Design for Calm the Kansei Way
In cognitive design we seek to understand deeply felt but unmet psychological needs and then create or remake artifacts to meet them. The TQM journal has an interesting article on Affective Design of Waiting Areas in Primary Healthcare that presents a good example. The researchers used the Kansei engineering method to uncover the psychology need to “feel calm” and…
“The core design attributes contributing to this feeling are privacy, colours, child play-areas and green plants. Good design of lighting, seating arrangements and a low sound level are also important design attributes to give a more complete design solution.”
A useful finding for cognitive designers working on servicecapes that call for calm.
