Enhance Experience

Berkovich and his colleagues studied the behavior of people riding trains in a subway system and their findings should inform the work of people designing transportation and public spaces.  The team learned that “customers have a clear preference for seats adjacent to doors, no real preference for seats adjacent to support stanchions, and disdain for bench spots between two other seats . . .

Karna and team investigated student and faculty satisfaction with university campuses.  They learned that when students and faculty participating in their study assessed university facilities “the staff and students primarily appreciated the facilities’ overall appearance and cleanliness. In addition, campus security and cleanliness of the outdoor areas showed relation to the overall satisfaction, and also the quality of the indoor air was a significant factor.”

Metin and his colleagues investigated links between background sound and impulsive behavior by people with ADHD.  They determined that when background “pink noise” was added to a test environment “Children with ADHD made more impulsive choices than controls. Adding noise did not reduce impulsive choice in ADHD.” Previous research indicates that white noise helps students with ADHD concentrate (https://researchdesignconnections.com/pub/children-adhd-concentrate-bett...).

Previous research has shown that the way that art is labeled influences how positively or negatively people respond to it (for example, see https://researchdesignconnections.com/pub/review-scientific-research-aes...).  Swami learned that “the provision of relevant, elaborate, and content-specific information results in better understanding of abstract artworks, which in turn is associated with better aesthetic appreciation.” An example of content-specific information was provided.  Text accompanying an image detailed that the viewers would:  “’be present

The American Institute for Cleaning Sciences may not be impartial about the value of clean facilities, but their recent research paper on this topic, available at the website noted below, is based on independent studies.

Forgotten what you learned reading Jane Jacobs?  Need more convincing that the design of a neighborhood influences whether the people living there feel like an integrated community or lone wolves?  French and her team researched neighborhood design and community spirit among the residents.  They found that “Sense of community was positively associated with walking for transport and positive perceptions of neighborhood quality, and negatively associated with residential density.

Elliot and his colleagues continue to do important research on the ramifications of seeing particular colors (for info on some of their previous work, visit http://researchdesignconnections.com/pub/creativity-linked-color-green-0...).  Elliot and Aarts compared looking at reds, blues and grays that are equally saturated (when relevant) and bright and report that “viewing red enhances strength output on simple motor tasks of a brief duration, suggesting that red may be beneficial for activities such as athletic events requiring short bursts of brute force (e.g., we

Sherman and his team investigated people’s tendency to notice dirt when they are disgusted (for example, because they have just seen a cockroach).  The researchers learned that “disgust not only makes people want to avoid impurities, but also makes people better able to see them.”  Sherman and co-authors also discussed “how readily light colors – especially white – evoke a sense of cleanliness . . . .