Affordance, conventions, and design

Subscribe (Full Service)


	Search: The ACM Digital Library The Guide

	Feedback

Affordance, conventions, and design

Full text

Html (20 KB), Pdf

Pdf (203 KB)

Source

interactions archive
Volume 6 , Issue 3 (May/June 1999) table of contents

Pages: 38 - 43

Year of Publication: 1999

ISSN:1072-5520

Author

Donald A. Norman

Nielsen Norman Group

Publisher

ACM New York, NY, USA

Bibliometrics

Downloads (6 Weeks): 156, Downloads (12 Months): 1207, Citation Count: 49

Additional Information:

references cited by index terms review collaborative colleagues

Tools and Actions:	Request Permissions Review this Article Save this Article to a Binder Display Formats: BibTeX EndNote ACM Ref

DOI Bookmark:	Use this link to bookmark this Article: http://doi.acm.org/10.1145/301153.301168 What is a DOI?

REFERENCES

Note: OCR errors may be found in this Reference List extracted from the full text article. ACM has opted to expose the complete List rather than only correct and linked references.

	1	Gibson, J. j. "The Theory of Affordances." In R. E. Shaw & J. Bransford (eds.), Perceiving, Acting, and Knowing. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Hillsdale, NJ, 1977.
	2	Gibson, J. J. The Ecological Approach to Visual Perception. Houghton Mifflin, Boston, 1979.
	3	Jakob Nielsen, Usability Engineering, Morgan Kaufmann Publishers Inc., San Francisco, CA, 1993
	4	Jakob Nielsen , Robert L. Mack, Usability inspection methods, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., New York, NY, 1994
	5	Norman, D. a. The Psychology of Everyday Things. Basic Books, New York, 1988. In paperback as The Design of Everyday Things. Doubleday, New York, 1990.

CITED BY 49

	Milene Selbach Silveira , Clarisse Sieckenius de Souza , Simone D. J. Barbosa, Semiotic engineering contributions for designing online help systems, Proceedings of the 19th annual international conference on Computer documentation, October 21-24, 2001, Sante Fe, New Mexico, USA
	Gerard Torenvliet, We can't afford it!: the devaluation of a usability term, interactions, v.10 n.4, July + August 2003
	Margot Brereton , Ben McGarry, An observational study of how objects support engineering design thinking and communication: implications for the design of tangible media, Proceedings of the SIGCHI conference on Human factors in computing systems, p.217-224, April 01-06, 2000, The Hague, The Netherlands
	Julie Barnes , Laura Leventhal, Turing the tables: introducing software engineering concepts in a user interface design course, ACM SIGCSE Bulletin, v.33 n.1, p.214-218, March 2001
	Laurent Joblet, Verbalyse: vers une automatisation du traitement des verbalisations issues de tests utilisateurs, Proceedings of the 14th French-speaking conference on Human-computer interaction (Conférence Francophone sur l'Interaction Homme-Machine), p.289-290, November 26-29, 2002, Poitiers, France
	Ben McGarry , Ben Matthews , Margot Brereton, Reflections on a candidate design of the user-interface for a wireless vital-signs monitor, Proceedings of DARE 2000 on Designing augmented reality environments, p.33-40, April 2000, Elsinore, Denmark
	Guy A. Boy, Interfaces procédurales, Proceedings of the 14th French-speaking conference on Human-computer interaction (Conférence Francophone sur l'Interaction Homme-Machine), p.81-88, November 26-29, 2002, Poitiers, France
	Klaus B. Bærentsen , Johan Trettvik, An activity theory approach to affordance, Proceedings of the second Nordic conference on Human-computer interaction, October 19-23, 2002, Aarhus, Denmark
	Nicolas Barralon , Christophe Lachenal , Joëlle Coutaz, Couplage de ressources d'interaction, Proceedings of the 16th conference on Association Francophone d'Interaction Homme-Machine, p.13-20, August 30-September 03, 2004, Namur, Belgium
	Michel Beaudouin-Lafon, Designing interaction, not interfaces, Proceedings of the working conference on Advanced visual interfaces, May 25-28, 2004, Gallipoli, Italy
	Paul A. Kirschner , Rob L. Martens , Jan-Willem Strijbos, CSCL in higher education?: a framework for designing multiple collaborative environments, What we know about CSCL and implementing it in higher education, Kluwer Academic Publishers, Norwell, MA, 2004
	Brygg Ullmer , Hiroshi Ishii , Robert J. K. Jacob, Token+constraint systems for tangible interaction with digital information, ACM Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction (TOCHI), v.12 n.1, p.81-118, March 2005
	Andreas Butz , Michael Schmitz , Antonio Krüger , Harald Hullmann, Tangible UIs for media control: probes into the design space, CHI '05 extended abstracts on Human factors in computing systems, April 02-07, 2005, Portland, OR, USA
	Roderick A. Farmer , Baden Hughes, CASE: a framework for evaluating learner-computer interaction in Computer-Assisted Language learning, Proceedings of the 6th ACM SIGCHI New Zealand chapter's international conference on Computer-human interaction: making CHI natural, p.67-74, July 07-08, 2005, Auckland, New Zealand
	Steve Benford , Holger Schnädelbach , Boriana Koleva , Rob Anastasi , Chris Greenhalgh , Tom Rodden , Jonathan Green , Ahmed Ghali , Tony Pridmore , Bill Gaver , Andy Boucher , Brendan Walker , Sarah Pennington , Albrecht Schmidt , Hans Gellersen , Anthony Steed, Expected, sensed, and desired: A framework for designing sensing-based interaction, ACM Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction (TOCHI), v.12 n.1, p.3-30, March 2005
	Keith Wiley , Lance R. Williams, Representation of interwoven surfaces in 2 1/2 D drawing, Proceedings of the SIGCHI conference on Human Factors in computing systems, April 22-27, 2006, Montréal, Québec, Canada
	Margot Brereton, Drawing lessons in the design of tangible media from a study of interactions with mechanical products, Australian Computer Science Communications, v.23 n.5, p.124-131, January-February 2001
	Sergi Jordà , Marcos Alonso, Mary had a little scoreTable* or the reacTable* goes melodic, Proceedings of the 2006 conference on New interfaces for musical expression, June 04-08, 2006, Paris, France
	Daniel D. Suthers, Technology affordances for intersubjective learning: a thematic agenda for CSCL, Proceedings of th 2005 conference on Computer support for collaborative learning: learning 2005: the next 10 years!, p.662-671, May 30-June 04, 2005, Taipei, Taiwan
	Thor Magnusson, Affordances and constraints in screen-based musical instruments, Proceedings of the 4th Nordic conference on Human-computer interaction: changing roles, p.441-444, October 14-18, 2006, Oslo, Norway
	Alan F. Blackwell, The reification of metaphor as a design tool, ACM Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction (TOCHI), v.13 n.4, p.490-530, December 2006
	Eli Blevis, Sustainable interaction design: invention & disposal, renewal & reuse, Proceedings of the SIGCHI conference on Human factors in computing systems, April 28-May 03, 2007, San Jose, California, USA
	Nicola J Bidwell , Jason Holdsworth, Battleship by foot: learning by designing a mixed reality game, Procedings of the 3rd Australasian conference on Interactive entertainment, p.67-74, December 04-06, 2006, Perth, Australia
	Alan Dix , Masitah Ghazali , Devina Ramduny-Ellis, Modelling Devices for Natural Interaction, Electronic Notes in Theoretical Computer Science (ENTCS), 208, p.23-40, April, 2008
	Hiroshi Ishii, Tangible bits: beyond pixels, Proceedings of the 2nd international conference on Tangible and embedded interaction, February 18-20, 2008, Bonn, Germany
	Florian Resatsch , Stephan Karpischek , Uwe Sandner , Stephan Hamacher, Mobile sales assistant: NFC for retailers, Proceedings of the 9th international conference on Human computer interaction with mobile devices and services, p.313-316, September 09-12, 2007, Singapore
	Céline Coutrix , Laurence Nigay, Balancing physical and digital properties in mixed objects, Proceedings of the working conference on Advanced visual interfaces, May 28-30, 2008, Napoli, Italy
	Peter Bennett , Nicholas Ward , Sile O'Modhrain , Pedro Rebelo, DAMPER: a platform for effortful interface development, Proceedings of the 7th international conference on New interfaces for musical expression, June 06-10, 2007, New York, New York
	Georg Strom, Mobile Devices as Props in Daily Role Playing, Personal and Ubiquitous Computing, v.6 n.4, p.307-310, September 2002
	Tom Djajadiningrat , Stephan Wensveen , Joep Frens , Kees Overbeeke, Tangible products: redressing the balance between appearance and action, Personal and Ubiquitous Computing, v.8 n.5, p.294-309, September 2004
	Jukka Riekki , Timo Salminen , Ismo Alakarppa, Requesting Pervasive Services by Touching RFID Tags, IEEE Pervasive Computing, v.5 n.1, p.40, January 2006
	Peter Gerjets , Katharina Scheiter , Maria Opfermann , Friedrich W. Hesse , Tessa H. S. Eysink, Learning with hypermedia: The influence of representational formats and different levels of learner control on performance and learning behavior, Computers in Human Behavior, v.25 n.2, p.360-370, March, 2009
	Erol Şahin , Maya Çakmak , Mehmet R. Doğar , Emre Uğur , Göktürk Üçoluk, To Afford or Not to Afford: A New Formalization of Affordances Toward Affordance-Based Robot Control, Adaptive Behavior - Animals, Animats, Software Agents, Robots, Adaptive Systems, v.15 n.4, p.447-472, December 2007
	Nadine Couture , Guillaume Rivière , Patrick Reuter, GeoTUI: a tangible user interface for geoscience, Proceedings of the 2nd international conference on Tangible and embedded interaction, February 18-20, 2008, Bonn, Germany
	Alois Ferscha , Simon Vogl , Bernadette Emsenhuber , Bernhard Wally, Physical shortcuts for media remote controls, Proceedings of the 2nd international conference on INtelligent TEchnologies for interactive enterTAINment, January 08-10, 2008, Cancun, Mexico
	Raquel Benbunan-Fich , Alberto Benbunan, Understanding user behavior with new mobile applications, The Journal of Strategic Information Systems, v.16 n.4, p.393-412, December, 2007
	Parisa Eslambolchilar , Roderick Murray-Smith, Control centric approach in designing scrolling and zooming user interfaces, International Journal of Human-Computer Studies, v.66 n.12, p.838-856, December, 2008
	Phil Turner, Towards an account of intuitiveness, Behaviour & Information Technology, v.27 n.6, p.475-482, November 2008
	Ping Zhang, Technical opinion Motivational affordances: reasons for ICT design and use, Communications of the ACM, v.51 n.11, November 2008
	Peter C. Wright , Robert E. Fields , Michael D. Harrison, Analyzing human-computer interaction as distributed cognition: the resources model, Human-Computer Interaction, v.15 n.1, p.1-41, March 2000
	Steinar Kristoffersen , Ingunn Bratteberg, Designing sociable IT for public use, Proceedings of the 10th international conference on Ubiquitous computing, September 21-24, 2008, Seoul, Korea
	Ingunn Bratteberg , Steinar Kristoffersen, Irreversibility and forceback in public interfaces, Proceedings of the 5th Nordic conference on Human-computer interaction: building bridges, October 20-22, 2008, Lund, Sweden
	S. Sen, Framework for probabilistic geospatial ontologies, International Journal of Geographical Information Science, v.22 n.7, p.825-846, January 2008
	Jeni Paay , Jesper Kjeldskov, Understanding the user experience of location-based services: five principles of perceptual organisation applied, Journal of Location Based Services, v.2 n.4, p.267-286, December 2008
	Eva Hornecker , Andreas Dünser, Of pages and paddles: Children's expectations and mistaken interactions with physical-digital tools, Interacting with Computers, v.21 n.1-2, p.95-107, January, 2009
	Christina R. Strong , Michael Mateas , Dave Grossman, Generative conversation tool for game writers, Proceedings of the 4th International Conference on Foundations of Digital Games, April 26-30, 2009, Orlando, Florida
	Matthieu Tixier , Gérald Gaglio , Myriam Lewkowicz, Translating social support practices into online services for family caregivers, Proceedings of the ACM 2009 international conference on Supporting group work, May 10-13, 2009, Sanibel Island, Florida, USA
	Céline Coutrix , Laurence Nigay, Interagir avec un objet mixte: propriétés physique et numérique, Proceedings of the 19th International Conference of the Association Francophone d'Interaction Homme-Machine, November 12-15, 2007, Paris, France
	Harold Thimbleby, Reflections on symmetry, Proceedings of the Working Conference on Advanced Visual Interfaces, May 22-24, 2002, Trento, Italy

INDEX TERMS

Primary Classification:
H. Information Systems
H.5 INFORMATION INTERFACES AND PRESENTATION (I.7)

Additional Classification:
H. Information Systems
H.1 MODELS AND PRINCIPLES

General Terms:
Design, Human Factors

REVIEW

"Raphael M. Malyankar : Reviewer"

Norman expounds on conceptual models, constraints and conventions, affordance, perceived affordance, and the role each plays in designing interfaces. He points out that, in the graphical screen-based interfaces that are most common today, it i more...

Collaborative Colleagues:

Donald A. Norman: colleagues

Adobe Acrobat

QuickTime

Windows Media Player

Real Player