design research

Maister and colleagues learned how subjective our assessments of our own faces and bodies are; their findings can likely be applied in other situations in which assessments are made.  The researchers report that they “used a computational reverse-correlation technique to explore individuals’ mental ‘self-portraits’ of their faces and body shapes in an unbiased, data-driven way. . . . Self-portraits were similar to individuals’ real faces but, importantly, also contained clues to each person’s self-reported personality traits, which were reliably detected by external observers. . . . .

He and teammates link goodness and facial attractiveness;  it is possible that their findings can be applied more broadly.  The team report that “A well-documented ‘beauty is good’ stereotype is expressed in the expectation that physically attractive people have more positive characteristics. Recent evidence has also found that unattractive faces are associated with negative character inferences. . . This study tested the hypothesis that complementary ‘good is beautiful” and “bad is ugly” stereotypes bias aesthetic judgments. . . . this . . .

Duran-Barraza and colleagues evaluated how titles influence responses to artistic photography.  They report that “Conceptual information is central to the field of artistic photography. . . . we investigated whether artist's conceptual titles affected viewers’ interest in artistic photographs. Experiment 1 showed that adding artist's conceptual titles increased both the rated liking of and interest in the photographs, whereas adding a descriptive title had no effect.

Satish, Joseph, and Nanavati recap the benefits of natural light.  They report that “Exposure to daylight, in particular, plays an outsized role in our overall well-being and mental health.  Like almost all animals, humans have a circadian cycle that regulates sleep, metabolism, heart rate, and body temperature over a 24-hour cycle.  Daylight is the main environmental stimulus that syncs the body’s internal clock with the external world. . . . Studies have shown that daylight access can reduce stress, lower blood pressure, and even improve a person’s cognitive function.” 

Abrams probed the experiences of people with ADHD working during the pandemic and her findings indicate how workplace design can support people with ADHD generally.  Abrams states that “Working from home has also presented challenges for adults with ADHD, including dealing with the loss of boundaries—such as a dedicated workspace or an on-site supervisor—that help them avoid distractions and provide cues about when to stop and start tasks. . . . [mental health care] providers have used a mix of old and new strategies to help people with ADHD function well during the pandemic. . . .