I guess we never really stop and pay much attention to how we use the objects in our everyday lives. Often we take advantage of the design of the objects we use whether they are simple, such as a door, or whether there is a more complex design behind our social media sites. Which made this week’s reading The Design of Everyday Things by Donald Norman an interesting, relatable and fun read.

Affordances refers to the “perceived and actual properties of the thing” and the user’s ability to engage with the object in certain ways. The relationship between the object and person is imperative for designers to consider, as the main design of any product should always be user friendly and easy to use. Instagram is designed as a photo and video sharing app that provides user to engage by uploading/taking a photo and edit it using various tools and filters, users can also interact with others online through commenting, liking, using #hashtags, following other users and having their own followers. This is essential to remember and have an understanding the core of our course’s prompt which is:

How do the affordances of Instagram affect the way photos and videos are authored, published and distributed in the network?

So what are the constraints then? In this book Norman discusses the different types of constraints that “limit the number of alternatives” the different possible affordances can have:

Physical constraints:

Physical constraints rely upon the properties of an object by the designer for the user. These physical world limitations constrain the possible outcomes which then has the effect of making the desired actions obvious to the user. A couple of physical constraints of Instagram are:

• Instagram is laid out fairly easily – making it clear how to upload or take photos/videos to users and then designed in a way that step by step takes you through the process of editing before publishing.
• Instagram limits the users to one link only accessible on their bio page, this is designed so that user’s don’t leave Instagram and even when you click on the link it opens through Instagram.
• There are also only a certain amount of tools and filters that user’s can apply to their photos.
• The only camera available in the app is the Instagram square camera, often leading users to upload from their camera’s photo library and rarely using the designed in app one.

Semantic constraints: 

Semantic constraints, as Norman (1988, p. 85) describes, “rely upon the [users] knowledge of the situation and the world.” This constraint refers more to the structure and language of the design of the object and how each of these separate parts ‘communicate’ or work together to essentially achieve what it was intended for. In terms of Instagram, it would be in relation to how user’s can easily identify that the heart on Instagram means that is how you like a post and that when it’s colour changes to red it means you have now or already liked it.

Cultural constraints: 

Cultural constraints “rely upon accepted cultural conventions, even if they do not affect the physical or semantic operation of the device” Norman (1988, p. 85) states. It is more of an implied way of using an object based on the cultural or social norm, and what the user is inclined to think. It is important to note that Norman mentions how with the rise of new technologies there are “no accepted conventions or customs for dealing with them”, which makes determining Instagram more difficult. One of the cultural constraints of Instagram could be the censorship of the app in certain countries which limits access to a certain number of people.

Logical constraints: 

Norman (1988, p. 86) describes logical constraints as the “relationship between the spatial or functional layout of components and the things they affect or are affected by”. These are the more object and literal aspect of the object that are supplied by the designer, which determine the possibilities of an object within its constraints to which the user would already have background knowledge of. The logical constraints of Instagram is the app’s functions to take or upload their photos/videos, like, comment, use #hashtags, follow, share and tag user’s.

References:

Norman, D 1988, The Design of Everyday Things, Basic Books, New York, USA.