BBC’s Most Remarkable Homes
Dominic Lutyens has taken a look around our wide, wide world and identified the 8 homes he finds most remarkable, because of their design and earth friendly features (2024, BBC, “Eight of the World’s...
Future more Accessible Spaces
As Jordan Valinsky and Eva Rothenberg report in “Here’s What the Starbucks of the Future Looks Like” (2024, CNN,https://www.cnn.com/2024/02/17/food/starbucks-accessible-store-design/index.html ) Starbucks is making big changes, ones that should make their sites more pleasantly accessible...
Sound Masking and Mental Health
Bergefurt and teammates report that “To date, most studies on sound masking are short-term laboratory studies. . . . The current study aims to evaluate, using a longitudinal field study . . . at...
Sitting, Standing and Health
Nguyen and colleagues report that their “research evaluated the cost-effectiveness of three hypothetical SB interventions: behavioural (BI), environmental (EI) and multi-component intervention (MI). . . . The effectiveness of the modelled interventions in reducing...
Front Door Colours
One of the home design decisions that people agonize over for longest is what colour to paint their front door. There are so many colours to choose from, and the choice seems so significant,...
Battling Burnout with Design
Spring can often seem to be the season for burnout, the winter has been long, and just before the plants really spring back to life, our existences can seem bleak—and we all work too...
What you’re missing (maybe?!)
Dominic Lutyens in an article for bbc.com (“Inside the Homes That ‘Whisper Rather Than Scream Luxury,’” 2024, https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20240208-inside-the-homes-that-whisper-rather-than-scream-luxury ) writes about the rise of quietly luxurious spaces. As he reports, “In his foreword to...
Attributes of Homes we’re Willing to Pay for
Lou, Wang, Yuan, and Lu used data from Hong Kong to measure assessed WTP (willingness to pay) for various design features in homes: “We first simulate the metrics of five housing attributes under different...
What should your furniture be made of? – The Long Read
After our houses and our cars, our furniture may be our biggest investment. Sofas, chairs, tables . . . none of them come cheap and modern life seems to require multiple pieces for each...
What should the basic form of your furniture be?
Once you decide what materials your furniture should be made of, other questions come to the fore: What should that furniture look like at a very, very basic level? Regardless of our personality, culture,...
Specifically, what should your furniture, literally, feel like?
We tend not to think too much about what a design option feels like when we’re pondering choices available to us—but what we feel with our skin has a powerful effect on how we...
How should you arrange your furniture?
As with so many things, it all depends. How you arrange your furniture should depend on how you intend to use the space it’s in. Logic prevails. And try to invest in the bare...
What style of furniture is best for you and the people you share a space with?
Read this article on personality and design to learn more. Also, remember that furniture style sends all sorts of messages nonverbally. Select accordingly. Are you and your family modern farmers (even though you live...
What other furnishings are best for you and yours? Some links!
In previous issues we’ve talked about using mirrors in your home (here) and plants (for instance here), along with rugs (here), curtains (this article) and so many other things that are in the spaces...
Hygge forever – and that includes if you’re Scottish, Norwegian, Dutch or anything inbetween. The joy of ‘Cosycore’.
Holly Williams, in a recent post on the BBC (2024, “The Joy of ‘Cosycore’ and Hunkering Down,” https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20240105-the-joy-of-cosycore-and-hunkering-down) reiterates just how wonderful a cozy, hygge inspired space can be at this time of year. ...
Analysing Spaces – what does your bookshelf say about you?!
Think that nonverbal signaling via design is silly? Read Tim Dowling’s 2024 article in The Guardian, “Shelf-Absorbed: Eight Ways to Arrange Your Bookshelves – And What They Say About You” (https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2024/jan/17/shelf-absorbed-nine-ways-to-arrange-your-bookshelves-and-what-they-say-about-you). Dowling’s work does...
Colouring your best mood
Many of us are not in the best of all moods as we slog our way through the beginning of any year – whether we live in the Northern Hemisphere and it’s just too...
Designing for Creativity
As the new year dawns, many of us decide to spend time at creative endeavours, and design can help with that! The findings that follow are place-independent; they hold, and can be applied, whether...
Stop flies with Yellow!
Khoury reports that “Flies are more than a nuisance. They are the carriers and transmitters of numerous diseases, including particularly dangerous ones such as cholera, typhoid, and gastrointestinal illnesses. . . . In hot,...
Curvy Spaces
Tawil and colleagues’ found that “Previous research suggests that curved vs. angular interior environments trigger affective (e.g., preference). . . . responses. . . . Online participants . . . undertook four randomized tasks...
Light to dark or dark to light?
Su, Zhang, Zhu, and Xia found that “Gradient colours are widely used in product design. The variation of gradient colours muting a colour as a series of steps from bright to dull creates a...
Feeling with your Fingertips – the Long Read
Humans have lots of skin, with lots of nerves embedded in it. All those nerves are churning away, second after second, sending millions of impulses to your brain – giving you all sorts of...
Feeling not with your Fingertips – from your feet to your butt!
We don’t just have nerve endings in our fingertips and tactile experiences from the soles of our feet as we walk, from our butts as we sit, etc., also influence our experiences in a...
Viewing Textures
Textures on surfaces are often seen, so they influence how people think and behave, even if no one ever reaches out to touch them: We prefer glossy surfaces to ones that are matte so...
Things we learned in 2023
In 2023, researchers have reported that: Symmetrical things seem more functional and reliable and asymetical ones more fun and exciting—useful information when you’re making choices. At-work sound volumes of about 50 dBA are best;...
To DIY, or not to DIY
In many parts of the world, at this time of year, people find themselves with time on their hands; hiking is definitely not the top of anyone’s list as sleet pours from the skies,...
Conversation Enhancers
As you move through the Winter months where you live, you may find conversations with those you’re “cooped up” with getting a little tense. Some science-based suggestions for smoothing your interactions with those you’re...
Peach Fuzz – Pantone Colour of the Year
Pantone has named their colour of the year for 2024 – Peach Fuzz (visible here: https://www.pantone.com/color-of-the-year/2024?gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQiAj_CrBhD-ARIsAIiMxT-Srg5ERWiVQ_tNUUMnjWt_lx8EBYLwJ0511CQeVK2yE55oN6TMUFoaAo_BEALw_wcB). Sometimes the colours of the year that Pantone selects seem, well, wacky, but this year’s seems right on...
Beige is Blah…!
Kircher writes about an online negative reaction to a beige-y interior in “She Redecorated Her Boyfriend’s Apartment. Tik Tok Hated It.” (The New York Times, 2023, https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/14/style/tiktok-beige-apartment.html). Science indicates that sometimes beige, as a very...
Designing New Year’s Resolutions – The Long Read
As one year ends and another begins we’re driven to think about the high and low points of the last 12 months and to plan for the next 12, and beyond. All of which...
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