A Bibliometric and Visual Analysis of Affordance-Based-Design

Abstract

In order to analyze the research progress, research hotspots and theoretical basis of Affordance-Based-Design, and explore new trends in the future, this paper systematically reviews the research progress of Affordance-Based-Design with the help of the WOS literature database, combining with literature clustering, literature metrology, and other methods. A total of 534 papers belonging to 61 countries, 670 research institutes, and comprising 2822 keywords, are retrieved from the Web of Science Core Collection for network construction and analysis. The results show that the number of literature within the scope of retrieval is on the rise, and the process has experienced three stages. The United States, the United Kingdom and China are leading in this direction, while South Korea's influence on Affordance-Based-Design has increased rapidly in the past five years. The research hotspots mainly focus on user experience in products and interfaces, innovative design methods and practices, real and virtual environments, Social media and communications, Mechanism of user behavior and so on. It can be seen from the co-citations of references that the evolution of affordance theory has mainly experienced two aspects, that is, the transformation of the nature of affordance and the expansion of design objects under the guidance of affordance. Based on affordance theory, it is possible to design products, interfaces, and environments that are both practical and easy to be perceived by expected users, thereby reducing user learning costs and improving user experience. Especially in the context of the rise of the metaverse concept, designing a more immersive virtual environment based on affordance theory is the research frontier of Affordance-Based-Design.