Understanding your users mental model

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I thought that the source of this article was interesting because it was written by the director of research of Intercom, the website that produced the article.  In part of the article she discusses how sketching revealed a critical problem with the development of their company's product; the people working together on it did not have a common goal or vocabulary with which to discuss it, and no-one really had any idea until they did this sketching exercise.  I like seeing how the way that I think and process information is something that can be used in professional settings, not just me explaining my weird idea for a two-headed dragon to someone.  

Completely unrelated to the actual article, but the animation of the line that told the reader how close to the end of the article was really well implemented.  

Discussion Questions:

What would the 'dog bone' look like for someone who lived on campus? 

If there were to be a redesign of mainestreet(to allow it to play more into the user memory), would sketching exercises be helpful?  What would some of the questions be to achieve a more usable interface?  

Is there a way an exercise could be done remotely so as to reach a wider audience?




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