Just a snack, a morsel really
A quick summary of affordances — and their importance in usability
This article is day 27 of a 31 day series. A mash-up of the Inktober 2022 prompt list and UX terminology. Read more about the challenge here.
Day 27 | Inktober prompt: Snack | UX Term: Affordance
Made up words are like a snack for your brain
Affordance is a fun word. It’s relatively new as far as you know, words go. About half a century ago a psychologist just made it up. I mean, if there’s a need, you do what you gotta do. I don’t think he new at the time that it would be commonly used as a big part of usability for user interfaces. But who knows? I mean, The Simpsons predicted President Trump.
What is an affordance?
An affordance is defined by Merriam-Webster as “the quality or property of an object that defines its possible uses or makes clear how it can or should be used.”
Don Norman described it as “a relationship between the properties of an object and the capabilities of the agent that determine just how the object could possibly be used.” I think the best example I came across was a tea cup. The handle affords being held. The dip in the cup, affords being able to contain something.
Please note, I have no idea if I used that correctly, but hopefully you understood what I was saying. Am I allowed to make up how a made up word is used? I hope so.
When we see something we don’t just see an object that is taking up space, we see the possibilities.
Why is it important to UX?
In UX we want designs that will support the needs of users. If a user sees your design and can immediately perceive what is possible based on affordances, then the user experience is greatly improved.
A perfect example is a button. In the early days, buttons relied heavily on beveling and shadows to give depth and help buttons to stand out from the background and to give the appearance that they could be pressed. As users became more accustomed to buttons as a part of user interfaces, they could be simplified yet still understood. So even when we’re designing element that are less common, we can apply these same principles and reap the benefits of understanding how users perceive affordances.
