I know too much about my own project
When I open Culture Atlas, I already know what the buttons mean, what is in the database and where I want to go.
A new visitor knows none of that.
So I looked at the Atlas page again and asked a different question: if I had never seen this before, what would I think I am supposed to do?
The first instruction is a question
The page begins with “Where will you explore?” and then says to choose a place and follow its languages, communities, traditions and stories.
I like that because it gives the map a job. It is not just decoration. The map is meant to be an entrance into the connections.
But there are many ways to begin
The current Atlas also lets a visitor switch between a map and a list of places. On the map there are filters for stories, languages, communities, traditions, people and deities. There can also be ways to explore heritage networks and time periods.
That is powerful, but it creates another question: how much choice should I show before someone has made their first discovery?
The map gives small clues
The interface says “Tap a place · Zoom in to reveal more.” When several places are close together, the map groups them and asks the visitor to zoom in. A selected place can then become a path to a fuller page.
These little instructions matter. A map with no clues can feel like homework: you can see everything, but you do not know what to do.
I am still not a new user
Trying to imagine a first visit is useful, but I cannot actually erase what I know about my own project.
So this entry can identify possible problems, not prove that the first screen is clear. Only watching people who did not build Culture Atlas can give me that evidence.
The reader changes the design
In English, I have to think about what the reader already knows and what needs explaining first. A map has an audience too. Geography may make the map meaningful to me, but the interface still has to help another learner understand what the map is asking them to do.
The first screen is for the reader, not the builder
A first screen should not try to explain the whole project. It should make the first action feel obvious.
For Culture Atlas, I think that first action is discovery: choose somewhere, notice something, then follow a connection.
What I'm figuring out next
Now I want to follow that first click. Once someone chooses a place, does the next page make them more curious—or give them too much information at once?
Follow the build
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