(Illustrated above) An architect groups together a series of elements in her building modeling application and identifies it as a new type of window assembly. The newly grouped object maintains easily recognizable linkages to several important functional properties as well as her early notes on its proposed construction.

A scientist deletes a set of clinical samples from the scope of a specific report in her analysis application. The report dynamically updates with a notation that certain data has been removed from its contents and that the excluded data is still persistently available in the database.

A financial trader uses his trading application to group together differing quantities of several different securities into a large deal proposal. He then divides the contents of the proposal into three different categories based on the estimated values of each line item.

What linkages between artifacts do targeted individuals currently manage in the tasks and larger activities that your team is striving to mediate?

How do people think about these relationships? What nomenclature do they currently use to describe different associations and connections between artifacts?

What default linkages and hierarchies of interaction objects are implied within your team’s application concepts?

What implicit associations between objects might be created through the attribution of similar traits across multiple object instances?

In what scenario contexts might it be valuable to allow workers to group selected interaction objects together into larger structures?

What goal directed pathways of action could be made available based on the presence or absence of certain object associations?

How might certain user selections and actions trace through the linkages that your team has envisioned?

What conventions might you apply throughout your product to promote consistent and understandable behaviors in object relationships?

How might clear conceptual models for different types of object linkages be communicated within your functionality concepts?

How could legible design communication prevent unexpected effects via unseen connections?

How might your team’s ideas about object associations inspire you to ideate valuable new interactions and representational forms?

Do you have enough information to usefully answer these and other envisioning questions? What additional research, problem space models, and design concepting could valuably inform your team’s application envisioning efforts?