Users do not experience your interface. They experience their idea of your interface. A mental model is the internal representation a person builds of how a system works, based on prior experience, observation, and inference. Don Norman popularised this concept in "The Design of Everyday Things" (1988), distinguishing between the designer's mental model (how the system actually works), the user's mental model (how the user thinks it works), and the system image (what the interface communicates). When these three align, interaction is intuitive. When they diverge, errors are inevitable.
Mental Model
Designing systems that match how users already expect them to work
A
Designers Academy
27 August 2025 · 5 min read
UXPrinciples
In brief
A mental model is a user's internal representation of how a system works, built from prior experience, observation, and inference, which dictates their interaction and expectations with an interface.
