Blog 05 Affordances
This is my fifth blog and this blog is about the concept of ‘affordances’.
What is affordance?
This is a short and very old video of Donald Norman explaining the concept of affordance.
Affordances refers to the possible interaction between people and other objects in this world. It is not only about the properties of item, but also about the possible relationship between people and item, which is determined by the attributes of the object and the ability of the subject interacting with it.
This term can be traced back to ecological psychologist, James Gibson, who explain the congruent relationship between organisms and the environment by the observations of ecological psychology. The characteristics of the substances in the natural environment can be intuitively perceived, and such information usually communicate on a visual level. For example, mountains can be climbed for animals, and rocks can be thrown.
Donald A. Norman introduce the concept of ‘affordances’ into the domain of design. That is about how well-designed objects convey important information to people that they can interact with. Such as a sliding door at the entrance of a shopping mall, people can either push or pull the door to enter the mall. At this time, there are two kinds of ‘affordances’ of pushing and pulling between people and the door, which is caused by the combination of the physical characteristics of the door and human perception.
Some thoughts may appear in minds when people see an object. What can i do with it or how should i use it. It means that people are thinking about the way of interacting with objects. The visible affordance provide powerful clues for people to manipulate. For example, a wooden chair can be picked up or moved because it is made of wood, which means it is not too heavy. It seems that it provides a flat area which is large enough to hold a person’s buttock. And the structure of the chair looks relatively stable to carry a person’s weight, so people can sit on a chair. This is also a perceived affordance that help people understand what actions can be taken. However, people cannot use chairs to cook or sweet the floor, because the chair are too bulky to cook and lack the structure for a certain purpose. It knows that something is not used for a certain purpose without thinking because it is obvious.
The affordances of an iPad
- Typing and taking notes
- Viewing images
- Watching videos like watching tv
- Making video calls with family members
- Checking weather and the date
- Drawing sketches or illustration