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  • The essential “ability” of an object

  • Making it visible is the signifier

  • Example: The affordance of a door is “to open”, and its signifier is “the handle”

  • Accidental affordance

    • There happens to be a fence with a flat top
    • By itself, it doesn’t have any meaning
    • If someone puts trash on top of it, it becomes the signifier of “being able to place something”
    • Then everyone starts putting trash on it
  • Anti-affordance

    • If you make a sign parallel (flat) to the ground, it creates the affordance of “being able to place something”
    • Tilt it slightly to prevent affordance #Design for whom?