In honor of our theme of affordance this week I decided to make my post a pictorial one. Even though each of the following objects are things that we use everyday, because of unusual design their actual identities may not be readily apparent. Let's see how many you can identify using the Norman definition of affordance. If that logic fails, try Gibson's.
Norman: When actual and perceived properties are combined, an affordance emerges as a relationship that holds between the object and the individual that is acting on the object (Norman 1999).
Gibson: An affordance according to Gibson exists relative to the action capabilities of particular actors. Therefore, to a thief an open window can have an affordance of "climbing through" (and subsequently stealing something), but not so to a child who is not tall enough to reach the window and therefore does not have the action possibility.
My guesses are teapots or faucets ... I think. Interesting to do the post w/ pictures. As, I was reading the texts I do wondered if either author considered artistic expression.
ReplyDeleteNICE! See this is what I'm talking about. Many people enjoy taking aesthetic pleasure in their objects. Many people enjoy the whimsical, colorful, ironic, clever, cool, or shiny.Other people want simple functionality and don't really care about that stuff.
ReplyDeleteI'm partial to the adorable, colorful, or shiny which is why I would choose a Pinocchio funnel if I had a need for a funnel. And I think the pull-top bottle opener is pretty darn cool.
sorry for not playing along! short on time...just wanted to point out an interesting idea I recently came across--your post illustrates it quite clearly--that is, that the affordance of a thing is very different than the affordance of a picture of that thing. In real space, I'm sure your objects could be identified much easier.
ReplyDeleteCheers