Designing Effective Speech Interfaces

Conceptual Model Design

A conceptual model can be thought of as a plan for how the user will see the interface. It's a model of the interface, not the underlying software structure. For users to predict what will happen next and make appropriate decisions about what to do next, they need a mental model of how the software works. A conceptual model of the interface conveys to users a working model that they can use to form their mental model. The deliverable for this third phase is the conceptual model design document and the steps included in this phase are outlined in Table 11.3.

A conceptual model of the interface conveys to users a working model that they can use to form their mental model.

Software designers often jump immediately from existing or proposed system design to detailed interface design, translating the software professional's view of the system (and jargon) into menus and prompts. Because the interface is a direct translation of the system model, users can't form a good mental model of how the system works and how they should work with the interface to accomplish their goals. They describe the interface as “unfriendly.”

Table 11.3 Phase Three: Conceptual Model Design

Describe Interaction with New System

In this step, you use scenarios and scripts—a series of steps—to describe how users will do their work with the new software. To create scenarios and scripts, ...