Affordance

• The essential “ability” of an object

• Making it visible is the signifier

• Example: The affordance of a door is “to open”, and its signifier is “the handle”

• Accidental affordance

  • There happens to be a fence with a flat top
  • By itself, it doesn’t have any meaning
  • If someone puts trash on top of it, it becomes the signifier of “being able to place something”
  • Then everyone starts putting trash on it

• Anti-affordance

  • If you make a sign parallel (flat) to the ground, it creates the affordance of “being able to place something”
  • Tilt it slightly to prevent affordance #Design for whom?