Design is not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works.

—Steve Jobs

DDQ MON 2020-08-24 @ 12:40 PM

1. Affordances, Signifiers, and Design Fails

1.1. Agenda

  1. General Announcements

    • F2F availability begins MON 08-31.

  2. Term Project: Milestone 0: IRB Training

    • Why is this important?

  3. Activity

1.2. Activity

1.2.1. Introduction

Duration: \(\sim\) 5 minutes

The affordances of the environment are what it offers the animal, what it provides or furnishes, either for good or ill. The verb to afford is found in the dictionary, the noun affordance is not. I have made it up. I mean by it something that refers to both the environment and the animal in a way that no existing term does. It implies the complementarity of the animal and the environment.

—James J. Gibson, The Ecological Approach to Visual Perception (1967)

anti-affordance

A relationship between the properties of an object and the capabilities of the agent that can result in the prevention of interaction.

design fail

A design that is low value or that destroys value.

Example

two cabinet drawers that prevent each other from openning fully

1.2.2. Breakout Rooms

Duration: \(\sim\) 20 minutes

  1. Quickly introduce yourselfs to each other, if you don’t already know each other.

  2. Find a design fail that your group likes, then respond to the following in a followup discussion here.

    Important

    It should go without saying, but please keep it mostly safe for school/work.

    1. Include a picture of the design fail, and briefly describe the product or system (e.g., it’s a kitchen cabinet).

    2. List properties, affordances, and signifiers for the product or system using the definitions provided in [Book:2].

    3. What exactly failed? Be sure to frame your answer using elements from (a) and (b).

    4. List the names of your breakout group members.

  3. Pick a group representative. This person will briefly share your group’s design fail to the class. No pressure, seriously!

1.2.3. Back in Class

Duration: \(\sim\) 20 minutes

  1. When asked, all group representatives should type rep into chat.

  2. The instructor may ask group representatives to present by name or simply ask that they present in the order they’re listed in chat.

1.3. Statistics

1.3.1. Participant Counts

  • F2F: 0

  • Zoom: 64