Essay · ~10 min read

Affordances and Design

Don Norman · Don Norman (jnd.org) Free Intermediate

Norman's own short essay on the idea that decides whether a control looks usable: affordances and signifiers. It is the crisp, free version of why a button should look pressable and a label should say what it does. Straight from the source, and it upgrades how you talk about your own screens.

  • Affordances are what an element lets you do; signifiers are the cues that reveal it.
  • Signifiers matter more to designers, because they are what people actually perceive.
  • Make the possible actions visible, and the screen stops needing explanation.
Open on jnd.org ↗

The question it answers

  1. I keep hearing "don't make me think" but what does that actually mean when I'm designing a screen?

Read with it

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  2. The most accessible, practical intro to usability ever written, you can read it in a weekend and immediately fix your product.... sensible.com Book · ~200 pages Don't Make Me Think, Revisited Steve Krug
  3. The single most-cited usability framework in the field, from the definitive UX research authority. A checklist you can hold... Nielsen Norman Group Article · ~15 min read 10 Usability Heuristics for User Interface Design Jakob Nielsen
  4. The foundational text on human-centered design that every product person should read once. It rewires how you see every... jnd.org / Basic Books Book · ~350 pages The Design of Everyday Things Don Norman
  5. A crisp, visual reference of the psychology principles behind good UX, perfect for a founder who wants the 'why' without a... lawsofux.com Article · reference site Laws of UX Jon Yablonski
  6. This is the one principle that answers your worry head on: users spend most of their time on other apps, so they expect yours... Laws of UX Essay · 5 min read Jakob's Law Jon Yablonski (principle by Jakob Nielsen)
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