An Affordance‐Based Methodology for Package Design

Abstract

The term affordance describes an object's utilitarian function or actionable possibilities. Product designers have taken great interest in the concept of affordances because of the bridge they provide relating to design, the interpretation of design and, ultimately, functionality in the hands of consumers. These concepts have been widely studied and applied in the field of psychology but have had limited formal application to packaging design and evaluation. We believe that the concepts related to affordances will reveal novel opportunities for packaging innovation. To catalyse this, presented work had the following objectives: (a) to propose a method by which packaging designers can purposefully consider affordances during the design process; (b) to explain this method in the context of a packaging-related case study; and (c) to measure the effect on package usability when an affordance-based design approach is employed. INTRODUCTIONFrom purchasing to disposal, human-package interactions are comprised of several steps that need to be accomplished in order to achieve varied goals. Optimal package designs inspire an immediate understanding of use, opening (where and how), proper and accurate dispensing, reclosure and disposal. This is particularly important for novel or unfamiliar packaging.1 By definition, semantic issues, how users understand the meanings of a package, precede ergonomic issues, how users operate it. 2 de la Fuente and Bix proposed a conceptual model to organize and analyse the complexities of human-package interactions. This model incorporates the four classical components of usability (i.e. user, pack, context and task) and recognizes the need to engage three user systems: the perceptual system, the cognitive system and the motor system. Our review of the literature regarding packaging usability suggests a lack of systematic research investigating perception and cognition as it relates to packaging use.3 Further, it revealed that research is lacking in many of the distinct tasks performed with packages, with the vast majority concentrating on opening tasks, particularly emphasizing jars and bottles, and the physical actions (motor system) required to successfully achieve such tasks.Aspects of user's perception and understanding of products have been addressed from a variety of fields such as psychology and product design. In the late seventies, the perceptual psychologist James Gibson revolutionized the field of visual perception by proposing that objects in the environment have functional meaning to an observer. Gibson invented the word affordance to describe any object's utilitarian function, defining affordances as relationships between the 'world and actors' (i.e. person or animal). Under Gibson's archetype affordances are all the 'action possibilities' latent in the environment independent of an individual's ability to recognize them. 4,5 Within this frame, the design features of an item, such as the pull tab of a can, have the potential to catalyse actions in the user (e.g. can opening)...

State of the art of user packaging interaction (UPI)

“…Yoxall and Janson 165 To improve packaging design, opening process can be investigated using mathematical and modeling techniques. Gofman et al, 38 Yiangkamolsing et al, 135 de la Fuente et al, 166 and Langley et al 167 The packaging design process should be structured to link between users' requirements and design parameters. Silva et al, 168 Yoxall et al, 169,172 Blakey et al, 170 and Chihara et al 171 Opening difficulties can be addressed either by introducing opening-aiding tools or applying design efforts.…”

“…135 Within this context, many studies have been conducted to structure the packaging design process with more insights into users' requirements. 38,166,167 Because of the growing complexities and challenges associated with package opening, researchers began to focus on specific types of packages [168][169][170][171] and introduced opening-aiding tools 172,173 to overcome degradation in elderly physical abilities.…”

“…Package storage and disposal have come to be an important part of the package design process 185 and are considered to be packaging functions. 135,166 Usually, users buy products and then either directly use them or store them for future use. At this stage of interaction, the package instructions should provide the users with the required storage information.…”

Towards patient‐centered packaging design: An industry perspective on processes, functions, and constraints

“…61 Consequently, most of the human-packaging interaction ends up being limited to research or laboratory facilities, with attention only to the motor functions (i.e., physical capabilities) of users in spite of other significant functions of human-packaging interaction, such as perception and cognition. 4 A response to this, as suggested by scholars, is to consider richer and in-depth assessments of packaging in users' lives, since using packaging is also embedded and creates meaning in everyday routines. 39…”

“…For many years, the role of medication packaging has been strictly related to safeguarding the contents, with a narrow focus on user needs and packaging design that facilitates human interaction. 3,4 However, greater attention is being paid to medication packaging today because of its potential to respond to societal challenges and to support patients in their treatment. [5][6][7] One major societal challenge relates to aging and the shift from acute to long-term treatment, especially in developed countries.…”