Quick Recap – Places to Focus

People learning need to be focusing on what they’re doing.  Design supports focus when it:

• Uses colours that are not very saturated and are relatively light—a sage green or smokey blue with lots of white mixed into them. Our analytical performance is degraded when we see the colour red and our creativity improved when we see greens.
• Features the right sort of light. We concentrated better in cool, slightly more intense light but think more creatively and get along better with others when lights are warmer and dimmer.
• Sounds right. Hearing nature sounds from fair weather Spring days, such as birds peacefully calling to each other, burbling brooks, and gently rusting leaves and grasses is great for what goes on in our head.  For our brains to do our best work, the world around us needs to be quieter than 55 dB(A)—but not so quiet that we tense up, wondering what’s going on (we’re used to living in spaces with at least some background noise).
• Well ventilated air (30 cfm/person) or windows that open and let fresh air in.
• Eliminates visual and acoustic distractions and stressors such as high temperatures or annoying unpredictable sounds.
• Aligns with the activity-at-hand. We can focus better on whatever we’re up to when we have the full range of tools at our fingertips that we may require, whether that’s access to a quiet space or the ability to talk to teammates without being disturbed.
• Gives us the opportunity to mentally refresh. Our brains get tired, but design can revitalize them, as discussed in this article.
• Provides us a few options for how we use it. That means 4 or so lighting presets, not oodles, several seating options, etc.
• “Says” things about us we want to “hear”. Spaces and the objects in them are always communicating nonverbally to users; we want them to be saying that we have positive attributes and our contributions to society are valued—we’ve talked about silent signaling here, for example.