Dont get me wrong, I love what I do. But Ive quietly opined to close friends from time to irregular time how I miss my first career as an underwear model. Thanks to this UB project, Im a model once more. A Mental Supermodel, that is. Youll forgive the lack of an accompanying graphic (my salad days are over) as I explain….
Grouping began roughly four weeks ago. Roughly 50 interviews, each with roughly 60 nuggets each (3,000-ish nuggets total), to be sorted into towers and mental spaces that make up the mental models for our audiences.
Indis gentle guidance kept us on track through this part of the process. Notes from our training sessions with her:
My humble additions:
We started grouping together as one large group, working virtually in half-day sessions to get a rhythm and develop some shared sensibilities. Then, to move things along, we divided up into two groups, the Honeycombers and the Mental Supermodels (guess which team I was on!). And for the last stretch, we broke into three teams to finish things up.
And at phase end, weve got four mental models: a matchseeker/pathfinder model, a pulsetaker/prideful belonger/active supporter model, a health solution seeker model, and an IT solution seeker model. And I must admit, I let out a sigh of quiet relief at the conclusion of building each diagram out (a process made infinitely easier by the drag-and-drop diagram capabilities of OmniOutliner and OmniGraffle). Its sort of like being allowed to exhale while the photographer reloads.
Next week, previews of the new models to the information architecture team. Welcome (back) to the catwalk!
Voltaire Santos Miran EVP, Web Strategy I've developed and implemented communication strategies in education for more than 20 years now. I think my team at mStoner is the smartest, funniest, and coolest group of colleagues ever, and I can't imagine being anywhere else. Except Barcelona. Or Paris. Or Istanbul. To quote Isak Dinesen, "the cure for everything is salt ... tears, sweat, and the sea."