Semantic Reconfigurations. Exploring Implications on Agency and Affordances

This chapter explores the implications derived from including embedded technology and interfaces on object design. Particularly, it dives into how this approach leads to a semantic reconfiguration of the meaning attributed to such objects, hence influencing the communication of functionalities and challenges traditional design paradigms. It critically examines the effects on agency and affordance in the context of objects that do not explicitly reveal their interaction modes. Anchored in a postphenomenological discourse, the chapter ultimately unfolds the complexities of designing objects with hidden or misleading interfaces.