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Last Time : - Conceptual Models
Last Time : - Conceptual Models
• Conceptual models
Johnson et al (1989)
Interface metaphors
• Interface designed to be similar to a physical entity but
also has own properties
• Can be based on activity, object or a combination of both
• Exploit user’s familiar knowledge, helping them to
understand ‘the unfamiliar’
WWW
Another Internet metaphor
• WWW as planet earth
• The “superhighway”
• An atlas
– Web sites are:
• Towns
• Points of interest
– Links are roads
• There are “vacation spots” and places we go to work
• Every site has an address
• Sites like Yahoo! provide a yellow pages for locating
goods and services
• Search engines are somewhere between a yellow pages
and visitor center or information desk
Benefits of interface metaphors
• Makes learning new systems easier
• Can expand the audience
• Helps users understand the underlying
conceptual model
Problems with interface metaphors
• Break conventional and cultural rules
– e.g. recycle bin placed on desktop
• Can constrain designers in the way they conceptualize a
problem space
• Forces users to only understand the system in terms of
the metaphor
• Designers can inadvertently use bad existing designs
and transfer the bad parts over
• Limits designers’ imagination in coming up with new
conceptual models
• However, for the most part, metaphor is an
extremely useful tool in constructing user
interfaces.
Metaphor is fundamental to how we
think
- George Lakoff & Mark Johnson
Argument is War
• Your claims are indefensible
• He attacked every weak point in my argument
• Her criticisms were right on target
• I demolished his argument.
• I’ve never won an argument with her.
• You disagree? Okay, shoot!
• If you use that strategy, she’ll wipe you out.
• He shot down all of my arguments.
More is up/good is up
• I’m feeling up. That boosted my spirits.
• Get up. Wake up. She rises early.
• He’s at the peak of health.
• I am on top of the situation. He is under
my power.
• My income rose last year.
Future is forward, past is back
• In the weeks ahead of us…
• That’s all behind us…
The conduit metaphor
• The conduit metaphor
– Ideas are objects
– Linguistic expressions are containers
– Communication is sending
The conduit metaphor (cont’d)
• It’s difficult to put my ideas into words.
• It’s hard to get that idea across to him
• You’re reasons came through to us.
• His words carry little meaning.
• Your words seem hollow.
• The idea is buried in terribly dense
paragraphs.
If you’re interested
• Metaphors We Live By, George Lakoff and
Mark Johnson
• Women, Fire, and Dangerous Things,
George Lakoff
• A conceptual model is what we target as
designers
• Metaphor is useful in building conceptual
models
• A “mental model” is how an individual in
our audience actually perceives what we
have built.
Mental models
• Users develop an understanding of a system
through learning & using it
• This type of understanding is often described as
a mental model
– How to use the system (what to do next)
– What to do with unfamiliar systems or unexpected
situations (how the system works)