Sparkles! The Long Read

Humans relish sparkly things, ones that shine. Whether as little bits of glitter or wall sized mirrors, things that reflect light are things humans like. (Although I do have to complain about glitter in food—whether intentionally placed or just coincidentally present after it is thrown into the air—not a good thing).

Sparkle needs light, and we’ve discussed lighting to achieve desired ways of thinking and acting here. The top line summary of what’s at the linked-to article:

• Dimmer warmer light is best for mingling pleasantly with others and thinking creatively while brighter cooler light is the way to go when trying to spur action and concentration generally.

• People are more apt of act honestly and healthfully (e.g., select healthy options from the options you’ve provided) when lights are brighter. Want people to do what society expects of them? Turn on more lights!

• Having warm and cool lights on in the same space at the same time creates a sort of “muddy” atmosphere, not quite one thing or another, so try to use just warm lights or cool ones at any one time.

• To have their intended effects, it’s great if warmer lights are placed in tabletop or floor lamps; cool bulbs are best placed overhead, in ceilings.

Sparkling things, whatever their size, are preferred to matte-finished ones and capture and hold our attention. Putting them in and around something or somewhere you want people to look can be useful—whether you’re interested in having people look at your most recently created ceramic pots or pay attention to where to throw their trash after a party.
Scientists believe that we may be so positive about things that reflect light today because of experiences wen a young species. Long, long ago, before modern plumbing found its way into so many homes, and we were roaming across grasslands and other hospitable zones, we’d welcome being able to spot the water holes we needed to survive—and the surfaces of those bodies of water, when seen from a distance, would have reflected light.

Shiny surfaces on walls, such as mirrors, make a space seem larger, which is almost always a good thing. Strategically placed mirrors can also be used to “bounce” daylight deeper into a space, and as we discussed in this article, natural light has a positive effect on our mood, mental performance, etc.

Interestingly, if two objects actually weigh the same amount but one has a shiny finish and the other a matte one, the version with the shiny surface will be perceived to be heavier than the matte-finished one.

When we can see ourselves in one of those shiny surfaces we’re more likely to behave as the rules of our society say that we should, so they’re good options for any place where you’d like people to be on their best behaviour, choose healthier food options, use their indoor voice, etc.

Some shiny surfaces can be particularly positive additions to spaces for reasons completely distinct from the way they throw light. Materials that warm pleasantly and retain heat (for example, a metal arm of a chair) can influence how people interact with each other. After people touch something that’s comfortably warm, even immediately after they stop doing so, behave more pleasantly to other people and have better opinions of them. Do take care, however, if you’ll be using metal finishes in places that will be very hot or very cold—very hot and very cold surfaces can do very undesirable things to human skin.

So, shiny is good, but glare, its often, evil companion is bad. Very bad. Glare generates stress and when we’re stressed our brains don’t do as great a job reasoning our ways to understanding and using information, thinking creatively, or getting along with other people. Even just scrunching up our faces as we do when confronted with glare (researchers have had people do this in labs even when no glare was present) degrades our mood.

So, what can be done to solve the glare problem? Sometimes glare can be eliminated if whatever is “glare-ing” is just reoriented to the source of light falling on it—changing the angles between things often saves the day. But sometimes re-arranging can’t solve this problem and (gasp!) some of those shiny surfaces need to be sacrificed for matte ones. It can be particularly important to do this around window frames and on floors (shiny floors can sometimes confuse people, particularly those with poor eyesight and look slippery, which causes all sorts of trouble).

Add shiny surfaces to your life to improve your wellbeing and more, but make sure that shine is glare free!