The article “Thoughtless Act” brings up an idea I’ve always been ignoring in the past ———observation. Before we design anything, we should observe the scenario, observe the environment our design will be functioning in, observe how people would interact with our design and observe the original prototype. I’m attracted to the idea Jane Fulton Suri brings up about pictures and captions. We are too used to analyze pictures by reading their captions, and when they are without captions, just like what this article is presenting us with, people start to give them more thoughts, this blank caption triggers imagination simply through observing the image. This is just like real life where nothing is captioned, Jane is suggesting that we should observe more in real life and get inspired.
In Affordances, Conventions and Design, Donald A. Norman tries to clarify real affordance and perceived affordance. The former is from a designer or a professional’s perspective, whether this design actually possesses the function. The latter is how the user perceives this design, whether they can sense the functions designers add to the product. What really matters to a product is always the perceived affordance, which is also linked to the design cycle’s user experiences. Instead of focusing on technological and professional range, nowadays’ designs are more user-focused and the designers are considering in what way their designs can improve the users’ daily lives. That’s why considering perceived affordances is rather important.