APPLICATIONS OF

AFFORDANCE AND
SEMANTICS IN
PRODUCT DESIGN
SUMMARISED REPORT
Aims to clarify the concept and elaborate the role of affordances in the interaction design for physical
products by making parallel comparison to product semantics
APPLICATIONS
OF AFFORDANCE
AND SEMANTICS

APPLICATIONS OF AFFORDANCE AND SEMANTICS IN PRODUCT DESIGN

SYNOPSIS

IN PRODUCT
This study aims to clarify
the concept of
affordance by comparing

DESIGN it with product

semantics from the
SUMMARISED REPORT viewpoint of industrial
design
OBJECTIVE
Affordance plays a significant role in the user-product
interaction. This concept provides a method of
communication between material features to user’s behavior.
It allows designers to focus on the perceptual level
interaction rather high level cognitive interaction like
improving graphics instead of focusing on utility.

DESCRIPTION

AFFORDANCE
Core of affordance concept lies not in design intent but in the
user product interaction.

According to GIBSON the term affordance is used to denote

the use-value of environmental objects taken with reference 1
to the intrinsic physical features of an organism. “The object
offers what it does because it is what it is”. According to him
 the affordance of anything is a specific combination of the properties of its
substance and its substance and its surfaces taken with reference to an animal. For
instance, if an object has a rigid, level, flat, and extended surface, and if it is about
knee-high to the human observer, then it affords sitting-on. These five properties,
rigidity, levelness, flatness, extendedness, and knee-height, are combined to yield a
higher order property for the observer.
APPLICATIONS OF AFFORDANCE AND SEMANTICS IN PRODUCT DESIGN

While CHEMERO argued that affordances were not properties of the environment,
but relations between animals and features of animals or environment.

Similarly to TURVEY affordances were animal relative properties of the environment

that had significance to animal’s action.
‘’AFFORDANCES CANNOT EXIST IN THE ABSENCE OF ANIMALS OR ENVIRONMENT’’

This led to the conclusion-

AFFORDANCE

ENVIRON ACTION
ANIMAL
MENT

 In Industries affordance is defined as a three way relation between users,

objects and actions. AFFORDANCES-can support user action without any pre-
requisite knowledge of user’s memory, inference and further interpretation.
 Designers should pay meaningful interactions between products and users
instead of the abstract form or graphics.
2
PRODUCT SEMANTICS
Study of the symbolic qualities of man-made forms in the context of their use and
application of this knowledge to industrial design. Product is a communication form
that enables reconstruction of intended meanings. Designers used the well-
established design elements such as shape, color, texture, to embody the intended

APPLICATIONS OF AFFORDANCE AND SEMANTICS IN PRODUCT DESIGN

message as form.

Affordance is a form of product semantics. Product semantics aims at design of

things whose affordances cover at least the range of meanings users have in mind.

PRODUCT AFFORDANCES SEMANTIC INTERPRETATION

USER’S COGNITIVE MODEL PERCEIVABLE CHARACTERS AND FEATURES

LIKE METAMORPHICAL SIGNS AND SYMBOLS

Product semantics concept offers not physically manipulating what a product could
offer its user’s but was controlling how users perceived a product.

AFFORDANCE CONCEPT AND PRODUCT SEMANTICS

PRODUCT SEMANTICS AFFORDANCES

Assumption of Mediated perception Direct interpretation

perception

Meanings of product Users cognitive Action possibilities based

interpretation of product on objective conditions

Content of interaction Perceivable information Physical action in

in product reference to users
capability

The purpose of design Providing information to Providing the utility

express the usage structure to facilitate 3
function. certain user behaviors
 Methods of actualization Following convention to Adopting ergonomic and
apply symbolic metaphors anthropometrical data to
modify product utility

The role of designer design of product Manipulating physical

appearance and interface properties and regulate
to assist understanding user behavior
APPLICATIONS OF AFFORDANCE AND SEMANTICS IN PRODUCT DESIGN

Concept of affordance challenges designers to avoid the reliance on symbols and

cultural conventions in designs.

Affordances exist or not they are perceived because it is inherited property.

PERCEPTIBLE FALSE REJECTIONS HIDDEN

CONCLUSION
Concept of affordance encourages designers to utilize embodied interactions as a
product functions, underlying affordances can exist regardless of perception.

FUTURE RESEARCHS
 Understanding how designers incorporate different design features into an
intended interaction, how design intent affect selection of product
4 features.
 Possible problem management or enhancement among affordances,
perceptual information and symbols in interaction design.
 Using the three axis framework of affordance, perceptual information and
symbol in interaction design.
 And conducting surveys for evaluating user response in the design
modifications

APPLICATIONS OF AFFORDANCE AND SEMANTICS IN PRODUCT DESIGN