Affordance theory and "behavioral guidance"
American perceptual psychologist James Gibson (James Jerome Gibson) put forward the theory of Direct Perception (Theory of Direct Perception) attempts to explain the relationship between humans and objects from the perspective of ecological psychology. ecological psychology perspective to explain the deep interaction between humans and objects and its principles. In The Ecological Approach to Visual Perception, published in 1979, he first proposed the theory of Affordance, which emphasizes that animals in an ecological environment instinctively perceive substances based on the information given by the environment. The values and meanings contained in the environment provide the conditions for animals to act, regardless of whether they are beneficial or not. Different objects and environments provide different messages to animals, and animals rely on these messages to provide behavioral feedback to their surroundings. It is worth considering that Gibson's theory of Affordance has had a significant impact on subsequent product design research. Among them, Japan's achievement in this area is particularly outstanding, which is manifested in the in-depth study of this theory and the resulting new direction of design style. Representative figures include scholar Masato Sasaki and designer Naoto Fukasawa. The reason why Affordance Theory has had a considerable impact in the field of product design is that it has changed people's inherent understanding of the relationship between people and products. In the past, designers focused more on how to attract users' attention with the dazzling appearance and various functions of a product, rather than guiding people to develop natural behaviors. Based on Affordance's concept of product design, we emphasize on stimulating the user's sense of autonomy, forming an easy access for all with simple and plain appearance and reasonable function orientation, and forming an environmentally friendly attitude towards the appearance of the product.
Figure 1
Figure 2
Explaining the conditions of the Affordance principle. Take the act of sitting. First of all, level, flat, sufficient area, and weight-bearing surface material are the basic Affordance to provide the behavior of "sitting"; for example, a number of stumps cut down in the forest, if one of them has a relatively flat and wide surface, it may be regarded as a temporary resting place for sitting. Regardless of the animal, a flat stump provides the behavioral condition of "sitting". This is due to the fact that it essentially fulfills the function of the behavior. On the other hand, whether or not an animal is able to judge Affordance based on what it sees with its eyes will depend on the scope of its attention to the environment and its ability to synthesize information. In the cognitive science of robotics, it has been found that one of the remarkable abilities of the human brain that distinguishes it from machines is its ability to anticipate the danger information provided by the environment. Humans have the ability to synthesize and react quickly to potential information that machines do not have. This human ability to synthesize complex connections between things is what makes Affordance's research so valuable. For example, grass can provide animals with the Affordance of "sitting", while the floating weeds in the water pools of forests often have appearance characteristics close to grass, but most animals can instinctively judge the difference between them and the real grass. Several other Affordance factors are possible here. One is the vague appearance of traces of water in the floating grass (Fig. 1), a phenomenon that would suggest to the animal the true material character of the surface. Another is that the relationship of the flotsam to natural objects, such as trees, suggests that the surface may produce an accumulation of water rather than a uniform hard surface (Figure 2). Thus a misinterpretation of Affordance may result if the animal's focus on the environment is narrowed to the localization of the flotsam (Figure 3).
Figure 3
The main questions that need to be clarified when using Affordance theory to guide design practice are: how can the advice given by the environment be respected and used to guide ideal human behavior patterns? And how can this be applied to design? Several pioneers in the application of Affordance Theory to design, such as the American cognitive psychologist Donald A. Norman and the scholar Krippendorff, introduced the concept to design, but not entirely on the basis of Gibson's direct perception theory. Rather, they added the claims of cognitive brain science. Donald A. Norman, in his book "The design of everyday things", emphasized the application of Affordance theory in design, but did not mention much about the specific methods of applying it to product design. His research field focuses more on human-computer interaction in the design of virtual interfaces for products. American computer science researcher Hartson put forward the concept of Physical Affordance in 2003, which specifically "refers to the ability to provide Affordance that is helpful to the user's operation; for example, a button that is large enough in size and placed in an easy-to-use location is easy for the user to press. For example, a button that is large enough and in a position that is easy for the user to press is Physical Affordance."
Many designers have misinterpreted Affordance to mean that they want to use their design efforts to induce users to buy. However, in terms of the nature of Affordance as proposed by Gibson, the message is not intended to be sensory-inducing to the animal, but only objectively has the potential to provide the conditions for action. Here "providing conditions for action" includes two different ways, one is to pursue the variety of functions, and the other is to send out fewer messages waiting to be interpreted. Even though many products contain a variety of functions, they often fail to satisfy people's diverse needs. The reason is that different individuals have different ways of interpreting environmental information. Take a cup as an example, it can be used to hold water, or to insert a pen, while some people simply appreciate the pattern on its surface, or some people use it as a cigarette holder. Functionality exists only according to the specific context of use. In addition, if we design outdoor play equipment for children, we need to take into account the creative nature of children, and make the design have a variety of interpretation possibilities.
Second, ordinary products and hidden design
In June 2006, Japanese designer Naoto Fukasawa and British designer Jasper Morrison held a design exhibition called "Super Normal" at Tokyo's Axis Gallery. "Super Normal", meaning "normal to the extreme", was an exhibition of products that are taken for granted in everyday life. Both designers believe that the more attention a product attracts, the better, and that it is important to discover the beauty of the ordinary in everyday life.
Feelings about things come from within. The answer to this can be found in James Gibson's theory of direct perception. Naoto Fukasawa found a design philosophy of ordinary beauty in the theory of Affordance, which is expressed as follows:
"The common point of these designs is that they do not stand out in life, nor do they have any claim or sense of existence, but they contain a lot of affordance that can be adapted to a variety of situations, such as a chair that can be 'sat down', 'sat down', 'sat down', 'sat down', or 'sat down', or 'sat down', and so on. Like a chair that can be used to 'sit down', 'put things down', 'hang things up', etc., it has many functions. ------ Good design is usually in the allegiance that is unconsciously extracted. A good design usually contains the nature that is particularly significant in a certain situation, and is integrated into the flow of unconscious behavior, and is seldom associated with subjectivity such as impressions. It is used unconsciously to fulfill its function, and appeals to the conscious mind for impressions that are not strong."
The meaning that he articulates here is twofold. One is the possibility that an object can provide people with more than one behavioral condition; the other is that the multiple functions of an object should be well hidden under a simple appearance without attracting strong attention, i.e., "hidden design".
The environment contains all the information needed and the "natural design" that can be utilized.
The environment is understood to mean everything that exists apart from the self, and implicitly, the functions that can be utilized. Animals draw their information from the environment and the means to survive from it. Humans are born with the same survival instincts as animals, and the ability to turn elements of the environment into usable objects. Even untrained people know how to utilize the objects around them for convenient use. For example, a branch picked up by a hiker becomes a walking stick. Humans seem to have this value judgment of objects from birth. The functions needed in life are not realized through complete products. The interrelationships formed between things can often be used by people as well.
An interesting example of a default structure that can be effectively utilized (Figure 4). The apartment doorway has rubber feet to limit the angle of opening and closing in order to keep the glass door closed at all times. This creates problems for users who need to enter and exit frequently. The dot texture protruding from the underside of the glass door fulfills the function of keeping it open for a short period of time. One effectively solves this problem by utilizing the height difference between the small stones and the dots to form a barrier. Similarly, the function is accomplished without creating unnecessary products. The polka dot texture on the floor appears as a decorative pattern, but when it is needed, it has a useful value, which is a case of the product disappearing into the environment.
Figure 4
Another example is the "headrest" for temporary rest on a train. Passengers fall asleep on the train seat not by the backrest with good shape, but by the angle formed between the seats. By adjusting the angle of the seat back, a point of rest for the head is created. When the person leaves, the seat returns to its original shape and the function disappears (Figure 5).
Figure 5
Another example is Figure 6, a wall with a ring texture effect. Someone has hung an umbrella with a long handle on it. At first glance, this is a slightly dramatic scene, but on reflection it makes sense, as the ring provides the basic function of hanging an umbrella. The scene in Figure 7 is also familiar, as the joints between plates create a natural chopstick rest, and we have a habit of placing our chopsticks there temporarily. When the dishes are taken away, the function disappears.
Figure 6
Figure 7
It was said above that humans have an innate ability to interpret information about their environment. And the reason why Gibson's theory is called direct perception theory is because it emphasizes the instinctive judgment of human subconscious senses. Even when the linguistic information of human rational judgment appears, this direct perception still shows its priority of information capture. Figure 8 shows the door of a restaurant. The handle of the door does not have the behavioral condition of pulling, and the door is thick and heavy, making it more inconvenient to push and pull. When the left and right doors are in a slight back-and-forth state as shown in the figure, it is observed that most people will subconsciously choose to gently push the left part of the door and slightly pull the right part of the door in order to form the most energy-saving gap for the body to pass through. This is even though the verbal guidance message "Pull" appears above the handle. When the two doors were aligned, it was observed that most people followed the verbal instructions to pull on the door, even though it obviously took more effort to do so. From a deeper psychological analysis, people will subconsciously feel that this structural state means that most people enter by pushing, which objectively creates such an appearance. It is clear that human beings have a powerful instinct for the direct perception of environmental information.
Figure 8
Three, the application of Affordance theory in product design
The consistency between the information provided by the environment and the behavioral goals reflects the intrinsic requirements of product design.
The environmental information proposed by the principle of Affordance lies in the implicit presentation of the purpose, and it is not an intervention in the user's behavior. It is another way of thinking about product design, based on the expression of a small amount of information, which can be used to explain the deeper meaning of the use.
Figure 9 shows the author's design of a "tilted cup". Usually the cup needs to be drained after being washed, and if the cup is inverted, it is easy to breed bacteria in the mouth, and if it is placed in the front direction, it is not conducive to the outflow of stagnant water. What would happen if the mouth is not used as a support point? With this problem, I tried to make the upper end of the handle beveled, and the whole cup with the handle as a support to stand diagonally on the table. After repeated tests and production, the design was finally completed. The straight and tilted handle guides the user to produce the correct operation method from the shape, and the whole shape of the cup is characterized by this, and there is no other visual interference.
Figure 9 (Winner of the 2012 Red Dot Concept Award)
The design in Figure 10 is the author's packaging design for a tilting cup. As the whole package is wrapped with plastic film on the outside, the issue of convenience arises when opening it. Imagine if you get a set of plastic wrapped tableware how would you open it? Many people choose to poke them with chopsticks! This is a slightly more violent method, but there is some justification for it. Using this principle, we chose to use the depression in the box in the shape of the handle as a breakthrough for opening the box by hand, which is convenient and does not cause any damage to the box. The depression in the handle was originally utilized as a stylistic device, but has become a hint of information that implicitly guides the opening of the package.
Figure 10 (Winner of the iF packaging design award, Germany, 2015)
Figure 11 shows a dashboard design for a car. Usually the function of the dashboard is to display various driving parameters, such as speed, fuel level, distance traveled and so on. The most important feature of this dashboard is that it can remind the driver to control the speed of the car. This dashboard uses GPS technology to change the color of the dashboard display from blue to red when the car's speed exceeds the current road speed limit, reminding the driver to pay attention. According to Affordance Theory, human beings are instinctively responsive to signals from the environment. The dynamic color change of the instrument panel repeatedly reminds the driver to form an alert to the speeding problem. Although it is possible for a person in normal physiological state to avoid such information for a short period of time, it is difficult to get rid of the instinctive concern for safety, which is an important factor in the formation of the function of this design.
Figure 11 (Winner of the 2012 German Red Dot Concept Award)
The design shown in Figure 12 is a transparent adhesive tape. Unlike ordinary tapes, the dark-colored parts on the left and right sides of this tape do not contain glue. When we use transparent tape, we often have trouble finding the tear on the top of the tape. Even if you do find it, it's difficult to tell which way to go or you may damage the tape at the beginning. By observing and touching the edges of the tape with different softness, it helps us to find the beginning of the tape quickly.
Figure 12 (Winner of the 2013 Red Dot Concept Award)
The Affordance Principle describes the laws of human behavior as a purely informational process that relies on the natural instincts of human beings. The function of a product is to be used by people, and its design path exists in the reverse interpretation of the instinctive response that people have to it. This reaction should be spontaneous, free, and not be forced to induce and intervene. The traditional way of thinking about product design relies more on the designer's initial conception of the product than on objective feedback from users. The choices made by the users from their different ways of interpreting information should be characterized by a wide range of needs. It is also this point that determines the inherent requirement for products to provide a variety of optional forms. Because the correspondence between human and object information interaction does not only stay in the traditional understanding of the object, but may be transformed into a relationship, a trace or a way of being recognized. This allows us to enter a whole new era in understanding the relationship between people, objects, and the environment.