Term
Signifier
A visible, audible, or textual cue that tells users where an action is available and what it is likely to do.
A signifier is the cue that communicates an action. Labels, icons, button shape, placement, motion, and tone can all signpost what users should do and what should happen next.
Affordance hijacking is primarily a signifier problem. The signifier says one thing through convention - close, go back, discard, delete, or continue - while the system performs another action or a stronger version of that action. The user did not misunderstand the icon so much as trust the meaning the product borrowed.
Strong signifiers name the user-visible result, especially when the consequence is destructive, final, privacy-sensitive, or difficult to recover.
Used in
Related
- AffordanceA possible action a user can take with an object or interface in a particular context.
- Mental ModelThe user's internal understanding of how a task, product, or domain works, built from prior experience and current cues.
- Information ScentProximal cues — link text, headings, buttons — that users follow to predict whether a path leads to what they want.