Signifiers in Design.

The other important principle of design is the signifier, as the word suggests it’s an indicator provided to the end-user making him aware of the affordance of the object or the product.

A designer often uses them to help and navigate the user across the interface. Also, we can see the high use of signifiers in the day to day products Push/Pull label on the door or on the fire alarm, Tear here on the Milk Carton or any packet. Arrow mark on the bottle to open the cap etc.

Picture Attribute https://www.freepik.com/free-photo/fire-alarm-switch_1178194.htm#page=1&query=push%20and%20pull&position=46

Signifiers in Digital Products

The designer uses the signifier helping the user to navigate across the interface of the product and allows the end-user to understand the affordance.

For Eg. Highlighted submit button at the end of the form on the website signifies the user that he needs to press the submit button once he has filled all the data.

Picture attribute https://www.bragitoff.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/submit-button-form-phone-iphone.png

A highlighted number icon on the website signifies that there is a notification for the user to view and the user needs to click on it.

Picture attribute: https://www.freepik.com/free-vector/facebook-notification-icons_1371252.htm

Labels are often used by designers as a signifier to signify the affordance provided by the object or the component.

Picture Attribute: Google Material.io

Signifiers play a very important role when designing a product, a badly designed product would never be able to communicate to the user about the affordances provided by it, which can leave the user frustrated and confused about how to interact further.