly. 4) So huge research work in reality (higher tens of interviews) just for such small usage? No, thank you. The three stars are for interesting method, practical examples and handy advices (it is obvious that Indy has experience and doesn't hesitate to share it.)
December 21, 2011
Describes all details about getting your [potential] customer preferences. About making interview, extracting patterns, understading user needs, etc. Btw, it's more a reference book, or step-by-step guide, and it nothing without a practice.
Currently reading
November 24, 2011Finding interesting alignment with Jeff Patton's work on Story Mapping.
February 10, 2017
I was convinced to read this book to figure out what my Mental Model Konigi Omnigraffle template was for and their website suggested this book.
I think this is a really awesome way to do user personas and finding ways to match the design with the user's needs. The book is oddly detailed in some points explaining exactly how to use a particular program or save a file in a particular format. But overall it is a good step-by-step explanation.
I hope that I will be able to integrate at least some of this into my work.
I think this is a really awesome way to do user personas and finding ways to match the design with the user's needs. The book is oddly detailed in some points explaining exactly how to use a particular program or save a file in a particular format. But overall it is a good step-by-step explanation.
I hope that I will be able to integrate at least some of this into my work.
May 7, 2019
This book was only OK. I’m not completely sure if my issues with it are because I’m new to UX, I was reading it to learn theoretically and it would be better to learn practically, or if it’s truly lacking *something*. Regardless, there were definitely multiple editing flaws and I found myself a little bored and unable to connect to the subject at hand.
May 20, 2013
This book is a really thorough discussion of using Mental Models as a user-centric design technique. The book is very dense with a lot of information, so it would be helpful to read this multiple times, especially while doing the different portions described.
I would recommend this book for anyone that has the luxury of designing or planning on a team. Having 2-3 people working on this design technique makes a world of difference compared to having only one. That being said, I think that there is lots that can be taken away from this book as it emphasizes qualitative data research.
I would recommend this book for anyone that has the luxury of designing or planning on a team. Having 2-3 people working on this design technique makes a world of difference compared to having only one. That being said, I think that there is lots that can be taken away from this book as it emphasizes qualitative data research.
October 28, 2009
Fantastic. Carried this book around for ages and referred back to it again and again. Indi's mental models are relevant for any user experience professional as she gives us a tool to extract user needs that are valid for the long run. This is the stuff personas should be based on.
July 8, 2011
This is an amazing look at mental models and how they impact design strategy. There are some wonderful techniques and processes included. My only concern that that most of us involved in corporate user experience don't have the time to implement all of the suggestions.
Well written and terrific.
Well written and terrific.
January 5, 2015
useless.
May 30, 2020
This is a very practical book for those who are interested in approaching design by understanding the audience first. A mental model is a diagram that illustrates behavior patterns gathered from audience representatives. Mental models described in the book consist of two parts, the top part is a visual depiction of the behaviors of a particular audience and the bottom part shows various ways of supporting matching behaviors. When a behavior is not supported, you have an opportunity to explore further.
The author uses interviews to capture basis tasks that include actions, thoughts, feelings and motivations. According to the author, an hour-long interview could reveal 60-120 tasks. The next step is to group similar tasks into towers, higher-level tasks. At the highest grouping level, it is the mental space. “Everything that hangs together in one mental model is exactly what should hang together in one solution.”
The book is easy to read and follow. The author used a lot of examples and also discussed her thought processes in selecting the right verbs to define tasks and organizing them.
The author uses interviews to capture basis tasks that include actions, thoughts, feelings and motivations. According to the author, an hour-long interview could reveal 60-120 tasks. The next step is to group similar tasks into towers, higher-level tasks. At the highest grouping level, it is the mental space. “Everything that hangs together in one mental model is exactly what should hang together in one solution.”
The book is easy to read and follow. The author used a lot of examples and also discussed her thought processes in selecting the right verbs to define tasks and organizing them.
May 5, 2025
Needs a refresh for modern audiences before I would recommend it to anyone. I do appreciate the detail (and obviously it took much thought and care to write) -- but it's hard to follow at times and left me wanting more.
Half the book isn't even around mental models - it's just how to conduct good research (e.g. non-biased questions, representative demographics, ensuring you're answering the correct questions) -- something that may be good for someone with no experience in research, but a bore for someone with prior knowledge. Granted, I may be the wrong audience?
Even if you have no experience with research, I still wouldn't recommend. It's old - written in 2008 with dated examples. Like other reviewers stated, it rambles and has bad editing.
One paint point for me was the hard-to-follow examples. I don't understand why they chose to focus on creating a mental model for people who go to movies instead of something her audience would resonate with more (E.g. a technology product)
Half the book isn't even around mental models - it's just how to conduct good research (e.g. non-biased questions, representative demographics, ensuring you're answering the correct questions) -- something that may be good for someone with no experience in research, but a bore for someone with prior knowledge. Granted, I may be the wrong audience?
Even if you have no experience with research, I still wouldn't recommend. It's old - written in 2008 with dated examples. Like other reviewers stated, it rambles and has bad editing.
One paint point for me was the hard-to-follow examples. I don't understand why they chose to focus on creating a mental model for people who go to movies instead of something her audience would resonate with more (E.g. a technology product)
September 24, 2024
I reread this book after reading it nine years ago and it is more relevant than ever. As a UX researcher and leader I will recommend this book to my colleagues if they ever need to do discovery research and understand the behaviors and philosophies in a particular domain.
Indi’s step by step process is clear and systematic. This is important when conducting qualitative research since you don’t want to leave any stones unturned. One thing that I realized after reading this again was that mental models don’t have to be in any particular order. What’s more important is the breadth and depth achieved within each mental space. She goes exhaustively through example by example putting context into each one.
The only thing that lags is the technology examples. Specifically how to use MS Office and other tools which since this book was published have significantly evolved. That’s through no fault of her own.
I HIGHLY recommend this book to any UX practitioner!
Indi’s step by step process is clear and systematic. This is important when conducting qualitative research since you don’t want to leave any stones unturned. One thing that I realized after reading this again was that mental models don’t have to be in any particular order. What’s more important is the breadth and depth achieved within each mental space. She goes exhaustively through example by example putting context into each one.
The only thing that lags is the technology examples. Specifically how to use MS Office and other tools which since this book was published have significantly evolved. That’s through no fault of her own.
I HIGHLY recommend this book to any UX practitioner!
July 27, 2024
I always love an actionable book. This one provides a detailed, step-by-step guide on constructing mental models and using them to design user-centered experiences. The instructions are very thorough, even down to the specific tools to use. Although in 2024, there are now easier tools available, I appreciate the author's meticulous approach to ensuring that readers can replicate the steps. Chapter 8 was particularly challenging, as it delves into grooming and categorizing tasks from user interviews.
I recommend this book for user experience designers looking to gain deeper insights into understanding their users' minds.
I recommend this book for user experience designers looking to gain deeper insights into understanding their users' minds.
December 10, 2019
Okay, this wasn't the easiest read ever, but totally worth it. Indi showed an outstanding way of doing user-research, why it matters, and most importantly - how to 'sell' your findings to the stakeholders.
The book is really practical with lots of examples and illustrations, which help a lot to understand better what she's saying.
A mental model is basically the "why?" behind the behaviors, that are getting the most important part to understand if you want to create a valuable and USABLE product. Empathy is a must!
The book is really practical with lots of examples and illustrations, which help a lot to understand better what she's saying.
A mental model is basically the "why?" behind the behaviors, that are getting the most important part to understand if you want to create a valuable and USABLE product. Empathy is a must!
October 13, 2018
Menjelaskan cara membangun mental model dari user. Menjabarkan strategi dr awal dlm mencari solusi yg dibutuhkan user, bagaimana teknik interview, mencari data, mencari tau mental model dari user. Sangat cocok terutama ketika awal akan membangun persona, proses menyusun dan melakukan interview user.
March 25, 2021
The book is not even about mental models. Only the first part of the book gives some information regarding mental models. The rest are examples, unnecessarily complicated if you ask me, of potential phases of a project. A good book nevertheless, but not about mental models.
May 12, 2022
The book outlines a very rigorous process for researching, articulating, and documenting mental models that I have a hard time imagining I’m going to try because of the amount of time and resources it requires. If I was, a very thorough and practical guidebook like this would be useful.
August 18, 2019
Read this book last year, Loved it!
May 6, 2022
A tour de force in understanding the process of user research. Will revisit.
June 12, 2024
No le doy una porque en el índice te dice qué capítulos te sirven leer y cuáles no, hacerle caso. El título debió ser "primeros pasos en Research" o algo así, porque de modelos mentales tiene poco.
January 6, 2026
Very repetitive and redundant
February 23, 2021
Important for anyone who looks to connect user research to product and design strategy. Doing this however has developed quite a bit since Mental Models was first published, so in practical detail the book feels outdated at times.
April 19, 2020
Another reviewer said it: tactical wisdom. If you're foolhardy and trying to improve a silo-ed bureaucracy's labyrinthine intranet, this book is meant to take you through the trenches. Its methodical outline of their tried-and-true research/analysis approach guides you through how to put a magnifying glass to the unobserved details and build a case for overturning your team's assumptions.
January 2, 2014
I never really enjoy using only one process to understand a situation, but rather I believe that using a bunch of different techniques to try to gain insight from a variety of perspectives. This book focuses on one very specific way to build a "mental model," and goes into extreme detail into how to do this. I read this book, and I know for sure that I can walk off and do this, but I also wish that rather than going into mind numbing depth in certain areas ("here's how to build a spread sheet that does this") and instead went into more depth of the "why" of the methods used. I would definitely use this book to think of a new way to process and address interviews, but I also think that this model takes into account mainly behavior, and can't really address the needs of products in complete breakout categories that address totally unaddressed needs of consumers.
Want to read
December 7, 2018Publisher's description: http://rosenfeldmedia.com/books/menta...
"There is no single methodology for creating the perfect product—but you can increase your odds. One of the best ways is to understand users' reasons for doing things. Mental Models gives you the tools to help you grasp, and design for, those reasons. Adaptive Path co-founder Indi Young has written a roll-up-your-sleeves book for designers, managers, and anyone else interested in making design strategic, and successful."
I'm getting serious about fashioning an easy-to-use, solution-in-a-box for collection budget allocations. This book has been highly recommended for user-friendly product development.
"There is no single methodology for creating the perfect product—but you can increase your odds. One of the best ways is to understand users' reasons for doing things. Mental Models gives you the tools to help you grasp, and design for, those reasons. Adaptive Path co-founder Indi Young has written a roll-up-your-sleeves book for designers, managers, and anyone else interested in making design strategic, and successful."
I'm getting serious about fashioning an easy-to-use, solution-in-a-box for collection budget allocations. This book has been highly recommended for user-friendly product development.
June 24, 2014
I personally did not enjoy reading this book. In my opinion it does not set a lot of context, does not address the why readers should care are is very tactical. In addition it does not provide a lot of examples which I think would have been really helpful in this case. The only reason why I gave it two stars is because the topic itself - Metal Models - and the design process is really interesting to me.
August 12, 2014
Great read. More than just mental models, this book lays out a detailed generative design process beginning at project scoping and moving through mental model generation and product opportunity & gap analysis.
There's a lot of tactical wisdom, even an experienced researcher ought to find a few tricks and techniques to add in to practice. Some of the software-specific procedures and workarounds for generating mental models are becoming out of date in the 6 years since publication.
There's a lot of tactical wisdom, even an experienced researcher ought to find a few tricks and techniques to add in to practice. Some of the software-specific procedures and workarounds for generating mental models are becoming out of date in the 6 years since publication.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 39 reviews