The Quest for Self-Actualization

Bedroom for a workaholic in an apartment using touch and smell.

Waiting area at a train station using hearing, touch, and vision.

Doctor’s office needs a design to calm patients with touch, smell, or hearing. In this example we understand the location as an office or institutional-like space with seating, hard surfaces, and a staff that can be removed from the patients. The senses selected can have different solutions, and a combination of the chosen senses is… Continue reading Sensory Example 1

When designing with senses, do not use vision to start out. Instead, start with another sense. Because of vision’s preference by most users, it is too easy to fall into a game of imagery and light. Hearing is a safe first option, but don’t be afraid of touch and smell. Taste may be somewhat exotic,… Continue reading Upcoming Sensory Design Examples

The sense of hearing is extremely useful, but it can overpower the user and muddle meaning when combined with other sensory input. As with other senses, it is best to start with no or minimal sound and build up. One of the beautiful things about sound is that it can describe three-dimensional space and directionality.… Continue reading Hearing Sense III

Analyzing Hearing Although hearing can be passive, hearing incidental sounds, this sense is almost entirely active. We are able to block out sound with our brains and can even sleep through commotion. We are able to affect how people hear by masking or blocking sound, enhancing sound, or combining sound to create new possibilities. These… Continue reading Hearing Sense Overview II

Sound is the vibration of matter at particular frequencies. We are able to hear sound because animals evolved a mechanism to absorb and interpret these vibrations with a mechanical assembly including the tympanic membrane and ossicles made up of the malleus or hammer, incus or anvil, and stapes or stirrup, leading to the cochlea with… Continue reading Hearing Overview I

Uncle Billie installed the small window that just out over the driveway. The small shelf that subdivides the window reminds me of the herbs my stepmother tried to grow there in the minimal Midwestern light. Beyond the window, the neighbor’s porch peaks out of a cache of juniper, a determined jaw on the face of… Continue reading Kitchen

Creating Because vision is so relied upon, a good strategy in design is to not address site as the primary sense when experiencing a space or building. There are several other senses to explore instead. Ultimately, we don’t need to ignore sight, but initially it could be better to highlight another sense to heighten the… Continue reading Vision Sense Overview III

Analyzing Vision Vision is both active and passive, physical sensing with the eye and also the processing of the image in the brain. We can affect how people see by playing with how things are viewed and by making associations in the brain. By doing either or a combination of these we are capable of… Continue reading Vision Sense Overview II