On Affordances

Karl Koch argues for designing with strong affordances—the perceivable properties that suggest how something should be used. Using a banana-peeling analogy, he critiques trends like “Liquid Glass” UI that hide controls and erase tactile cues. The result is subtle, constant friction that prevents deep work and forces users to guess. He advocates building tools—especially AI systems—with intuitive, visible signposts that align with real-world interaction, so technology becomes a natural extension of human capability.