Your design process has as much to do with inhibiting action as it does with actually taking action. The process you go through as you design and communicate that design to yourself and others can be linked to certain findings about the brain.

Dr. Samuel Wang from Princeton University says that the human brain has a large pre-frontal cortex as compared to other species. This brain region is full of inhibitory circuits that control…well, control itself. It’s all about inhibiting action. It’s the place where you plan for the future and exert will to make a good impression.

STRENGTHENING YOUR DESIGN ABILITIES

You’ve probably heard before that your brain can be strengthened, kind of like a muscle. As you engage in the design process, your brain actually gets better, strengthening your design talents with each problem you solve. As your design solutions improve, the greater your rewards for those solutions. It all becomes a positive feedback loop.

So, how does this work?

Designing is greatly about problem solving; thus, inhibiting your final design action. During this inhibitory phase you engage in Read more

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HOW ARCHITECTURE INFLUENCES YOUR BEHAVIOR

The architecture which surrounds you influences your thought, and subsequently your behavior. Understanding this relationship between the environment and your mind is important – particularly if you are a designer of such environments. Your brain is not only hard-wired to interpret certain spatial characteristics in certain ways, but your mind also plays a role in how you make decisions based on those interpretations. All in all, architecture is a type of “food for thought” where your designed surroundings impact not only how you perceive that world, but also how you interact within it.

In Scientific American Mind’s most recent issue, an article by Emily Athens called “Building Around the Mind” highlights various architectural factors that influence the human mind. As described in the article Read more