Designology. Dr. Sally Augustin

time, that consistency will improve your professional performance.

      On-Skin Experiences

      Scientists have thoroughly probed the ways that our tactile experiences influence how we think and behave.

      •How much padding there is on a chair cushion matters in more ways than you might have imagined. People who sit on even relatively slim cushions (about an inch thick) do not drive as hard a bargain when negotiating as people without cushions. The people sitting on the cushions are more flexible—in most families with kids, in particular, cushions all around seem like a great idea. Would you like to make your family meals more pleasant, and discussions of curfews, allowances, and family vacations less onerous? Make sure both parents and kids have cushions between their butts and the dining chairs.

      •Researchers have also found that after people touch something that is warm and put it down, they judge others to be more generous and caring than if they’ve just held something cooler, and they are themselves more generous, trusting, and cooperative than after holding something cooler. Body heat warms some materials faster than others, and not all materials retain heat effectively. Metal surfaces heat up quickly but lose their heat quickly. Wood and leather store heat well.

      •When felt, smoother surfaces are linked to femininity and rougher ones to masculinity, and touching a rougher surface is more energizing than feeling a smoother one. When various textures are used together, the effect is energizing.

      •Smoother metal is associated with being modern, elegant, and comfortable.

      •People tend to prefer staying on the same underfoot texture; if they’ve been walking on carpet, they’re unlikely to move off that carpeted path onto vinyl tiles, for example. Changes in underfoot textures signal to humans that they should pay attention, so changing flooring at the top of stairs, for example, or where there is surfacing around a pool deck is a good idea.

      •We walk more slowly on carpet than harder floors, so carpet can be a good choice where you want to keep people moving slowly, to view art, for instance.

      •People are more comfortable in places with carpet than vinyl floors and tend to spend more time in those carpeted areas.

      •Floors that are shiny may be perceived as slippery, whether they are or are not.

      Temperature

      Thermostats, whether at home or at work, are often battlegrounds. Some people inevitably want to live and work in warmer temperatures and others in colder ones. Science can help resolve these disputes.

      •Keeping indoor spaces around seventy degrees Fahrenheit encourages pleasant social interactions.

      •Our minds do their best work when we’re in a place that’s sixty-eight to seventy-four degrees Fahrenheit, with humidity between 40 and 70 percent and gentle, almost imperceptible ventilation. There are a number of reasons why this temperature may not be achievable, from energy costs to a desire to save the planet by cutting energy use, but when you have options, it’s good to know what’s likely to work best for the greatest number of people.

      •Our hands, feet, and heads are not equally sensitive to heat and cold. Radiant heat focuses heat onto our feet, which makes us feel warmer than if the area around our heads is heated. Air-conditioning ducts up higher do a good job at cooling our heads and therefore making us feel cooler overall.

      •It’s important that places where you plan to hang out are in the comfort range

      of temperature overall. When we’re comfortably warm (but not hot), we are

      more sociable.

      •We feel cooler when we’re alone than when we’re with others, so thermostats should be set at higher levels in places where people will spend most of their time alone.

      •People are more likely to go along with opinions of others when comfortably warm than when they are comfortably cool, so a family room that’s a little warmer but still in the comfortable range might be a good idea when you anticipate potential family squabbles. The same goes for conference rooms at work where negotiations take place.

      •Experiencing relatively cooler (but still comfortable) temperatures has been tied to more emotional decision-making and a tendency to select products based on how pleasurable they are to use. In relatively warmer (but still comfortable) temperatures, our decision-making is more rational and utilitarian arguments prevail. You may want to heat or cool spaces you use accordingly to encourage one sort of thinking or another; you might, for example, vary the temperature based on whether you need to make investment decisions or host a family holiday party.

      Right-Sizing

      Some spaces seem to be just the right size, others seem too big or too small. We’re less likely to feel stressed in spaces that seem like they’re the right size, which is important because when we’re stressed, our cognitive performance and general well-being are reduced and our mood curdles.

      •Lighter colored walls make a space seem a little larger, while darker colored walls make it seem a little bit smaller. If you have a bedroom that’s just too big to feel comfortably cozy, a darker jewel tone on the walls can be just what you need to make the space feel like it’s just the right size. In a tiny powder room, a lighter color on the walls, say a delicate aquamarine, is a better option.

      •When a space is a little more brightly lit, it seems a little larger than if the lights are slightly dimmer.

      •When a space has a more even distribution of light, it seems larger than if there are variations in the intensity of light in the space, as there are when there are brighter and darker dollops of light on the floor of a room.

      •Relatively cooler colored lights (say 4,000K) in a space make it seem a little larger than it does when warmer colored lights (around 2,700K) are used in the same space. If you want a space to seem slightly cozier at some times and slightly larger at others, put different colored light bulbs in different lamps and turn on the ones with the cooler bulbs or the ones with the warmer ones to create the size impression desired.

      •Adding a scent associated with a larger, more open space, like the scent of the ocean, to an indoor space makes it seem a little larger, while adding a scent associated with coziness to an area, say the smell of a crackling fireplace, makes the same space seem a little smaller. Adding a smell tied to an open space to a large space can actually make people feel anxious. Adding any scent to a space makes it seem a little larger than it does when it is unscented.

      •Installing bookshelves along one wall of a room and then putting only a few things on those shelves will make a space seem larger, even though the book shelves inevitably take up some of the floor space in the room.

      •Generally, a space also seems larger when there are more openings such as windows and doors in its walls than when there are fewer. A single window or skylight will make a room seem more spacious. Even very small openings, such as those created when wooden bands are woven together to create interior walls, make a space seem larger.

      A single window or skylight will make a room seem more spacious.

      •A rectangular room seems larger than a square room that actually has the same number of square feet.