Design Preferences

Cotter and team’s research adds to our understanding of human beings’ preference for curved items.  They report that  “A preference for smooth curvature, as opposed to angularity, is a well-established finding for lines, two-dimensional shapes, and complex objects. . . .  We [found that] people preferred curved over angular stimuli. . . . For one stimulus set—the irregular polygons. . . . People with more knowledge about the arts . . . showed greater curvature preferences, as did people higher in openness to experience. . . .

Nielsen and her team investigated the sorts of art preferred by hospital patients.  They determined that patients “primarily ranked items to favor figurative art painted in light colors.”

Stine Nielsen, Michael Mullins, Lars Fich, and Kirsten Roessler.  2017.  “The Significance of Certain Elements in Art for Patients’ Experience and Use.”  Visual Anthropology, vol. 30, no. 4, pp. 310-327.

Research by Silvia and his team confirms that people prefer shiny objects to matte ones.   Silvia and colleagues share that “Researchers in the evolutionary aesthetics tradition have suggested that people prefer shiny objects because glossiness connotes water. We . . . present an experiment that manipulated the glossiness of metal objects. Young adults . . . viewed silver coins that were either dull or in ‘brilliant uncirculated’ condition as well as copper cylinders that were either rough and tarnished, polished with a brushed surface, or polished with a mirror finish.