Affordance

Affordance is a quality or property of an object that defines its possible uses or makes it clear how it can or should be used. It is one of the critical concepts in UX design.

an example of affordance - cup with a handle
Cup with a handle affords picking up and holding

The term affordance was first introduced in the study of cognition by the American psychologist James J. Gibson in 1960s. Gibson proposed an idea that physical objects conveyed clues about how people could interact with them.

Affordance in UX

The notion of affordance in product and UX design was popularized by Don Norman in his book The Design of Everyday Things.

Norman’s definition of affordance differs from Gibon’s in that he sees affordances as relationships between physical objects and capabilities of a person (or more generally an interacting agent, which can be a machine). For example, a chair affords sitting and lifting. However if person is too weak or too small and cannot lift the chair, the chair wouldn’t afford lifting for that particular person.

In Graphical User Interfaces well designed Calls to Action afford clicking or tapping while poorly designed ones don’t look interactive and thus might be ignored by the users.

Photo by NordWood Themes