design research

Douce and Adams studied combined sensory experiences in retail environments.  They report that their lab and field experiments indicate that “when a third high arousal cue is added sensory overload (i.e., rise in perceived arousal and decrease in perceived pleasantness) occurs under the condition that this third cue is processed by a higher sense (i.e. visual or auditory sense). Furthermore, a decrease in approach behavior and evaluations is also observed when these conditions are met. . . .

Research linking clothing worn and food selections may indicate an effect that can be broadened to environmental design; future research will confirm such a link, or not. Wang and teammates found that “formal and informal clothes styles can activate different clothes-image associations and thus make consumers more likely choose a food type (healthy or unhealthy) that is congruent with a specific set of clothes-image associations, referred to as clothes-food congruence. For example, wearing formal clothes can activate such formal-clothes associations as being self-controlled and organized.

Nature around our home may help reduce some of the negative psychological effects of the current pandemic.  According to a study published in Ecological Applications, data collected online in Tokyo “quantified the link between five mental-health outcomes (depression, life satisfaction, subjective happiness, self-esteem, and loneliness) and two measures of nature experiences (frequency of greenspace use and green view through windows from home).

Research completed by Shen, Zhang, and Lian indicates there may be some gender-related differences in the experience of wooden environments.  The team shares that “Previous studies indicate that wood enenvironments could produce more positive emotions, more delightful sense of color, odor, light and less fatigue for occupants. . .

Ross, Meloy, and Bolton studied how disorder influences de-cluttering.  The team found that when they “investigate[d] how dis/order (messy vs. tidy items) affects downsizing [they found], across nine focal studies, that a) consumers retain fewer items when choosing from a disorder set because b) order facilitates the comparisons within category that underlie the tendency to retain items. . . .