Affordances in design are important to usability and function. They’re one of the components of design that have to come together to provide an impeccable user experience. To understand exactly what makes them so important, we have to define them.
In the web design world, affordances are elements that users encounter while interacting with the design of a site. They can be:
- call to action buttons
- icons
- web form fields
- links
- images
Great web designers should really take the time to understand the concept behind these affordances. It’ll ensure that they build their clients stellar websites that take care of job one: the user experience. The big design rule is always to design for the user experience first and foremost; everything else follows that.
There’s no better way to understand this principle than to intimately familiarize yourself with what affordances are and how to successfully incorporate them in your design.
