The Design of Everyday Things
//author
//year
1988
//link
https://dl.icdst.org/pdfs/files4/4bb8d08a9b309df7d86e62ec4056ceef.pdf
//relevant context
In this book, Don Norman argues that design serves as the communication between object and user, and discusses how to optimize that conduit of communication in order to make the experience of using the object pleasurable.
//key quotes
…the term affordance refers to the perceived and actual properties of the thing, primarily those fundamental properties that determine just how the thing could possibly be used. […] Affordances provide strong clues to the operations of things. Plates are for pushing. Knobs are for turning. Slots are for inserting things into. Balls are for throwing or bouncing. When affordances are taken advantage of, the user knows what to do just by looking: no picture, label, or instruction needed.
