Mapping The Conversation
A tool that I end up using on nearly every project is the “Conversation Map.” I wrote a while ago about treating product interactions as conversations, and this is one of the simple-yet-key ways I use to make sure the interaction make sense and follows the conversational rules we all expect.
Here’s a simple example: what does the interaction between a vending machine and a customer look like? I put together a quick conversation map:
That’s it - nothing fancy about it. A conversation map just shows the back-and-forth of information that makes up most every product interaction. It makes clear the points where the consumer needs to know something, like, “yes, I got your money and you did it right” — the sorts of feedback that are often overlooked by product designers. A map like this one also shows opportunities to give some extra information, as in, “I’m working right now and there’ll be a brief wait.” That’s the sort of information a consumer needs to avoid feeling like a product is broken or, worse, that he’s made a mistake.
A useful trick for creating a map like this is to have two people act it out — to play the part of consumer and product. If both participants in an interaction are people, how would a polite conversation go? Map that out, and see what it means to have your product follow the same path.
Product interactions are conversations, and the Conversation Map exists to help designers understand how well they’re playing by the rules.
Question for you: How well does your product follow the rules of polite conversation?
