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A STUDY ON THE PACKAGE DESIGN WHILE CONSIDERING AFFORDANCES

<Yoshihito SATO1> <Masahiko MUNECHIKA2<Masaaki KANEKO3<Kazuya SHIROISHI4

1Waseda University, Japan, JSQC, >

2Waseda University, Japan, JSQC, >

3Waseda University, Japan, JSQC, >

4Asahibeer,

ABSTRACT

In order to design consumer-friendly products that are simple to use, Donald A. Norman [1] introduced the term “affordances” as an important concept to consider in product design. Further, he stated that affordances provide strong clues with regard to how things should be operated. Since then, the concept of affordances has received considerable attention in the field of product design. However, no clear guidelines have been established for product design while taking affordances into consideration. Therefore, this study considers the package design of cardboard boxes for beverage cans as a case study in order to formulate the package design guidelines, while considering affordances.

First, the reason for the problem of the cardboard boxes designed by Company X will be investigated in order to ascertain that the package design of cardboard boxes for beverage cans will be improved by the guidelines proposed in this study. Next, affordances are classified on the basis of the information processing model. By using this model as a framework, the study proposes guidelines for package design while considering affordances. Then, these guidelines are applied to the package design of the cardboard boxes in order to explain the details of package design as well as prove its effectiveness.

Keywords: affordance, package design, product design

Background and Purpose

It is important to design products in a way that consumers can easily understand how to use them, in order to prevent any type of misuse on the part of the consumer. Donald A. Norman, a perceptual psychologist, introduced the term affordances in his book “The Psychology of Everyday Things” [1] as an important concept in product design. He states that “affordances provide strong clues to the operations of things.” For example, the plate on the door tells you that you should push it in order to open it.

Since its introduction by Norman, the concept of affordances has acquired prominence in the field of product design. However, there are no studies on guidelines for product design while considering affordances. Therefore, in this paper, the package design of cardboard boxes for beverage cans is considered as a case study in order to formulate the guidelines for package design while considering affordances.

Investigation of the Importance of Affordances for Package Design

The possible difficulty faced while taking out packages

A cardboard box contains four packages of cans, and users have to take out these packages from the cardboard box. Company X specially designed its cardboard boxes so that users could take out these packages easily: the boxes can be opened from both the top and the front. However, many users complained that it was difficult to take out packages from Company X’s cardboard boxes. According to a designer from Company X, the reason for this was that many users were unaware that they could open both the top side and front side of the cardboard boxes. Therefore, they fail to do this and find it difficult to take out packages from the cardboard boxes. The designer arrived at this conclusion as he had heard some users remark, “You should do something to make it easy to take out packages from the boxes.”

If the designer’s reasoning is accurate, then the users would find it less difficult to take out packages from the cardboard boxes, if they were told to open the box from both sides, as had been intended by the designer. The guidelines for package design while considering affordances, which we propose in this study, aim to lead users to take certain actions. Therefore, we can state with surety that the problem of the cardboard boxes designed by Company X will be solved by the guidelines proposed in this study, unless the designer’s reasoning was incorrect. In order to formulate these guidelines, we will investigate why users complained of difficulty while taking out packages from the cardboard boxes.

Observing how users open the cardboard boxes

In order to ascertain whether the users’ complaints were because most of them did not open the cardboard boxes in the way that the designer intended them to, an investigation was carried out, in which it was observed how the users opened Company X’s cardboard boxes. This study is summarized below.

Three participants opened the cardboard box in the manner in which the designer intended for them to open it (i.e., from the top and front), while twenty-four participants failed to open it in this manner. Further, nineteen participants out of the twenty four participants who did not open the box in the intended manner only opened it from the top.

This result proved that most users opened only the top side of the cardboard boxes and evaluated the difficulty of taking out packages from the point of view of the box being opened only from the top.

Investigation of the difficulty faced while taking out packages

An investigation was carried out in order to determine the difference in difficulty faced by users when taking out packages from the cardboard boxes, between when they were opened from the top and the front and when they were opened only from the top. The investigation is summarized below.

The average score for the instances when the cardboard boxes were opened from the top and the front was 2.32, and that of the instances when the cardboard boxes were opened only from the top was 3.05. There was a statistically significant difference between these instances (Wilcoxon signed-rank test, P < 0.01). Therefore, it could be said that it was easier to take out packages when the cardboard boxes were opened from the top and the front.

From the aforementioned investigations, it was ascertained that users complained of difficulty while opening the boxes because most of them did not open the boxes from the top and the front. Therefore, it was evident that the problem of Company X’s cardboard boxes would be solved by instructing users to open them from the top and the front.

Proposed Guidelines for Package Design While Considering Affordances

Classification of affordances

D.A. Norman, in his book [1], stated the following: an affordance is the design aspect of an object which suggests how the object should be used. On the basis of his definition, we specially defined affordances in this study so that it could be applied to a package design: “an affordance is the design aspect of an object that leads users to perform in a certain action.”

Next, we classified affordances on the basis of the information processing model [2] (see Figure 1) in order to ensure what kind of action would result from an affordance and to obtain points of view on the package design containing affordances.

Figure 1 – Classification of affordances

This information processing model, proposed by Okada [2], illustrates the process right from sensation to action of human beings, and describes the processes of “sensation,” “perception,” ”memory checking,” “judgment,” and “action.”

On the basis of this model, we classified affordances into three types—“sensation-lead,” “perception-lead,” and “judgment-lead.” Sensation-lead directs a person to move from the process of stimulation to sensation, perception-lead directs a person to move from the process of sensation to perception, and judgment-lead directs a person to move from the process of perception to judgment.

Proposed method

On the basis of the classification of affordances, we proposed guidelines for package design while considering affordances.

[Procedure 1] Determining the items for the interview survey:

The intended action is interpreted (according to the information processing model), and each of the classified affordances is described according to the intended action. Then, the items for the interview survey are determined in order to find out whether or not each of the classified affordances exists.

[Procedure 2] Extracting the elements of the package design that can lead users to take the intended action:

Using the results obtained from “Procedure 2,” an interview survey is conducted with the users. Further, the factors of the package design that can lead users to take the intended action are extracted on the basis of the classification of affordances.

[Procedure 3] Verifying the effectiveness of the extracted factors and understanding their optimal level:

In order to verify the effectiveness of the extracted factors and determine their optimal level, an observational research using prototypes is conducted.

Application of the Proposed Guideline

Application of Procedure 1

First, we clearly explained the action that was aimed to be taken. From Chapter 2, it was certain that the problem of Company X’s cardboard boxes would be solved by instructing users to open them from the top and the front. Therefore, the required action was for them to open the boxes from the top and the front.

Next, we interpreted this action according to the information processing model. The interpretations of the action of the users who opened Company X’s cardboard boxes from the top and the front are shown below.

Then, we described each of the classified affordances according to this interpretation.

The results are shown below.

Then, using this classification of affordances, we determined the items to be included in the interview survey, which was to be conducted in Procedure 2, in order to determine the kind of affordances that were present in the cardboard boxes. The results are shown in the table below.

Table 1 – Items of interview survey

Items of interview survey
Sensation-lead / What part of the cardboard box did you see when you opened it?
Perceptpretation of ion-lead / How did you think how the cardboard box could be opened?
Judgment-lead / Why did you decide to open the cardboard box as you did?

Application of Procedure 2

An interview survey was conducted in order to extract the elements of package design that could lead users to open cardboard boxes from the top and the front. The survey is summarized below.

In this survey, each participant opened four kinds of cardboard boxes and was asked the questions listed in Table 1.

Then, elements of the package design that could lead users to open the cardboard boxes from the top and the front were extracted from the results of this interview survey.

Table 2 – Elements of package design and Actions that users are led to take

Classification of affordances / Elements of the package design / Actions which are led to be taken
Sensation-lead / The shape of a cardboard box whose corners are cut off / Seeing the elements that can lead users to perceiving that the front side of the cardboard box can be opened
A change of colours / Seeing the elements that can lead users to perceiving that the front side of the cardboard box can be opened
Perceptpretation of ion-lead / An opening on the top side / Perceiving that the cardboard box can be opened from the opening on the top side
An arrow / Perceiving that the cardboard box can be opened in the direction of the arrow
An explanatory drawing / Perceiving that the cardboard box can be opened as shown in the explanatory drawing
Perforations / Perceiving that the cardboard box can be opened along the perforations
An explanatory note / Perceiving that the cardboard box can be opened as stated in the explanatory note
Judgment-lead / A structure of cardboard box / Deciding to open the cardboard box halfway
An opening on the top side / Deciding to open the cardboard box from the opening on the top
An arrow / Deciding to open the cardboard box in the direction of the arrow
An explanatory drawing / Deciding to open the cardboard box as shown in the explanatory drawing
Perforations / Deciding to open the cardboard box along the perforations
An explanatory note / Deciding to open the cardboard box as stated in the explanatory note

One user responded, “I thought that I could open it in the direction of the arrow because I saw the arrow.” Therefore, from this response, I extracted “an arrow” as the judgment-lead that directed users to open the box in the direction of the arrow.

Application of Procedure 3

We chose three elements—“arrow,” “change of colors,” and “explanatory drawing”—from the elements extracted in Procedure 2 because they could be included in Company X’s cardboard box and investigated.

Then, ideally, we should have conducted an observational research using prototypes that were designed by several levels of each element, in order to verify the effectiveness of these elements and understand their optimal level. However, we could not conduct this observational research due to several restrictions. Therefore, we decided to conduct the observational research only to verify the effectiveness of the totality of these elements and that of the “arrow” element and understand its optimal level.

One prototype (say Prototype A) was designed on the basis of the estimation of the optimal level of the three ehlements in order to verify the effectiveness of their totality. Further, the other prototypes (say Prototypes B, C, and D) were designed on the basis of three levels of the “arrow” element in order to verify the effectiveness of the element and understand its optimal level.

Then, using these prototypes, we conducted an observational research. The research is summarized below.

In this survey, each of the 100 participants opened only one sample. Hence, each prototype was opened by 20 participants. The results of this research are provided below.

Table 3 – Number of participants who opened the box from the top and the front

Company X’s cardboard box / Prototype A / Prototype B / Prototype C / Prototype D
Number of participants / 0 / 10 / 4 / 1 / 3

There were statistically significant differences between the results of Company X’s cardboard box and Prototype A (two-proportion z-test, p < 0.01) and between the results of Company X’s cardboard box and Prototype A (two-proportion z-test, p < 0.05). As a result, it became clear that the optimal level of the “arrow” element is the level of Prototype B. It was also proven that the cardboard boxes designed using an appropriate combination of the extracted elements could lead users to open them from the top and the front.