FIT5152 Chap.3 Foundations of Human Interaction
Foundations of Human Interaction
Week 3 gives the unit its theoretical backbone through Don Norman’s account of how people use everyday things. The seminar presents seven principles of interaction design: discoverability, affordances, signifiers, constraints, feedback, mapping and conceptual models. Each one explains why some objects are obvious to use and others need a hand-written sign, the classic example being a door that invites the wrong action.
The chapter pays particular attention to the pairs students confuse, such as affordances, which are the actions physically possible, and signifiers, which are the perceptible clues that tell people those actions exist.
The second half turns to the interaction cycle.
Norman’s seven stages of action describe how a person moves from a goal through planning, specifying and performing an action, then perceives, interprets and compares the result. When people cannot work out how to act they meet a gulf of execution; when they cannot tell what happened they meet a gulf of evaluation.
The seminar also contrasts knowledge in the head with knowledge in the world, ranks control layouts with the stove problem, and introduces six cognitive processes and the idea of cognitive load. Submission 2 asks for a Norman principle on every low-fidelity screen, so these definitions need to be precise.
What this chapter covers
- 01
Norman’s seven principles of interaction design
- 02
Affordances and signifiers
- 03
Constraints, feedback and natural mapping
- 04
Conceptual models and mental models
- 05
Knowledge in the head and in the world
- 06
Seven stages of action and the two gulfs
- 07
Cognitive processes, load and external cognition
Worked example · free
Annotating a parking-meter screen with one Norman principle
- 1Name the principle precisely: constraints, because the greyed-out plus stops the driver selecting more than the legal maximum.
- 1Point to the element: the plus control at the two-hour limit, not the screen in general.
- 1Explain the user benefit: the driver cannot buy time they are not allowed to use, so an invalid payment is prevented before it happens.
Key terms
- Discoverability
- The ability to determine the current state of a system and the actions that are possible.
- Affordance
- An action that is physically possible given the properties of an object and the abilities of the person using it.
- Signifier
- A perceptible clue that communicates where and how an action can be taken.
- Natural Mapping
- A relationship between controls and their effects that people grasp without learned knowledge, through spatial or temporal correspondence.
- Gulf of Execution
- The gap a user faces when working out how to operate a system to reach a goal.
Foundations of Human Interaction FAQ
What is the difference between an affordance and a signifier?
An affordance is an action that is actually possible, while a signifier is the visible or audible clue that tells someone the action exists. On screens, signifiers create the perception of affordance.
Which side of Norman’s cycle does feedback help?
Feedback helps the evaluation side. It lets users perceive and interpret what happened after they acted, which narrows the gulf of evaluation, while signifiers and constraints mainly help execution.
What is the stove problem?
It is Norman’s example of control mapping. The best layout builds controls into the burners, the second best places them right beside the burners, and the third best keeps the same spatial arrangement further away.
Why does knowledge in the world reduce learning?
Signifiers, feedback, physical constraints and natural mappings can be perceived directly, so users do not have to memorise them. Knowledge kept in the head must be learned and recalled before it helps.
Assessment move
Make a seven-row card for Norman’s principles with three columns: the definition, a physical example and a screen example you found yourself. Then practise the confusing pairs out loud: affordance and signifier, signifier and feedback, conceptual model and mental model.
For the seven stages, choose one ordinary task such as topping up a transport card and narrate each stage, marking where a gulf could open and which principle would bridge it. Finally, rehearse Submission 2 annotations by writing one principle for three screens of an app you use, keeping each justification under 75 words and tied to a single visible element.
Short, specific annotations are harder than long general ones, so time yourself.
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