Increase in uniqueness fading
Chopik and associates report that “Recent research and polling suggest that people may be more reluctant to express themselves and stand out than in previous years. . . . We examined changes in need...
Kids need Privacy
Latreille, Houle, and Coulombe interviewed people 14-20 living in public housing: “Many of the participants in our study mentioned the positive or negative influence . . . of having or not having their own...
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...
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...
Can we “Hear” Hot Water?
Humans are even more interesting creatures than you might have thought. Wenger and teammates report that “People can use their sense of hearing for discerning thermal properties, though they are for the most part...
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...
Biophilic Design and Creativity
Suresh and colleagues confirm that people are more creative in biophilically designed offices: “Biophilia Index has shown a significant positive correlation and a strong predictive value for creativity of employees. . . . [data...
Nature scents?
Yildirim and colleagues gathered data in multisensory virtual reality simulations of an actual workplace: “the multisensory biophilic workplace significantly improved cognitive performance, reduced stress levels, and enhanced mood states compared to the non-biophilic one....
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...
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....
Metaverse nature
Lv focuses on the “recent proliferation of ‘metaverse’ virtual worlds, where tech companies are investing billions to create hyper-realistic digital environments, including simulated natural landscapes. . . . these virtual ecosystems risk perpetuating a...
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 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...
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,...
Setting the Thermometer
With Winter and Summer comes more time indoors in much of the developed world—and depending on whether you’re in the Northern or Southern Hemisphere, Winter/Summer is almost upon us. Spring and Autumn are regularly...
Dealing With the Stress of “Regular Life”
Whoever we are, sometimes our lives become more stressful. Whether it’s because we’re returning to our usual lives after a relaxed summer away from our usual challenges or because the weather is getting better...
English