How to Feel Safe/Secure at Home
We’re more apt to feel safer, that where we live is more “neighbourly,” and actually be more secure when: Cooler colours predominate in the space we’re in. We’re sitting or sleeping so that we...
Biophilic Design in Workplaces
All those plants you see around your workplace are not there by chance. Research consistently shows that being able to see a couple of plants (not more) as you work boost your cognitive performance,...
Hearing the right “silent” messages
Space designers and managers are also really focused on you getting the right messages from what they provide. Some research studies have found that the nonverbal messages that you pull from your workplace have...
How to Design your Garden
There’s all sorts of science that can be applied to create a great garden—from studies of what sorts of fertilizer are best for dahlias when to how many hours of daylight petunias actually need...
The Science of Plazas, for Patios
What have neuroscientists learned about plaza design that you can apply in your patio: Design for what you actually want to happen on that patio.If you enjoy barbequing, not compromise on space for the...
Choosing Others, Or Not
Uziel and Tomer Schmidt-Barad probed how having control and choosing to be alone or with others influence wellbeing. They share that “Stable social relationships are conducive to well-being. . . . The present investigation...
Conspicuous Consumption and Social Jet Lag
Yin and Huang report that “People’s schedules are jointly determined by their biological clock and social clock. However, their social clock often deviates from the biological clock (e.g., having to get up earlier than...
Dangers of High Temperature Walks
Asano and colleagues report that “In the experiments [conducted], a total of 96 participants took a mathematical addition test in an air-conditioned room before and after walking in an actual outdoor environment. Results of...
Odd Spaces can make Great Spaces!
If when you read “odd places” in the title of this article and thought, “at last, what I should do with that weird space under the stairs OR that 2 foot by 3 foot...
How to fix an Odd-space?
If your odd space is wrong-sized there are things you can do to alter how big or small it feels that don’t involve paint. A more brightly lit space seems larger than a less...
Nook spaces and visual complexity…
Your odd space may have spent part of its life as a nook and time as a nook can have a serious and powerfully negative effect on your future efforts to keep random stuff...
Scents and Sounds in your Odd Space
You’ll need to breathe when you’re in your odd space and in the oddest of the odd spaces, that can be a challenge. The best of the odd spaces have windows in them or...
Places for Dogs, Cats, and Fish
Our pets, at the very least, seem like our very good friends, and we can make sure that they enjoy living in our homes as much as we enjoy having them share it with...
Merging Households
As the weather gets warmer, people move, and often people who are romantically linked decide to take the plunge and move in together. People who with tight enough bonds to decide to move in...
Gender and place experience
Men and women can experience spaces in slightly different ways from time to time: Women have a better sense of touch than men, in technical terms, they are more “tactically sensitive” than men. This...
The Power of the Placebo
When I read “Write It in Garmond” by R.E. Hawley in February (at https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/01/magazine/garamond.html), I couldn’t help but think about the power of design placebos. Hawley writes “a few months ago, while I was...
What does being “Creative” mean to you?
Having an argument about whether something is creative or not? Culture may influence your answers. Kharkhurin and colleagues found that “The concept of creativity varies by culture. . . . Creative daring . ....
Weather affects our opinion!
Reviews may not be as objective as they seem. Brandes and Dover researched how weather conditions influence user reviews; they report that their study “uses a unique dataset that combines 12 years of data on...
Pollution actually stops us from making green choices…
Ming, Deng, and Wu found that “People are less willing to engage in PEB [pro-environmental behaviours] (e.g., purchasing pro-environmental products, recycling, sustainable travel, donation to environmental organizations) when air pollution is severe. . ....
New new new! We love new!
Ever wondered why we feel compelled to buy new stuff? Jie and Li found that “consumers exhibit mere newness preference across many product domains—preferring chronologically newer options over older options with no substantive benefits...
Let music and scents be the food of love!
In many a boudoir scene on the silver screen, not only do candles predominate, but before the person to be romanced arrives, some scent is sprayed in the air and background music begins to...
What does your home say about you?
At least according to the experts in these sorts of things, it seems most likely that people will form their most useful opinions of others when they actually have some idea who those other...
Love the planet too
Designing a place where you and other space users will feel comfortable and accomplish whatever you’re motivated to get done has more than the obvious positive implications. If a place works for you and...
Keep your mind and body refreshed
At this time of year, we all need a good break, even if it doesn’t seem like we’re even doing as much as usual. Being confined to our homes, by cold weather in the...
Getting along in the office too
Talking of love. Creating offices where people are going to get along is also important. We are not necessarily talking about having a romance over the water-cooler, but so people feel comfortable in a...
Thinking about Smelling
The powerful effects of what we smell on how we live was discussed in a recent article in The New York Times—could it be that we’re about to enter “The Smell Age.” On January...
Generation What?
We regularly hear that the generation that someone’s in should drive the design of the space they’re in. Tom Standage’s review of The Generation Myth: Why When You’re Born Matters Less Than You Think...
If You’re in New York City . . .
A current exhibit at the Cooper Hewitt Design Museum focuses on designing to support healing (https://www.cooperhewitt.org/channel/design-and-healing/). The exhibit is described on its website: “This exhibition, curated by MASS Design Group and Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian...
The Value of not being too Unusual
Button reports that “Eye tracking methods and measurements were employed to empirically examine if attention can predict consumer judgements and behavioural outcomes. . . . Findings reveal the importance of the grille as a...
Want to make a good first impression?
We all like to be liked and want to make a good impression. Tooley “found that a space that is aesthetically satisfying and valued, contributes to the likeability of its occupants. . . ....
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