According to Norman, affordances are characteristics that communicate to the users their actions. The users need to discern affordances. Notably, there are three types of affordances. First perceptive affordances are the features of the object, which demonstrates the action possibilities that are accessible and desired, like the door handle. Such attributes make the users use the affordance in the needed form (Swette 2017). Another affordance is known as hidden. This is the user’s interface without obvious affordances. The users usually depend on experience or trial and error to determine the possible action. The final affordance is known as false, whereby an object’s tart suggests that the users can do something they can do, like underlined text which is not a link.
When one is handling natural touchable objects, there is a perceived affordance in product design. Most of this affordance is not of any value (Swette 2017). Hence, some of the affordances of an iPad include portability and mobility, and an iPad is light and easy to carry around. Besides, students are not restricted to a designated area, and children can access web content. Another critical affordance of the iPad is its ability to provide screen touch capabilities. Students of all ages and skills can control the applications and books with ease. Essentially, this makes the iPad easy to operate because the affordance of using one’s fingers to manipulate apparatus or objects on the screen is intuitive. An iPad’s affordance of onboard camera capabilities enables the students to take pictures, snapshots, and instantly video conference with peers or teachers at a moment’s notice.
The iPad’s affordance of battery reliability enables students to utilize their iPad for many hours without recharging. This helps the students and teachers to have no problem with restoring after few hours. As discussed, perceived affordance is what a person can see, think or do, either correct or incorrect. Perceived affordances can be made clear in matching the natural affordances to use signifiers that indicate what one can do.
References
Swette, R. (2017, October 10). Examples of Insights for Design. Retrieved from the medium: https://medium.com/ux-data/insights-for-design-real-anecdotes-b84309a8fc40