Affordances

We understand this description of affordance as the "common sense" of the object. You see something and inherently know how to use it and what it will do. Including any possibility with that object, not necessarily its proper use, but any way to use said object. There might be infinite or too many possibilities with an object.

Depending on what an object is, your notion of its use can evolve. Because of affordance, technology has evolved to include a variety of ways to use something. Improve design of an object because of the affordances and peoples' experiences with it over time.

A niche is a specific environmental condition, whereas a habitat is your overall environment. For instance, our niche is Art + Tech, whereas UF is our habitat.

1. The lab monitor desk - implied that it's for teachers or lab monitors only, or rather not for everyone, because of the structure and layout of it. i.e.: the wall in front of it
2. A computer mouse - the shape of it fits in your hand, on a table at the height where your hands rest when sitting on a chair, slides easily when touch it
3. Pulley for blinds - dangling within reach, clear that it's connected to blinds, shiny, can get immediate results if you pull it

Utility is manufactured and standardized intended use, and usefulness comes with practice and from testing it to see how many uses you can get out of it.

A false affordance might be being drawn in to want to eat fake fruit. It has the qualities of looking edible, appealing, it's situated in a kitchen that begets the idea of eating said food, but if you would actually go to eat it, your perception would be falsified, as it isn't of an edible material.

We may not be consciously aware of all of the affordances of an object or condition, but certainly there are affordances that we inherently understand or know about. Affordances could also vary with culture. Some affordances could be universal, but different cultures also have different uses for objects, or different contextual meanings associated with states or conditions. For people with disabilities, there could be limited or altered affordances associated with certain objects. For instance, a blind person cannot see if a stoplight is red or green, but there are the crosswalk signal sounds and markers on the street to notify them of where the crosswalk is and what state the traffic is in. Therefore, it isn't a visual situation, but more reliant on auditory and tactile affordances.

Affordances associate with the making of art, because you can guide the experience of the viewer, in relation to certain intentional affordances, in how you create your piece. The different affordances a piece has can certainly relate conceptually as well, through allowing different physical affordances stand in as metaphors for a greater conceptual idea.