Comments on: UIEtips: In Which a Concept Model Makes Me Giddy

By: Chris Cavallucci

Chris Cavallucci — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 20:51:58 +0000

We’ve recently started using MindManager from http://mindjet.com/ for several different projects. Our time spent on site mapping and concept mapping is much, much less than what it used to be while dealing with Illustrator and Visio. So far, it feels like a natural extension of our traditional creative, IA, and UX work.

I created a concept map of two applications for a financial services client — it has two main branches, each one representing an application. The nodes in the map represent navigation options/menus,features, or components within a page. I quickly tagged 86 of the 139 nodes in the map and easily linked to annotated screens to illustrate where I found usability issues. Of course it would be better to show you the map Sorry I can’t do it at this time.

We printed and laminated the map so that it’s about 4 feet wide. Now we can collaborate with our client using dry erase markers, sketches, etc. The map will help us discuss the applications and fuse the best qualities of each app into a new prototype.

By: Dynamic Diagrams : Information Design Watch : Successful teams don’t communicate only with words

Mon, 09 Mar 2009 13:49:46 +0000

[...] interesting excerpt from Jared Spool’s blog, on successful design teams and diagrams: For almost ten years, the research team at UIE has been [...]

By: Joe Grant

Joe Grant — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 19:18:58 +0000

Single-threaded decision-making drives me crazy… really! I can’t tell you how many times I’ve left meetings where people just slam their opinions through without decent consideration of alternatives. I don’t know yet if mind mapping is the same thing (need to read Dan’s article!), but it’s very refreshing to hear this advice… AND to hear it apparently makes a key difference between success and failure. Thanks! Joe Grant

By: Dan B

Dan B — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 02:53:29 +0000

Mike,
I’m with you. Like I said, not my best model. Good models don’t necessarily have a starting point, but they should have a “nucleus” that makes it clear what the core concepts are. (I’ll have some better examples to share in the workshop.)

One of the reasons concept models are so important is that they help designers try to bridge the gap between reality (messy, chaotic, reactive) and a system which tries to model reality in an orderly way. Concept models, with their inherent flexibility, allow us to visualize domains which don’t necessarily have starting points and ending points. (Compare this to flow charts which, I would argue, *must* have a beginning and end.)

Perhaps the fun of a concept model is that you can start on any node and see how it relates to other concepts in the domain. Or perhaps I’m just weird that I find that fun.

By: Arjan`s World » LINKBLOG for March 4, 2009

Arjan`s World » LINKBLOG for March 4, 2009 — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 20:49:52 +0000

[...] UIEtips: In Which a Concept Model Makes Me Giddy – Jared Spool ‘ It turns out that one of the differences between the successful teams and the struggling teams is their use of diagrams and maps ‘ [...]

By: Mike Brockington

Mike Brockington — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 16:25:32 +0000

Well, I can see why it made you giddy – I spent five minutes trying to find the ‘Starting Point’ before I gave up and began to try and understand the content.

Maybe that is just me though – are non-techies happier to live with non-linear diagrams?