CELEBRATION

Exhibits create a gathering place for the celebration of ideas and concepts. A well-designed exhibit provides tools, clues, and invitations for people to turn celebration into involvement.

When examining an existing idea such as an exhibit, a 2011 study found that people work more effectively at building on that idea when working as a group. If those collaborating together share ideas, they may be more innovative and will think of more practical ideas than when they work alone. In environments where exhibits present new ideas, people are supported in celebrating and building on the exhibited idea when there are opportunities to interact as a group.

Nicholas Kohn, Paul Paulus, and YunHee Choi. 2011. “Building on the Ideas of Others: An Examination of the Idea. Combination Process.” Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, vol. 47, no. 3, pp. 554-561.

NAVIGATE

The designed environment is a memorable format for message hierarchy. Physical space enables people to physically navigate the architecture of a story, product, or concept in a way that supports understanding and invites participation.

Researchers observed museum visitor patterns in a 2010 study and found that pathways were more theme-driven when displays were clearly identified and clustered by theme. The study also suggested that design elements like color may help reinforce the effects of labeling and clustering; meaning that cues from the designed environment provide subtle guidance to visitors exploring content within a space

Wineman, J. & Peponis, J. (2010). Constructing spatial meaning: Spatial affordances in museum design. Environment and Behavior,  42(1), 86-109.

SOCIAL

The designed environment is a social space that creates opportunities for people to explore and expand ideas together. When used in a self-guided manor, well-designed environments motivate people to share their experience with others.

A 2011 study found that people were more likely to share content with others when it was paired with a physiological sensation. When study participants absorbed content while running on a treadmill, they were more likely to share the information than when they received it standing still. By nature, exhibits and environments encourage people to interact using multiple senses and to absorb content in novel ways—leading to more sharing during and after the exhibit experience.

Berger, J. (2011). Arousal increases social transmission of information. Psycological Science. 22(7), 891-893.

MEMORY

Designed environments engage multiple senses, leading to long lasting memories and connections with the content in the space.

A 2014 study found that interacting with an environment through touch is likely to lead people to an enjoyable experience, lasting memories of the experience, and heightened creativity. For marketers, this makes a brand more memorable and associates positive experiences with the brand. For museums, tactile experiences are likely to bring visitors back to the museum for return visits. In any context, tactile, hands-on experiences with products and ideas lead to positive outcomes.

Kim, H. & Krishnan, S. (2014). Where is the Fun in Creativity? The influence of Product Touch on Consumer Creativity. Abstracts, Conference of the Society for Consumer Psychology.

EXTENDS

The designed environment creates opportunities for people to connect with a message. This connection extends the effects of the experience past the time of the visit.

Positive design is a design movement to elevate people's subjective well-being, or happiness, through design. The practice aims to promote pleasure, virtue, and personal significance in products, applications, services, and spaces. In a 2013 essay on positive design, researchers described additional characteristics of positive design that can be measured through research. One of the most important and measurable characteristics of successful positive design is the long-term effect on well-being or happiness. When designers create opportunities for people to experience delight (pleasure), achieve outcomes that are good for people (virtue), and reach goals (personal significance) through the design of products and spaces, it can improve people's well-being in the long-term. 

Desmet, P. & Pohlmeyer, A. (2013). Positive design: An introduction to design for subjective well-being. International Journal of Design, 7(3), 5-19. 

TIME

The designed environment can be composed and arranged to be experienced in any amount of time.

A 2010 study found that when the same traveling exhibit was displayed in different layouts, visitors made more contact with individual displays when they were easily accessible, but spent more time with more exhibits when they were all highly visible from one to the next. This suggests that the layout of space has an impact on the way people explore and interact with it, including the amount of time that they spend doing so. 

Wineman, J. & Peponis, J. (2010). Constructing spatial meaning: Spatital affordances in museum design. Environment and Behavior, 42(1), 86-209.

TRANSFORM

The designed environment provides a flexible model for structuring information. This multi-leveled effect motivates the user to transform their experience into a desire for more knowledge.

By creating environments that change the way we think, we are able to promote critical thinking. A 2016 study from the University of Cincinnati explores the effects of structured environments on decision-making, and indeed, "Causal relationships in environments." The three-part study suggests structured environments encourage more thorough and thoughtful decision-making. The researchers emphasize the influence of the surrounding environment on the way people make decisions. 

Fuller, D. (2016). New Research Reveals How Structure Increases Careful Thought About Decisions.  [Press release] University of Cincinnati.

FREEDOM

Though a designed environment can be composed and ordered, a person chooses the order in which the experience happens. It gives the person both a sense of freedom and the enjoyment of curation.

Both orderly and disorderly environments have distinct effects on people, and distinct advantages. A 2013 study suggests that people are likely to behave in certain ways, depending on the apparent organization of the space around them. It showed that in orderly environments, people were likely to behave in healthy, generous, and conventional ways, and choose objects labeled as "classic". Disorderly spaces encouraged creativity and led people to choose objects labeled "new." Any of these behaviors could be beneficial, depending on the intent of the space. In either case, the designed environment can encourage behaviors and mindsets, while still giving people the freedom to compose their own experience.

Vohs, K. Redden, J., & Rahinel, R. (2013). Physical order produces healthy choices, generosity, and conventionality, whereas disorder produces creativity. Association of Psychological Science, 24(9), 1860-1867.

REFRAME

The designed environment can form or reframe awareness of a topic or idea in a very limited amount of time.

Unlike most forms of media which we can selectively turn on or off, physical space is a medium that we tune into 100% of the time. It’s innate – we’re hardwired to scan our environment for information because it helps us survive. Our surroundings are often mundane, but when we encounter something truly amazing, it triggers emotions ranging from fascination, to curiosity, and even awe. According to psychologists, two things must occur in a person’s mind to experience awe; one, a perception of vastness, and two, a need for accommodation—that is, an opening of the mind to find a place inside where the new experience will fit. Awe-inspiring physical spaces—both natural and designed—open people’s minds to new ideas and new possibilities, helping them to reframe their preconceptions and form lasting memories.

Keltner, D. & Haidt, J. (2003). Approaching awe, a moral, spiritual, and aesthetic emotion. Cognition and Emotion, 17(2), 297-314.

COMPLEXITIES

The designed environment is a spatial experience model capable of addressing many of the complexities involved in how we learn.

Famed psychologist Howard Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences suggests that people learn in alignment with their intelligence (or, abilities), which take multiple forms; including musical-rhythmic, visual-spatial, verbal-linguistic, logical-mathematical, bodily-kinesthetic, interpersonal, intrapersonal, and naturalistic. Gardner was one of the first to acknowledge the diverse ways that people develop knowledge. Environments and exhibits create opportunities for many kinds of interactions, supporting diverse learning styles and expanding people’s access to information and ideas.

Gardner, H. (1993). Frames of mind: The theory of multiple intelligences. New York, NY: BasicBooks.

ATTITUDES

A well-designed environment has the potential to shape or reshape people’s attitudes about any given topic, quickly.

Design is perceived intuitively and encourages us to form attitudes, notions, and even decisions quickly. Consider your cell phone. There’s a good chance you chose it because of the way it works and what it enables you to do. But, there's also a good chance that its physical appearance influenced your decision to purchase it, too. Consider the way that the design of your cell phone makes you feel, and how that influences your perception of the company that produced it. It's this invisible influence that makes design so powerful, and environment design can be as profoundly influential as product design, when it comes to the way that people behave in response to it. In 2004, Don Norman, arguably the foremost author and educator of human-centered design, expounded on his 1988 foundational book The Design of Everyday Things,with Emotional Design: Why We Love (or Hate) Everyday Things, demonstrating how design makes us feel and affects our behavior. According to Norman, design shapes our attitudes and plays an important role in our decisions to purchase, repurchase, visit, and return, though we might not always realize it.

Norman, D.  (2004).  Emotional Design:  Why We Love (Or Hate) Everyday Things. Basic Books:  New York.

IDEAS

A designed environment is defined by the ideas it wishes to convey and also by those that are unintended.

The findings of a 2012 study suggest that curvilinear forms are more pleasant and inviting than rectilinear forms. Given the option to approach two simulated rooms, one filled with curvilinear elements and one filled with rectilinear elements, people more frequently entered the curvilinear environment and reported more positive feelings toward that space. Design can encourage desired behaviors that feel natural and unforced—even delightful—to the occupants of a space.

Dazkir, S.A., & Read, M.A. (2012). Furniture forms and their influence on our emotional responses toward interior environments. Environment and Behavior. 44(5), 722-732.