City University Interaction Lab, CC-BY 2.0
The person that designs a product will always have a much deeper understanding of how it is supposed to work. For a design to be successful, the designer’s mental model needs to match the user’s mental model. People form their mental model based on the design and interface of the actual product as well as their previous experiences and cultural background.
Continued on pages 160–161 of Design. Think. Make. Break. Repeat.