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...
Tasting while Stressed
Hu and associates had individuals experiencing varying levels of stress taste whole and skim milk. They report that “Chronic stress has been linked to changes in taste or odor perception. . . . Compared...
Human motivation and groups of people
Gabriel and Schneider “propose that much of modern human behaviour can be understood as the outcome of a primitive and implicit desire for social embeddedness (i.e., a desire to belong to a larger, societal-level...
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...
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...
Soundtracking your life!
Most of us have ears that work OK most of the time—there’s the occasional ear infection or very bad cold, but that is a passing thing, at least generally. So what’s best to hear...
Moving furniture, changing curtains, one step at a time…..
When one season is transitioning to the next, acknowledge the passage of time! Make a few changes to the places where you spend time. A few changes don’t mean make everything different. That sort...
Choosing the Right Plant
Plants inside can be great—when they’re around our minds and our bodies work well—our cognitive performance and creativity go up, we get along better with other people, our stress levels fall—the list goes on...
How heat affects our brain….
We talk regularly about the best temperatures for our minds (about 70 to 72 degrees Fahrenheit (depending on your clothes, what you’re doing, etc.) , with 40 to 70% humidity, as reviewed here), but...
What does your topiary say about you?! Creating spaces for “who you are”….
Humans feel great when they’re in a place that they think conveys who they are and what’s important to them—and also when they’re in spaces that seem to clearly tell other people’s stories—something we’ve...
Design nerds take note!
Recently,we’ve gotten access via photographs to two interesting spaces: the chambers of the US Supreme Court (https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2024/06/27/us/supreme-court-chamber-photos.html) and the room that British royals are in just before they step onto the famous balcony, the...
Using technical or famiiliar names impacts our perception of something….
Tok and colleagues determined that “using the scientific name of a major ingredient enhances product evaluations when the product is perceived as utilitarian, whereas using the common name for that ingredient has a positive...
Utopias, Monsters and Paradise….
Weller highlights places iconic to our era and text on the amazon.com page for his book describes its contents well: “The book takes the reader on an intellectual adventure through a carefully curated selection...
More benefits of Biophilic Design
Szewranski, Mrowczynska, and van Hoof’s work verifies the value of biophilic design. They share that “the concept of biophilia has made its way into the built environment, for instance, through the introduction of natural...
Scenes seen and Tastes Tasted!
Wu, Li, and Spence confirm that what people are looking at and what they taste are related: “Compared to the urban condition, perceived aroma, freshness, fruitiness and pleasantness [of samples of orange juice] were...
Being good to the earth and happiness
Prinzing’s work indicates that “green” behaviours and positive moods are related. He describes a study he recently completed: “A 10-day experience-sampling study (7,161 observations from 181 adults in 14 countries, primarily the United States)...
Temperature and Thinking! The hotter it is….
Keivabu and Widmann found that “hot [out of comfort range] days reduce politicians’ language complexity, but not cold days. . . . Our data consists of all parliamentary speeches in Washington D.C. (United States,...
Refreshing with Natural light
Madan and teammates learned via studying previously published literature that there is “a promising level of evidence supporting the restorative [mentally refreshing] effects of daylight. . . . Results showed more beneficial effects for...
Extraordinary nature is Powerful
Hao, Zhang, Hou, Lau, and Lau share that “extraordinary, awesome landscapes, such as the mesmerizing Arctic and mysterious underwater scene, particularly contribute to enhancing emotional well-being. . . . volunteers experienced three ordinary natural...
Unseen Forces – Part 1 – Sound
‘Tis the season for invisible forces. With Midsummer’s eve and good weather sitings of all sorts of gnomes and fairies, the unseen can be top of mind. In this issue we won’t talk about...
Unseen Forces – Part 2 – Scents
Sure, we can often see the source of a scent a flower, a piece of fruit, etc., but smells themselves don’t have any forms we can see with the naked eye. We are particularly...
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