Applications of affordance and semantics in product design

This paper aims to clarify the concept and elucidate the role of affordances in the interaction design for physical products by making a parallel comparison to product semantics. This study argues that the core of affordance concept in design lies not in expressing the design intent, but constructing the actions required in the user–product interaction. A framework consisting of three design dimensions: affordance, perceptual information, and symbol, is suggested to deal with different aspects in physical interaction design, in particular, the motor, perceptual, and cognitive factors with an illustrative example. In conclusion, implications for interaction design and future research are suggested.