Affordances.

a photographic essay of thoughtless responses in our environments.

An “affordance” is the act of “perceiving the environment in terms of its possibilities for actions”. In other words, what objects or spaces can “afford” us. In this project, I went around campus and through my house to find these affordances and other thoughtless responses to environments.

Findings

• Our life is a “product of our environment”. We interpret, utilize, and conform to our environment much more than we may realize. Almost all of our choices are driven by some affordance in our environment.
• Social conformity tends to be the most absentminded. We may notice affordances in objects or environments, but social affordances are even more subconscious. I became more aware of my own social affordances while trying to observe others.

Personal Discoveries

• Observing affordances requires practice. The perception necessary for observing thoughtless acts and affordances is an acquired skill. As the weeks of observation went on, the more I was able to see in everyday surroundings.
• Design opportunities are in abundance. Although designing for every need you find may not be the most effective method, this observational skill of finding affordances has allowed me to see how the world is full of design opportunities.

Environmental affordances

There were two main patterns of affordances that I observed. The first is an adaptation/accommodation in response to a constraint in the environment. These affordances are typically in response to the question “what do I do with this?”. The second is an exploiting/co-opting of possibilities of the environment. These are typically in response to the question, “how could I use this?”.

Although both are thoughtless acts of affordance, the responses to the second category of affordances tend to be more innovative.

What do I do with this?

Missing appliances. A toilet paper holder, shower caddy, and shelves are missing (left to right). The nearest surface holds the affordance to place necessary objects.

Perfect place for trash. Gum, coffee, and papers (left to right) are thrown away in tight fitting spaces that afford concealing.

Slim horizontal bars afford hanging of clothes and towels. Items are typically suspended in places nearest to next use.

What better place? The distance between the glass and table (left) affords the suspending of the table sign. This shows that the sign would be better placed as a poster or other obstructive material. The bike suspension (right) affords a place for the bike lock.

The fork (left) shows the uncertainty caused by a lack of instructions for metal disposal. The folder (right) was probably being used in operation of the system on the wall, or while sitting on the chair next to it.

The perfect width of the trunk (left) affords placement of objects unnecessary for the task at hand. The cords have no designated place to be held (right). Therefore the outlet cap is used.

No place else. The record cover, umbrella, and pen (left to right) have better place to be held. Objects tend to be placed nearest to their place of use, and the nearest object with decent affordance is typically chosen.

How could I use this?

To keep the door open, the nearest or most semantically reasonable object takes the place of a door stopper.

Sitting back against the window enables the man to rest comfortably, while making space for his backpack underneath the table. He is also now able to rest his arm. Having the outdoors in his peripheral vision may also have made him feel vulnerable.

The most common use of Union 2nd floor sofas. The perfect distance of the already aligned sofas, combined with the silent area, invites students to put two together and take naps.

Blank spaces invite people to exploit it for creative expression.

The string of a tea bag: an opportunity to exploit. The tying of the string allows for the tea bag to be lifted out of the tea without the need for an additional plate.

How do you know which lockers are used? The hanging backpack straps act as signals of usage where there would be none otherwise.

My fridge. The stickers create a small creative outlet as it invites roommates to thoughtlessly change the faces.

Social

Within social spaces, we subconsciously adapt and conform to those around us. This is an example of a response/adaptation to cultural constraints in our environments. I will highlight two patterns of this type of conforming behavior.

1) Don’t face me

Every student occupying seats next to the window face the same direction.

The trend is more visible when there are only 2–3 desks available.

In the above 4 photos, all students are facing the same direction. When choosing a seat to take, it is a pattern to never choose a seat that directly faces someone. This is an example of a cultural constraint because it is socially accepted as tacit knowledge that being in the direct view of someone is awkward.

Especially when there is a wall, all students face away from it.

The arrows show the direction students face (L). Notice that no one faces each other directly.

2) Give me space

Another common pattern is to give each person in an environment as much space as possible. Notice that in each of the following photos, all students sit as far away as possible from one another.

No one chooses to sit in a seat that is the seat closest to another person. Even when sitting in pairs, both people sit far from other parties.

Where would you sit? The personal bubbles are very evident on the lawn as students maintain wider distances from each other. The more abundant the space in the environment, the more distance required.

Perfect evenly spaced sitting.

This is another example of conforming to a cultural constraint. There is a certain proximity/bubble around each person that is culturally accepted as invasive to cross into. Other cultures/environments may have different proximities for this constraint.

Conclusion

Both the social and environmental affordances/constraints on campus were intriguing to observe. All of these affordances signify a need of the user. Launching the design process from these observations or utilizing this observational skill in the design process is my next goal and interest.