Signifiers use marks, sounds and other indicators to communicate appropriate actions or behavior for a user to take. Signifiers can be intentional on the part of the designer (like highlighting an important button) or unintentional (like plates stacked the sink communicating that is a place people can leave them).
Many people confuse affordances for signifiers. Whereas an affordance describes all possible actions a user may take based on his relationship to the object, a signifier communicates an appropriate behavior. As Norman sums it up, “Affordances determine what actions are possible. Signifiers communicate where the action should take place.”
Examples
Works cited
- Norman, D. A. (2013). The design of everyday things (Revised and expanded edition). New York, New York: Basic Books.
- Signifiers, not affordances – jnd.org. (n.d.). Retrieved October 17, 2018, from https://www.jnd.org/dn.mss/signifiers_not_affordances.html
Team 9 here! I am providing an example for “signifiers” but I wanted to let you know that I really like your layout and presentation of the three examples for signifiers! It made it super easy to read and understand!
My example of a signifier is one provided by the Richmond Virginia website (http://www.richmondgov.com/bikeped/). It is a picture of bike lanes that not only indicate that it is for bicycles but also which direction you should be going. As someone who used to bike, this is super helpful for keeping people safe!
Here’s the link for the image:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1-qjCaOntfDUzs2WaLPsDdwACNY1jx6ST/view?usp=sharing