Affordance

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The potential functions or uses that objects or environments imply through their design provide insights into how they may be effectively engaged with in various contexts
2. The features or attributes of objects and settings that indicate their possible interactions reveal the ways in which individuals can manipulate or utilize them
3. The characteristic of an object or environment that suggests how it can be used or interacted with

Etymology: The word was coined in 1977 by the American psychologist James J. Gibson, who needed a term for something ecological psychology had been circling without naming: the properties of an object or environment that tell an animal what it can do with it. Gibson built it from "afford," in its older sense of offering or providing, plus the suffix "-ance," so an affordance is literally a provision the surroundings make available. A flat stone affords sitting, a handle affords gripping, and the offer exists whether or not anyone notices it. The term stayed largely within perception research until 1988, when the cognitive scientist Donald Norman adopted it in his writing on human-machine interaction. Norman was concerned with doors and control panels that failed to show how they should be used, and he applied the idea to design. In his hands the word shifted from a feature of the environment itself toward a relationship between a person and an object, which is the sense most designers use today.

Synonyms: opportunity, possibility, capability, potential, feature

Antonyms: limitation, constraint, inability, restriction, impediment