As shown in the figure below, ménage's interface is partitioned into three separate panels. The panel on the left side lists component types, connector types, and interface types that have been previously defined. Instances of these types can be used to construct new types or modify existing types. The top panel shows the version tree for the architectural element that is currently being defined in the main panel. Simply clicking on one of the version nodes brings up the structure for that version. Finally, the main panel is where actual design of a product line architecture takes place. Ménage provides a large number of different edit operations in support of this activity, ranging from adding components and connectors, to connecting two components via their interfaces, to creating and using sub architectures, and many other kinds of useful functionalities that are customary in architectural design environments.

An important aspect of Ménage is that, during editing, it always displays the type of every architectural element, both in terms of its type name and type version. Rather than relying on a default versioning model such as always using a latest version, use of specific versions of architectural elements allows an architect to precisely control the evolution of a product line architecture in terms of which versions are used, where those versions are used, and when the versions are changed. In the example above , for instance, it is easy and quick to discern that the architect is currently editing WordProcessor component type version 4, and that it in turn consists of instances of versions of other component and connector types (e.g., a User Interface component of type VisualBasic version 1, a Storage component of type FileSystemStorage version 2, etc.). Because connectors and interfaces are visually too small to contain the same level of information, tool tips are used to provide their relevant data (as shown for the interface Print of interface type Top version 1).