Add Vertical Nature
You may have seen Vertical Gardens, beautiful, stunning nature landscapes of greenery, plants, flowers, mini trees and more. There is increasing evidence that these have many positive effects on us, not just reducing VOCs....
Making BIG Spaces
If you want people to feel welcome and comfortable, especially in commercial environments, you would do well to pick up tips from Noble and Devlin’s recent study. The bigger the better it seems, makes...
Probably worth it!
In the fourth of our articles this month looking at the different design options you can try to improve your home at different price points, we suggest some tips and furnishings which cost a...
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...
Design and Physical Health
Design can support physical health in more than the expected ways. Use of safe materials, ones that don’t off gas toxins, for example, is an obvious design-based route to physical health. Design can make...
Green Buildings are Worth More! – “Science News”
So yes, the news we’ve all been waiting for! Things we knew anyway, that green spaces, green and environmental features are better not just for the environment, but also make us better creative and...
Colours Seen and Temperatures Perceived – “Science News”
The warmer the colour of the light around you, the warmer you feel. This might seem obvious, but studies continue to prove this the case, with significant results. So if it’s cold outside, maybe...
Learning Spaces – The Long Read
Our brains have to work hard to learn new things. The forces building the knowledge bases inside our skulls (we’ll talk mainly about learning information and mental skills here, not more physical skills) need...
Designing In Awe – Why and How
There may not be any broader mental state we could talk about in this issue, which focuses on designing to boost brain performance, than awe. The spaces and objects in our lives which are...
Helping Our Memory Work Better, Via Design
Design decisions can help our memories work just a little better. In this article, we’ll cover how design can support the memories of those of us with regular old brains, specific issues raised by...
Some Don’t Like it Hot
Temperature affects us all, and also how we perceive and like the space we are in. In our regular notes from science we picked up a recent study to share with you here. This...
New Season, New Home!
Each Spring, a lot of us get the urge to try something new, house-wise—and this year, with so many of us having spent so much more time in our homes than usual that drive...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
Zoning Out!
Zone out! Create zones in your yard or garden, even if they’re tiny, so that users can, to the extent possible, develop their own sets of experiences, having options boost moods. Some areas should...
Curves & Hedges
Cushions that have curves The links we make between curving things and feeling comfortable is quite strong. Curving lines in art make it likely that piece will make a space feel more blissful and...
Well Wood do you know? We all need Wood
Salvador, after completing a literature review, reports that “A literary review based study revealed wooden materials in interiors and objects to have a positive psychological influence in humans, with a pacifying and relaxing effect.” Salvador. 2019. “Human...
Not the Same Old Oval Office
Most offices, even if they’re used by well-known people are unseen by most of us. Titans of industry and even many public officials spend their “office hours” working in places that only their professional...
Soundscapes and Sensitivity
Tarlao, Steffens, and Guastavino’s work verifies that many factors besides the actual noises themselves influence perceptions of acoustic experiences. The researchers report that “Previous soundscape research has shown a complex relationship between soundscapes, public space...
How new homes should be designed post-Covid
The Place Alliance surveyed people in the United Kingdom during the COVID-19 pandemic (May, 2020) and after analyzing the data they collected online have reached some conclusions about how homes should be designed in...
Want to think Creatively? 9 of the Best Quick Solutions
Research on spaces where people are more likely to think creatively is clear, these spaces share certain attributes. Home offices where people excel at creative thinking: Feature all sorts of different shades of green.Many...
Are you a Messy Bunny?
Visual clutter makes us very, very tense. It degrades both our mood and our mental performance and our ability to learn—it may even contribute to us eating in less healthy ways. If you have...
Ventilate!
Natural light has an almost magical effect on how we think and behave. Whenever you can incorporate it into your home, without glare, the psychological payoffs are worth the effort involved. In your house...
‘Tis the Season for Cosy
The space in this photograph is a fine place to spend some time. Nothing says “cosy winter afternoon” faster than a fireplace fire. Staring into those flames is, what’s known in the psych biz,...
The Science of Using Scents
Happily, for most of us, most of the time, are noses are doing their job and we can pick up odours in the world around us. Scientific studies consistently link particular smells to particular...
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