to form models of the other’s models. We compare
our model with the other’s model. Are our models
congruent? Do we agree? And then, do we agree
that we agree? If so, we have reached “an agreement over an understanding.” We have a basis for
trust, collaboration, and action [ 7].
[ 7] Pangaro, P. conversations with the author,
Mountain View, 1999.
Models in Design
As designers increasingly focus on systems and
communities of systems, we need to improve our
modeling skills. Without modeling, system design is
not possible. Often service systems and computer-based applications are partly hidden or invisible, or
they stretch across time and space and cannot be
seen all at once or from a single vantage point. In
such cases, models must stand in for systems during analysis, design, and even operation.
Using models, designers can unify otherwise
separate artifacts and actions. Interaction models
unify interface widgets. Service models unify customer touch points. Brand models unify messages.
Platform models unify individual products.
Drawing has long been an essential skill for
designers and the heart of design education. Bill
Buxton, Dick Powell, and others assert that “
drawing is the essence of design” [ 8]. Are they correct?
Perhaps—if designers focus on objects. But when
attention turns to systems, modeling becomes the
essence of design. Design education and practice
must adapt to this changing reality.
Von Bertalanffy wrote, “The advantages and dangers of models are well known. The advantage is
in the fact that this is the way to create a theory—
i.e., the model permits deductions from premises,
explanation, and prediction, with often unexpected
results. The danger is oversimplification: to make it
conceptually controllable, we have to reduce reality
to a conceptual skeleton—the question remaining
[ 8] Buxton, B. Sketching
User Experiences. San
Do we seem to agree, that we agree?
my model of the correspondence
of your model of the subject
to my model of the subject
(Do we seem to agree?)
my model of your model
of the subject
my model of the subject
your model of the subject
May + June 2009