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...
Polished Wood
Wooden surfaces, on walls, furniture, floors, etc., are often highly polished and shiny—so their use has all the neuroscience implications noted in the first article in this month’s articles. All on its own, however,...
Why bother to Awe…
Awed humans do all sorts of good things. Shiny things can be awe inspiring, along with a slew of other designed elements. We are awed not only by large size (think: the inside of...
How to Refresh
At this time of year, when it is becoming harder and harder to find a nicely warm, sunny day to go outside for a walk, it’s important to keep in mind all of our...
When to make a change…
Change can be difficult, particularly during months when we’re more confined to our homes and offices without convenient escapes when we can’t stand the dust and chaos of changing our worlds any longer. Don’t...
Benefits of Books
When the holidays approach, our places can start to seem visually cluttered—and sometimes this leads to a little voice in our heads suggesting we get rid of books. Unloading a few books that haven’t...
Add dynamic movement
A static space is alien to us and, over time, makes us tense. Have you ever been in a meadow on a lovely spring day when there wasn’t even the tiniest current of moving...
Don’t forget Sensory Richness!
Way, way too often when we’re pulling a space together we think only about what it will look like when we’re done—as if we don’t have ears, nose, and skin that will be in...
Go Green and Leafy
As the days get cooler you probably survey your garden with a heavy heart. You know, like Solomon, you will have to make some difficult decisions soon. Which plants should you save from becoming...
Using Natural Light with care…
We’re used to thinking that natural light is magical, something we can’t get too much of—it elevates our mood (for more on reasons to design to encourage good moods, read this article) and makes...
Lighting the Day as the Day is!
Lots of us are up at all sorts of hours. Our days get turned topsy-turvy because, since we now all work all day as we can work anywhere, we get a call from a...
Go Natural…!
When in doubt, whether you’re standing in front of a display at a home improvement store or a furniture shop, the best option, materials wise, is always the natural one. Wood, stone, wool, and...
Hotelification of the Office
Stacey Freed writes about firms’ efforts to encourage people to work onsite by making those sites oases of pleasure, really resorts for working. It remains to be seen if these attempts at “hotelification,” which...
Green green green!
“Brat” an album released by Charli XCX has made one particularly intense green the colour of the summer. Callie Holterman (2024, “You Can’t Escape This Color,” The New York Times, https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/26/style/what-is-brat-green.html ) has written...
And just for fun…. Visual Complexity… what do you think?
People reports on what’s new in dorm room design and their article is pretty stunning, and not necessarily in a good way – many neuroscience-based design rules are broken, from creating spaces that are...
Older People and Biophilic Design
Biophilic design is a positive, no matter how old we are. Pandita and Choudhary reviewed previously published articles related to biophilic design in assisted living facilities. They found that “The research advocates the benefits...
Biophilic Spaces for Studying
Terblanche and Khumalo investigated studying on university campuses via a survey of user and report that “The objective of this study is to determine how biophilic designs in study areas affect the productivity of...
Designing for “Personalities”
A recent article in The New York Times (Juan Ramirez, 2024, “The Broadway Actor Who Designs Dressing Rooms Inspired by Her Characters,” https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/17/t-magazine/krysta-rodriguez-dressing-room-design.html ) focuses on dressing rooms created by an actress to reflect...
New Life into Old Buildings
Worldwide many fewer churches are needed for religious services, so many are being repurposed—and the buildings have some great architectural features, neuroscience-wise. In “As Hundreds of Churches Sit Empty, Some Become Hotels and Restaruants”...
Product Curves
Chen, Ma, Xiao, and Qin y report that field and lab research “showed that circular (vs. angular) shapes of new products decreased perceived learning costs, which, in turn, enhanced consumer innovation adoption intentions. ....
Design and Apparent Production Costs
Min, Liu, and Anderson found that “Brands and retailers often offer different aesthetic versions of the same base product that vary from visually simple to visually complex. . . . Consumers associate simple (vs....
Health and Stand-biased desks
Salzar and associates report that using data collected during 10 days of use of stand-biased, sit-stand, or traditional desks they “found that workers who use stand-biased desks stood more and sat less during their...
Colours of Energy Levels
People are people and brains are brains wherever they are, so it’s no surprise that colours influence us in predictable ways no matter where we find ourselves. Colour has 3 dimensions, hue, saturation, and...
Associations of hues
Over time, groups of people come to link specific concepts/ideas to certain colours. Sometimes these colour-idea bonds seem to happen almost by decree, for example, when a political party decides to adopt a colour...
Colours for Home Offices
Whether you’re picking colours for your home office or a space where thousands will work, the same rules apply. Neuroscience has made it clear that it’s important for people doing knowledge work to coordinate...
Colours for mingling!
Making mingling with others a positive experience requires a lot more than just throwing people into a room together, as anyone who’s ever done just that and watched their party fizzle can confirm. When...
Additional colour effects…
Neuroscientists have also learned that: • Lighter colours on walls make a room seem slightly larger than it actually is and darker ones slightly smaller. The same goes for light colours on ceilings and...
Using Colours Together
In life, we’re almost never in a place with only one surface colour (and if we are, particularly if that colour is white, we’re apt to be so stressed that we’re having a very,...
Patterns
We’ve talked about the implications of seeing particular surface patterns, in upholstery, wallpapers, etc., in this article. Some of the highlights of the linked to article include: • Curving lines are relaxing to view...
Designing for Family Harmony!
As Winter sets in North of the Equator (and Winter will inevitably take place south of the Equator ultimately, again, for a few more years at least, even with global warming), we spend more...
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