Affordances- Donald Norman

Understanding Donald Norman

We believe that the term Affordance in how it relates to Don Norman’s work and philosophy can be defined or described as follows:

The word "affordance" was originally invented by psychologist J. J. Gibson in the late 70’s to refer to the actionable properties between the world and a person or animal that he referred to as an actor.

Then user-engineering Don Norman used the term “affordance“ in the context of product design, and how the design of an object suggests its use.

This is what the interface designer should care about: Does the user perceive that clicking on that object is a meaningful, useful action, with a known outcome?

The perceived affordance of an object (or interface element) is determined by factors including:

• Context: the environment or process in which the element is displayed.
• Culture: the influence of societal ‘norms’ on the individual’s understanding and use of an object.
• Instinct: the user’s understanding and expectations of interaction with the object.

For example, in the context of a website, the perceived affordance of underlined text is that it indicates a hyperlink; and, that when followed (clicked on), the user will link to information that relates to the hyperlinked word or phrase.

“When you first see something you have never seen before, how do you know what to do? The answer, I decided, was that the required information was in the world: the appearance of the device could provide the critical clues required for its proper operation”. (Dr. Donald Norman)

Affordances is basically USABILITY & FORSEEN OUTCOME.

These were the web resources most helpful to our understanding of the term Affordance as it relates to Dr. Norman and his work:

Name of Link: Affordance - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.url
URL One: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Affordance
Information about the Link: Showing how different definitions of affordance have developed.

Name of Link: definition perceived affordance Motive Web Design Glossary.url
URL Two: http://www.motive.co.nz/glossary/perceived-affordance.php
Information about the Link: This one is showing how Don Norman used the term affordance in the context of product design, and how the design of an object suggests its use.

Name of Link: Affordances — SSRC
URL Three: http://mediaresearchhub.ssrc.org/icdc-content-folder/affordance/
Information about the Link: The term affordances relates to the “utility” of designed objects, which can be described as its appropriateness or capabilities for use in relation to the efficiency of its technological or material factors.