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Creating memory models for users: a helpful guide to learning theory
How memorability improves the rate of learning and how you can design for it
Learning is something that our users must do every time they interact with something: whether it is the apps we design or the software we improve, learning occurs when a user’s mental model is tested against an existing system and must change to better utilize the existing system.
By engaging with an external source, our users actively make connections in their brains in order to understand the information that they are processing.
The most important thing about users in regards to their systems of learning is that they are always learning. By engaging with an external source, users actively make connections in their brains in order to understand the information that they are processing.
With this basic understanding of brain activity in mind, we can dive deeper into a methodology that guides how we can better design systems that help users learn. While users come from different backgrounds and possess different skillsets, we can apply universal standards of learning adopted from psychology, schema development, and even andragogy, the art and science of helping adults learn.
Learning is the sweet spot of usability
To learn, a user needs to be encouraged by some form of stimuli. This is how learning — or better yet, the act of learning — becomes the sweet spot in which usability is achieved. The act of learning occurs when there are 3 key factors at play:
- Changes in knowledge, behavior, and understanding occur. When users make connections between new information and their existing knowledge, changes occur in the form of different uses of the system they interact with. For example, consider how people react when Facebook launched Reactions instead of sticking with the Like based system. Behaviors changed to suit the new feature — now, people…
