User Mental Model And Its Application In User-Centered Design

With the development of the User-Centered Design, more attention has beenattracted on the methods of the User Research and the User-Centered Design. As anewly rising and immature method of the User Research, Mental Model is to be furtherdeveloped both in theory and in practice.This paper aims to investigate the application of Mental Model as a method ofUser-Centered Design. The investigation is composed of the research of theory (asguidance to the practice), and the exploration of practice (to test the theory). Thetheoretical research mainly explore: the relationship between Mental Model andUser-Centered Design, which mainly discusses the role and function of the MentalModel during design process; the construction of Mental Model, which includes theway to collect the mental information and to analyze the mental data of users; and theapplication of Mental Model, which states the measure to discover design opportunitieswith the help of the Mental Model. The research of the aforesaid three parts compose acomplete method of the Mental Model.The author has practiced the method of the Mental Model on “CMF DatabaseFramework Design” at same time of the theoretical research. The including theapplication of the Mental Model to discover design opportunities, the direction todesign product, and finally design results. Mental Model can structurally reflect thepotential demands of the users, assist to analyze the competing products, accuratelydiscover the design opportunities, refresh design ideas, and make the informationframework of the product more comfortable for the users.Mental Model has two notable characteristics compared to other methods of UserResearch. Firstly, it reflects the users’ demands more systematically; secondly, itconcentrates on the service condition of specific products or tools without beingrestricted by them. In conclusion, Mental Model, as one of the methods of UserResearch, renders better service for the development of products.