How Does Interior Design Affect the Interaction Between Human and Environment?
Why is it that, in a society ever adapting to accepting and exploiting individuality, we still design in such a shortsighted manner?
In the ever developing world it almost appears we are two steps ahead of ourselves, designing and creating resources to improve our living conditions yet, in doing so, we seem to miss out the most important factor which is us as humans and the way we are affected by the things we do to ourselves and the environment in which we live in.
They say “the home is where the heart is”, but how do we really feel in our own homes? Homes should be at the centre of our lives, a place to feel many types of emotions depending on a situation - the home should have flexibility to adapt to our daily changing lives. It is most definitely a mistake to believe that every individual in our society would want the same thing and so why, in this case, do the housing bureaucracies our time still design to only achieve overall efficiency and minimise costs instead of designing for our individual needs?
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Our surroundings have an overwhelming influence on the way in which we behave, whether this be consciously or sub consciously; so why, knowing this is the case, do we still merely accept whatever housing options are offered to us? The reason is because there is no other choice, but this should not be the case. We are being governed by the powers of the housing bureaucracies that are only in business for money or power and not for the benefit of the human race; their goals are to use as little land as possible and build as many ‘homes’ as they can. This results in cramped living conditions that we have simply become accustomed to and merely accept.
The home should provide a place for individualism and self expression based most importantly on the wants, needs and desires of individuals and their families.
Human-centred design principles are not relied on often enough by the modern day designer. This form of design, as talked about on TED Talks with David Kelley, focuses on putting personality into a product. Kelley understands the importance between human behaviours and the personality in design whether this be within a product or an interior space. Arguably, the most important point of human centred design is creating a product that starts by understanding the human race and ending in innovative designs tailored to meet their individual needs. According to design principles of human centred design, designers a like should be inspired by everything and anyone around them with a limitless thought process as long as they are grounded and from this they should break free from social and design rules in order to come up with innovative ideas that will meet the needs and desires of the people they are designing for. It also focuses heavily on client input; allowing the individual to have a say and also to interact and feedback on prototypes at each design stage. No matter what the final design may turn out to be, the designer will always walk away knowing that their product will be a success as the people that they are designing for have been at the centre of the design throughout the whole of the process.
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Within the human anatomy, the eye may well be considered to be one of the (if not the most) important sense; the eye is made up of many layers in order for us to be able to see and interpret colour, shape and movement. The retina is the part of the eye which sends signals from the eye into the brain and therefore is binding force between the environment around us and how we are able to interpret it.
The eye is able to interpret both in light and dim environments but is incapable of doing so when there is no light. This vital organ is used in everyday activities that we may not even think about twice; for reading, writing, watching television and for numerous other activities. As Nandi Thogarapalli says (about the eye’s importance) ‘It is important for language, and affects developmental learning, communicating, working, health and quality of life’.
In the UK, every day, there are 100 people that start to lose their vision. According to studies taken by the Fight For Sight Charity, ‘86% of people in the UK value their eyesight above any other sense.’ In order to design for these people, designers need to understand and consider the issues they face in their home or daily environments. Designers need to be aware of lighting, colour contrast, and the reduction of glare in order to design for the visually impaired and allow these individuals to interact with their environments with ease. Simple things such as placing dark objects against a light background is a simple solution to what may be seen as a complex disability.
In the UK, every day, there are 100 people that start to lose their vision. According to studies taken by the Fight For Sight Charity, ‘86% of people in the UK value their eyesight above any other sense.’ In order to design for these people, designers need to understand and consider the issues they face in their home or daily environments. Designers need to be aware of lighting, colour contrast, and the reduction of glare in order to design for the visually impaired and allow these individuals to interact with their environments with ease. Simple things such as placing dark objects against a light background is a simple solution to what may be seen as a complex disability.
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In the past physiologists have viewed ‘perception, cognition, emotion, and other basic processes as separable phenomena to be studied in isolation’ however, designers need to integrate these in order to allow the eye to interpret surroundings accordingly.
Ernesto Neto is a neo-objective artist who believes that interactivity with art brings the human soul closer to understanding the interaction they create with the piece of art; Neto’s installations combine beautiful sculptures along with an experience for the observer. He breaks free of the social limits and enjoys connecting people with space and sculpture.
Neto creates movement with his art, pulling the observer around his work through the use of strategically placed ‘mazes’ that make people move within the art; he wants people to have holistic experiences with his work and momentarily forget the norms of the world. He wants to connect the human spirit with the soul of the art, altering their emotions through his work.
Neto understands that we see and interpret things differently and therefore realises individuals will each have a different experience while interacting with his installations; in an interview with him he discusses how with just one of his art pieces it can be seen from the inside, the outside, from above and from around the back of it.
He describes his work as a fight between nature and culture, meaning that he understands the way we as humans try to fight the natural world that surround us instead of embracing it.
Henri Mattise was a big inspiration for Neto due to the fluidity and colour used in his paintings. It is said that ‘Mattise, is commonly regarded, along with Pablo Picasso, as one of the artists who best helped to define the revolutionary developments in the visual arts’.
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What designers can learn from Neto is simply how to connect the human soul with their surroundings; and interior design is such a fantastic place to start this, allowing them to physically and emotionally connect with every single element of their environment whether this be through a movement or through a visual interaction.
Overall, the more sophisticated we have become as humans, the more we have allowed our physical interactions with the environment around us to have become thoughtless and unnatural; to live freely, our built environments should become less planned and less logical in order for them to reflect the human spirit. Instead of living in a world that provides spaces that are built to better serve manmade machines rather than humans, designers should break free of this limitation and develop spaces that better the human soul.
British Broadcasting Corporation. (2014). The Eye & The Nervous System. Available: http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/science/ocr_gateway_pre_2011/ourselves/3_keeping_in_touch2.shtml
Fight For Sight The Eye Research Charity. (2015). Facts About Sight Loss. Available:
Hilton, S (2015). Designing a World Where People Come First. Londom: WH Allen. 256-261.
IDEO.ORG. What is Human Centred Design. Available:
Kelley, D. (2002). Human Centred Design. Available:
Tate. (2017). Henri Matisse. Available:
Thogarapalli, N. The Human Eye. Available:
Zadra, J & Clore, G. (2011). Emotion and Perception: The Role of Affective Information. Available: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3203022/
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