The concept of design "affordance" (from "Turn Signals are the Facial Expressions of Automobiles" by Donald Norman)
Example of the lack of an affordance:

Note that it is lacking both in semiotics
("how the hell do I open this drawer?")
and the physical function.

 
 
2) Misleading affordance:

here the importance of considering both semiotic and material aspects is 
particularly important: a cognitive interface.