TermCraft conventionFoundational
Conceptual Model
How the designers wish you would think the product works.
Definition
The model of a system that a designer intends users to form, communicated only through the system image.
Craft convention. True because the industry converged on it. Breaking it costs familiarity, not correctness.
In plain language
How the designers wish you would think the product works.
Example
A tool designed around documents and folders is offering a conceptual model that users already hold from file systems.
Continue from here
Each link says what the connection is, so you can tell a principle from an alternative from a thing people mix this up with.
Deeper reading
The full entry behind this definition.
- Match Between System and the Real WorldHeuristic
- Mental ModelsMental model
Nearby in the Atlas
Adjacent territory, found through shared tags rather than a stated link.