Affordance as the flow of possibilities in interacting people and the environment

From User Centered to Creator Centered Design

Abstract

User Centered Design has regarded people as “users”, only designing what they need, impacting the environment in their production/delivery/sales. Based on observations of college students who created what they needed daily, we suggest that regarding people as “creators” would transform their view of the world from collection of independent objects to living within the flow of matters and energies in the environment, helping them to create things they need without damaging the environment. We propose extending the concept of “affordance” from optical flow in visual perception to the finding possibilities in the environmental flow