The relationship between function and affordance

6th International Conference on Design Computing and Cognition (DCC'14)

Given the lack of agreement on the phenomenological elements of affordance, it is difficult to conduct empirical research to test systematic observations across contexts (e.g., industrial design and interaction design). To address this problem, this paper aims to establish a new understanding of the concept of affordance and its key concepts. Through a critical review of influential articles about affordance, the article identifies some uses and misuses of the concept. Then, a definition of affordance is provided, which delineates its foundational elements. Based on the definition, the article proposes a framework to explain how artefacts acquire affordances through the intentional behaviour of designers, certain material features, and contextual constructions. As a result, this research will contribute a new perspective on affordances that may help designers have predictable control over them when designing end-consumer products.

Function-based design approaches have been criticized for being too narrow to properly guide design. Specifically, they are said to be unable to cope with nonfunctional considerations, such as cost or maintenance issues without invoking other concepts, such as constraints. This paper investigates two alternative conceptualizations of the design process: the practical affordance-based design approach, as elaborated by Maier and Fadel, and the more theoretical use plan approach by Houkes and Vermaas. This paper compares function-, affordance-, and use plan-based design approaches. It highlights strengths and weaknesses of each approach and proposes a definition of the function of an artifact in terms of its affordances.

Design Studies, 2011

Artefacts offer opportunities for action, 'affordances', that can be described on various levels, from manipulations ('pushing a button') to social activities ('dialling a friend'). However, research in design into affordances has not investigated what an 'action' is, nor has it distinguished those levels. This paper addresses the question of which kinds of descriptions can be applied to affordances. Its main claim is that different descriptions can apply to a single affordance. On this claim a descriptionsof-affordances-model is built that shows how these levels are connected, and that specifies what knowledge the artefact user would need in order to perceive affordances under each kind of description. The paper also shows several ways in which the descriptions-of-affordances-model can contribute to affordance-based design.

2004

The word" affordance" was originally invented by the perceptual psychologist JJ Gibson (1977, 1979) to refer to the actionable properties between the world and an actor (a person or animal). To Gibson, affordances are a relationship. They are a part of nature: they do not have to be visible, known, or desirable. Some affordances are yet to be discovered. Some are dangerous. I suspect that none of us know all the affordances of even everyday objects.

2016

Insights: (1) perceived intended affordances refer to affordances that are intended to be perceived in a certain situation by the end user; (2) designing for usability through affordances requires designers to be aware of an object’s perceived intended affordances; (3) intended affordances can be manipulated or thwarted by the visual features of an object, and by other objects in the user’s field of view.

Proceedings of the Design Society: International Conference on Engineering Design, 2019

Maier and Fadel pioneered Affordance-Based Design (ABD) based on Gibson's revolutionary theory of affordances and Norman's deployment of the concept in his book, “The Design of Everyday Things”. Gibson (1979) introduced the affordance concept into the discipline of Ecological Psychology to address the interactions between an object and an agent. The Ecological approach includes the direct perception of affordances for the user along with a consideration of the users’ biomechanics. However, as the concept of affordance was imported and utilized in different disciplines, including engineering design, some important aspects of Ecological theory were omitted.This paper is an attempt to review the definitions and different utilizations of the affordance concept focusing on the design of usable products to identify the different views and the missing elements. After addressing the divergent viewpoints of affordances, we provide recommendations to improve the usability aspects in A...

ABSTRACT In previous work the authors have explored various issues associated with the broad application of the idea of affordance to engineering design. Building on an extensive investigation of the theoretical basis for the application of affordance to design, the authors recently introduced several practical methods for using affordances in design. As with any new design method, the validity of affordance based methods is of course questionable until their efficacy has been satisfactorily shown.

When developing an artifact, designers must first capture and represent consumer needs. These needs can then be transformed into system requirements or objectives. This paper proposes a formalized affordance-based method for capturing consumer needs which leverages previous work in the area of Affordance-based design. The creation of an affordance basis and a relational structure (the Desired Affordance Model) facilitates the use of affordances to represent consumer needs. This formalization has the potential to improve model quality and consistency, while managing model creation time. Further, this formalization imposes a level of abstraction which forces solution independence but is capable of capturing the large range of consumer needs.

Volume 5a: 17th International Conference on Design Theory and Methodology, 2005

Developing usable and desirable products requires an understanding of how users build close relationships with objects and how these relationships can be controlled by developers. This paper discusses the importance of the concept of affordances as an instrument useful for understanding the relationships between technical functions and user tasks. The approach introduces a Function-Task Design Matrix to link technical functions with user tasks and to capture relevant affordance-level requirements throughout the product architecture generation. Functional and Operational Affordance levels are introduced to help determine the product attributes necessary to optimize the ease with which users can undertake technical functions. The paper uses functional language, focusing attention towards the use of the product, rather then merely its workings. The tools for describing affordances are described first, followed by a step-by-step description of how they can be used to improve decisions d...