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UX/UI Design vocabulary · Interaction Design

Affordance

Meaning in UX/UI design, with examples

/əˈfɔːrdəns/nounCommon term

In UX/UI design, affordance means: A quality of an object or interface element that suggests how it can be used, for example a raised button that looks pressable or a handle that invites pulling.

In Turkish: sağlarlık, kullanım ipucu, affordance

How it is used

The idea comes from psychologist James Gibson and was brought into design by Don Norman. Designers say a flat link 'has poor affordance' when it doesn't look clickable. Norman later added 'signifier' for the visible clue itself.

Example sentences

  1. The card has no affordance, so nobody realised it could be tapped.

  2. Underlined blue text is a strong affordance for a link.

Common collocations

  • clear affordance
  • poor affordance
  • visual affordance
  • affordances and signifiers
  • interaction designThe part of design that decides how a product behaves when people use it: what happens when they tap, type, swipe or wait, and how the system responds.
  • mental modelA person's own idea of how something works, based on past experience, which shapes what they expect a product to do.
  • buttonA clickable or tappable element that lets users perform an action, such as submitting a form, saving changes or opening a menu.
  • microinteractionA small, single-purpose moment of interaction with its own feedback, such as liking a post, switching a toggle or a field shaking after a wrong password.

This word in other fields

The same English word can have a different meaning in another field:

More terms: Interaction Design

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