korrents

← People and their mental models

Jason Fried's mental models

2 claims Jason Fried made fit 2 mental models. Most often: Affordances and signifiers, Design is how it works. Everything they said here.

Models they name

Their own words name the idea.

Affordances and signifiers

An interface should show what can be done and where, and give people a model of how it works.

Others who think with this model

Don NormanAmelia WattenbergerJakob NielsenMeaghan ChoiNikita ProkopovRaph Kosterand 1 more

Open the model page

The original Cuisinart, with its two paddle buttons and clear affordances, was peak interface design, and it has been downhill from there.

  1. Jason Fried Co-founder and CEO of 37signals (Basecamp, HEY) Big flat toggle buttons under satisfying tension. Clear affordances. You push them down, not in. One click catches, one doesn't. You can use them with bare hands, oven mitts, fingers coated in slippery whatever. Doesn't matter. Plenty of surface area. Outstanding design. It's all been downhill from there. Great design was a Cuisinartworld.hey.com · 14 Jan 2026
    Their wordsBig flat toggle buttons under satisfying tension. Clear affordances. You push them down, not in. One click catches, one doesn't. You can use them with bare hands, oven mitts, fingers coated in slippery whatever. Doesn't matter. Plenty of surface area. Outstanding design. It's all been downhill from there.

    ↗Great design was a Cuisinartworld.hey.com

    14 Jan 2026

Models we see in what they say

Our reading: their claim applies the idea without naming it. The claim is theirs; filing it here is ours.

Design is how it works

Judge a design by what it does for the person using it, not only by how it looks.

Others who think with this model

Dieter RamsAndy MadrickEdward TufteJulie ZhuoRyan SingerSusan Kare

Open the model page

The most interesting design is design that changes your behaviour, more than what something looks like or how it works.

  1. Jason Fried Co-founder and CEO of 37signals (Basecamp, HEY) In some cases, design is what something looks like. In other cases, design is how something works. But the most interesting designs to me are when design changes your behavior. Even the smallest details can change how someone interacts with something. When design drives behaviorworld.hey.com · 7 Oct 2025
    Their wordsIn some cases, design is what something looks like. In other cases, design is how something works. But the most interesting designs to me are when design changes your behavior. Even the smallest details can change how someone interacts with something.

    ↗When design drives behaviorworld.hey.com

    7 Oct 2025