What problem does it solve?
Prevents design mistakes that happen when software borrows physical-space navigation metaphors (rooms, doors, paths, maps) but maps their behaviors inconsistently, causing users to feel lost or mistrust the interface.
Core Features & Use Cases
- Metaphor selection validation: Apply a three-condition test (user familiarity, behavioral consistency, and unique cognitive value) to decide whether a physical metaphor will actually help.
- Backfire diagnosis: Identify common failure modes such as metaphor/behavior mismatch, forced metaphors, cross-cultural assumptions, and mixing incompatible metaphor systems.
- Practical metaphor guidance: Evaluate fit and implications for common spatial patterns (rooms/channels/spaces, boards/lanes/cards, folders/trees/hierarchies, maps/canvases, stacks/decks/stories) including anti-patterns and heuristics.
- Design review readiness: Use the provided heuristics to audit naming, validate behavior against physical-world expectations, and run a new-user metaphor test.
- Related context: Links the sub-skill to the broader
wayfinding framework and neighboring sub-skills like search/recovery and breadcrumbs/context.
Quick Start
Use the wayfinding-physical-spatial-metaphors skill to review an app shell and navigation metaphors by asking which metaphor (rooms, boards, folders, maps, stacks) best matches the user’s mental model and whether entry/exit behaviors stay consistent.
