How to Make that Temporary Desk your Own!
Co-working? If you find yourself in a temporary desk at a co-working site you can take steps to personalize your space. You can wear a trace of scent to create a subtle olfactory bubble...
The Best Lighting Tip You’ll Read all Month!
Do you want to sleep better? Adjusting your lighting during the day is a key feature in helping you have a better night’s rest. Switching up the lighting, also helps you concentrate during the...
Designing for Creativity
Recently published research confirms links between thinking creatively and being in less energizing spaces. Needle and Mallia report that “Open-office plans have become the dominant mode for creative workplaces, designed to encourage collaboration. . ....
The Design Plan
Deciding on what to design first when you’re conscious of the size of your purse. Even the most organized of us, the ones living lives ordered beyond even the imaginations of mere mortals, only have...
Soundscapes Matter – “Science News”
People with dementia are being given peace by creating personalised soundscapes for them. Talebzadeh’s work focused on “how a personalized soundscape can help those with dementia by providing clues regarding time of day and...
Scents Meet Virtual Reality for Wellbeing – “Science News”
Virtual Reality has taken a turn for the better by incorporating smell! There is a new report which uses views and smells to augment the virtual reality to create calm spaces in nature for...
Checklist for Making Changes in Your Home
What to Change First? If you review your options and decide to remodel your current home, you need to decide what you should change first. In the articles in this month’s issue (May 2021...
Choosing a NEW HOME… the Long Read
If you’ve considered the stay-move list noted earlier and you’re going to find a new home, only relocate to a space that makes you feel good. Don’t choose to move into a space unless...
Where You Sleep…
This is SUCH an important list! Are the colours featured the not very saturated but relatively bright ones that humans find relaxing? Blues are good colors for bedrooms because we associate them with feeling...
Bathroom Renovation
Bathrooms can be tricky places to renovate because often people can’t decide what they are actually meant to be. Are they Zen zones where users will bliss out or activation zones where people shed...
Fixing the Home Office – Before or After You Move!
Satisfaction If you can’t do what you consider a good job at your job in your home office, you’ll be miserable. So what do you need to do? The same self-identity mentioned in the...
Spaces for Mingling
How to design for Mingling We have had a whole issue on this in April 2021 so be sure to check that out. But one of the most important aspects of our lives as...
Why We’ll Still Gather – From a Psych Perspective
Loads of people are proclaiming that future mingling will be much less prevalent than in the past. There are compelling reasons to believe, however, that after we’ve all been vaccinated we’ll continue to find...
Post-COVID Home Design
The single most important message, design-wise, we can draw from our experiences during the pandemic related lockdowns is that we need to make sure our homes, going forward, provide us with options as to...
Colour Me Moral – “Science News”
Chan and Meng found that “it seems that people have been conditioned to see objects in white color as potentially ‘morally good’ and those in black color as potentially ‘bad.’ In the current inquiry,...
Turn the Left Cheek – “Science News”
Ever wondered which way to face when you’re having your photo taken? Research completed by Park, Spence, Ishii, and Togawa can be useful next time you’re posing for a photo! This team explored “the...
When the Red Light doesn’t Necessary mean Stop – “Science News”
Pontes and Williams’ recent research is useful whenever people are trying to encourage or discourage people from gambling, taking risks. The investigators share that “In general, people make more risk averse choices, gambling less...
Light Your Restaurant with Warm Bulbs – “Science News”
If you’re a regular reader of The Space Doctors, then you’ll know that light makes a difference to how you feel and how you react to a situation. Here we share some research that...
Interesting and Green Views are Best – “Science News”
Recent research looking at which views people prefer has thrown up an interesting result. Batool, Rutherford, and McGraw, when investigating what people prefer to see out of their windows when they’re in urban areas...
Why Certain Shapes Make Us Buy More – “Science News”
Chen and colleagues link particular nonverbal messages to package shapes; it is likely that their findings are useful more generally. The researchers found that “a tall, slender package creates the perception of higher brand...
Why ADHD Children Need Green Space – “Science News”
Research by Thygesen and colleagues indicates that spending a little extra to provide greater access to green spaces for children may be money well spent. The Thygesen-lead team reports that when they reviewed data...
Leaving on a Jet Plane
As we start to be inoculated, worldwide, it does start to seem likely that someday soon we may again find ourselves on airplanes, actually travelling, maybe even for fun. Remember vacation? Airplane Design from...
Outsiding & Mingling
The weather is finally starting to recover from its winter slump. Leaves are beginning to unfurl on tree branches and flowers are pushing through the soil to soak up some of the increasingly warm...
Happy Memories
Don’t ignore your own positive prior garden or yard experiences. If your childhood garden featured brightly coloured furniture you loved, use the same style again in your current garden if you can, regardless of...
Water Features
Now, for the water element. If a river or stream or pond or lake or ocean borders your property, great. Make sure people in your yard or garden have an unobstructed view of it. ...
Get Ready for Mingling!
Not being able to be in the same place at the same time with friends and family during the pandemic has made us even more interested in doing just that. Humans are a social...
Importance of Greenery during COVID – Biophilic Design does it Again!
In another of our science-based research short reports we bring you this lovely study. Dzhambov and teammates probed links between the presence of indoor and outdoor greenery and the wellbeing of people during the...
Outdoor Plants
First, let’s talk about outdoor plants. The research consistently shows that mental refreshment and lower stress levels flow most smoothly and certainly from looking at green leafy plants. If you live in a desert,...
Art and Light
Art and other decorative elements can be great additions to gardens, particularly ones that have an organic curvy form, since they’re relaxing to look at, but what’s designed to be seen but missed visually...
Making Space for Meditating
Meditation is, for many, a spiritual activity, and for all a relaxing, calming one—but no matter why people have decided to meditate, studies indicate that it has positive repercussions for their minds and bodies....
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