Issue 233
Neuroasethetics: colour's invisible influence
Neuroasethetics: colour's invisible influence
Written by Laura Perryman for Mix Interiors, September 2024
"Have you ever noticed how a colour tickles your senses? Does it give you goosebumps, an instant smile, or a feeling of warmth and familiarity as you walk into a space?"
As we process that colour visually, through touch and even taste, millions of neurons light up and activate our brains, sending signals and shaping our behaviours and responses.
Colour and aesthetics are more than we see, fast becoming a full-body experience. Colour choices are so significant to humans that the first question I usually get asked when I tell people what I do is: what colours should
I paint my favourite spaces? It’s a conversation starter but also an accessible subject. My responses lean close as always to my philosophy. Far from it being a top-down process – of saying what colours are ‘on trend’ – I try to instead understand what people or communities genuinely need from the space and I couple that with the knowledge and deeper understanding of the emotional, psychological and even physiological power of colour.
These aspects highlight well that colour is a multifaceted and collaborative topic, and I argue when linked with textures and materiality, one of the most important sensory design tools we have. If we take a moment to go beyond what just big brands need from colour, to what we as humans benefit from on many levels – from tactility to aesthetics – the new world of neuroaesthetics moves colour psychology into a science backed, multi-sensory design approach. In the past, we’ve seen the impact of aesthetics with positive mood-enhancing benefits, which are vital for healthcare spaces through homes and public spaces.
"As we become more in tune with our emotional responses to physical spaces and their colours, neuroaesthetics is the measurable impact of aesthetic experiences on our brains, bodies and behaviours."
In truth, and through proof, it can spell new ways to nuance spaces and design for belonging, transformation and social wellbeing. Design’s role is pivotal in transforming these science-based insights into beneficial design innovations.
Designers are taking up designing for ambience and momentum is growing. Google, Samsung and Moooi, consciously or unconsciously, designed ambient effects, through colour, light and sound to influence our state of mind or behaviour at this year’s Milan Design Week. Previously, at Milan Design Week 2019, Google collaborated with Johns Hopkins University, Muuto and Reddymade Architecture on an installation exploring design’s impact on our biology and wellbeing. Individuals’ responses to texture, form, colour and scent were measured using screenless wristbands as they explored rooms with different aesthetic moods.
Visitors were then given artfully designed representations of their data to help them make sense of the relationship between what they experienced and how it made them feel. In architecture, Thomas Heatherwick launched ‘Humanise’ in 2023, an initiative that calls for the end of “boring” buildings and instead advocated for public spaces to be more inspiring, with intentional uses of colours and materials that promote social interaction and have positive effects on local communities.
It’s clear collaboration with science, design and communities is critical, but colour is one of the connective threads.
Visitors were then given artfully designed representations of their data to help them make sense of the relationship between what they experienced and how it made them feel. In architecture, Thomas Heatherwick launched ‘Humanise’ in 2023, an initiative that calls for the end of “boring” buildings and instead advocated for public spaces to be more inspiring, with intentional uses of colours and materials that promote social interaction and have positive effects on local communities.
It’s clear collaboration with science, design and communities is critical, but colour is one of the connective threads.
