8. Thesis Diary: Affordances

What final adjustments are you making to the materials you have created already and why?

This week I focused on developing the board game deliverable since there are a lot of components to account for. Next week I will spend more time on the logo to respond to feedback about the symbol and the legibility.

• How is your user testing progress so far?

I am in the process of contacting participants to begin the user testing process.

• Does the idea of affordances resonate with you? How might you apply it to your materials?

I think the concept of affordances is very important in my project because the materials from deliverable to deliverable change so much. In the article by Don Norman (Designing for People), he talks about the difference between the affordances and perceived affordances of digital and physical products. My project consists of digital deliverables that rely on the perceived affordances of the user and then a board game which is a deliverable with many different components relying on both affordances and perceived affordances. On the website, users have to navigate the page through the constraints of technology, using their keyboard and mouse pad to view information. In contrast, the game requires physical engagement, creativity, thinking, and organizing and sorting through cards and game pieces. These affordances change the way I go about the design process. For the website, I have to design thinking about the digital user interface. For the game, all design components must be designed in accordance with their use in the game but also taking into consideration how the pieces and cards will be produced, with what materials, and how they will feel in the hands of the players.

• How are the materials you are using impacting how you are designing (or not)?

One of the main ways in which the materials I am using impact my design is the size of the materials. For the board game, each piece has a specific size for printing that I must design around. The game box also requires special consideration in sizing and where the information will go. In the website, the design must correspond to a responsive design that will work in a world where everyone uses different technological devices to browse the web from phones to desktops and tablets.

• What are the most useful and interesting things you have learned this module?

The readings about affordances were very interesting and presented a new way of thinking about design in terms of how users will interact with the products we create.