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> In its original meaning, Kanban represented a visual signal. The thing that communicated, well, something. It might have been a need, option, availability, ca

• ricardobeat 2y ago
  There is definitely a connection there, but affordance is a concept specific to interaction design and something having a physically self-evident purpose (handles, buttons, levers, knobs, etc).
• flail 2y ago
  That's a great analogy! On the one hand, the context is different. An affordance, as you point out, signals how we should use an item. In a way, it suggests a meaning. A kanban's meaning is typically defined as the process (largely) is known. In the story about Milk Kanban, the index card is self-explanatory, but that's just an extra bit, to make the process more bullet-proof. On the other hand, if we generalize both examples, we land in a place where the design (of things, of processes) should communicate how to act. I either interact with an object or I do my action within a process. BTW: The Design of Everyday Things is another great reading recommendation in this thread.