Designing an Attractive Environment with Dr. Sally Augustin

Do you ever wonder how to design an attractive environment? Do colors, smells, sounds, and shapes around us truly affect our moods? Do they control our behaviors? According to today’s guest, Dr. Sally Augustin, the answer is overwhelmingly yes! Dr. Augustin has spent years doing environmental psychology research, and she shares today how our moods and behavior are very much influenced by what we perceive in our surroundings. 

You won’t want to miss today’s fascinating discoveries about how to design each room in your home, office, or at the gym according to the purpose and desired outcomes in the space.  Dr. Augustin also shares which of the senses is most powerful and how to set up your space for success! Find out how in today’s episode!

Today’s Speaker - Dr. Sally Augustin

Sally Augustin, PhD, is a practicing environmental/design psychologist and the principal at Design With Science. She has extensive experience integrating science-based insights to develop recommendations for the design of places, objects, and services that support desired cognitive, emotional, and physical experiences.

Dr. Augustin began her research in retail design projects many years ago. Her experience led her to pursue a PhD in Environmental Psychology. She holds leadership positions in professional organizations such as the American Psychological Association and the Environmental Design Research Association.   

Dr. Augustin is the author of Place Advantage:  Applied Psychology for Interior Architecture (Wiley, 2009) and, with Cindy Coleman, The Designer’s Guide to Doing Research:  Applying Knowledge to Inform Design (Wiley, 2012). She has also written a new book called Designology.

Website: www.DesignWithScience.com

Book: Designology

You’ll Learn

• Which colors work best in certain rooms and why 
• How sounds can help with concentration
• Which sense is most likely to be nostalgic
• Do introverts and extroverts process our surroundings differently
• Which colors evoke emotional and cognitive responses
• What shapes promote productivity

It Starts With Attraction Ep. 011: Designing

Your Host: Kimberly Beam Holmes, Expert in Self-Improvement and Relationships


Kimberly Beam Holmes has applied her master's degree in psychology for over ten years, acting as the CEO of Marriage Helper & CEO and Creator of PIES University, being a wife and mother herself, and researching how attraction affects relationships. Her videos, podcasts, and following reach over 500,000 people a month who are making changes and becoming the best they can be.

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Transcript

Kimberly Holmes : 0:00

Have you ever wondered the science behind why a spa is so relaxing? Why it makes you want to just breathe a little deeper and not think about the world outside of it? While a gym revs you up and gives you energy and get you to move and focus and do more. Or maybe you've wondered why you can enter one person's house and feel so at home so relaxed, so comforted, like you can take off your shoes, kick up your feet and drink a glass of sweet tea. While other homes you enter into and they feel cold and sterile. On today's podcast, we are going to be talking with Dr. Sally Augustin, who is an environmental psychologist who studies some fascinating things, such as why we as humans enjoy the environments that we do and how we can set up our environments to be conducive to the outcome that we want in them. So how can you make your home more inviting, more relaxing, more comfortable. How can you make your gym more positive, more encouraging more motivating for you? How can you make your office space more efficient to where you will want to be more efficient and more creative in it? In this episode, Dr. Augustin explains to us the colors that matter and why we should be very mindful if even the color that we look at when we're doing creative things, versus the color that we should look at when we are wanting to do more analytical things. We talk about the science behind scent, we talk about floor plans, ceiling height, we talked about even the shape of furniture, all of these things can make a difference into our environment that we're in and we can actually set our environment to help us become the most attractive that we can be simply by being mindful of what we put in it. Welcome to it starts with attraction. Hey, my name is Kimberly Holmes and this is it starts with attraction, where we discuss how to become the most attractive that you can be physically, intellectually, emotionally and spiritually. Or as us insiders call it, the pies, you can become more attractive to others and most importantly to yourself. We will teach you how. Let's dive in. Friends I am so excited to get started with our interview with Dr. Augustine today. It was fantastic talking to her and having her but first I want to ask you to be sure to subscribe to this podcast on iTunes. And please give it a review that helps us to reach more people and get this announcement of the pies out to the world. And you can always share it with a friend. You can share it through Instagram, Facebook, whatever it might be. And you can subscribe on any platform that you follow, whether that's Apple or Google Play, or whatever other podcast platforms there are. Well, you guys, be sure again to subscribe and leave an honest review. I love to hear from you. Now let's jump into this interview with Dr. Sally Augustine, I know that you're going to love it. Well, Dr. Augustine, how did you get started in researching how design affects people?

Dr. Augustin : 3:31

I got started in this line of work, because I was working on retail design projects. I have an MBA from Northwestern with a major in finance and marketing and I got involved, you know, serendipitously for me in retail design projects as a management type. And I got more and more interested And over time, our physical environments in stores influenced how people travel through them what they purchased, etc. And eventually, I got so intrigued that I went back to school and got a PhD in psych. And as good education is supposed to do, going back to school broad my perspectives. When I have returned to school, I thought that I would probably graduate and just be better informed about creating retail environments. But as I was studying, I became interested other sorts of places as well workplaces, homes, etc. And now I make recommendations to people designing all sorts of different places and objects or services based on environmental psych research.

Kimberly Holmes : 4:53

It's so fascinating. I was reading through on your website, reading through some of the articles that were there reading through other things you had publish on huffpost and different places like that. And there really is, I mean, the more articles I saw that you had written, I thought, oh my goodness, there's so much more to this than than meets the eye than you would typically think. I remember there was one part that was talking about how emotions and behavior can be affected by design and colors. Can you explain more about what that means?

Dr. Augustin : 5:24

Sure. I think it is sometimes startling to people that there is so much research out there so much rigorously conducted research that links aspects of the world around us to what goes on in our heads. So I think your reaction to the breadth of information available is pretty standard. Now specifically in terms of color, when we're thinking about color and its influence on what goes on in In our heads, we have to think about three different components of any color color has a saturation, and a brightness and a hue. And, you know, hues are families of wavelengths that we grouped together by common names like blue, green, red, for example, saturation is how grayed out a color is if you know for to use a description of what saturation is. So, colors that are saturated are actually you know, we can think of it as true closer to the way you normally think of it. of them so, of a hue. So, you know, Kelly green is a very saturated green and it's pretty close to the stereotype for green but less saturated colors. More grayed out, if you will, like so a sage green, you know is a less saturated grief. And surprisingly enough brightness lightness are exactly what they sound like. And you can leave it as how much white there is mixed into a color. So if you want to think about the emotional implications, and the cognitive implications of seeing various colors, you have to think about saturation, brightness and hue. And we find that the colors that are most relaxing for people to look at are those that are not very saturated, but are relatively bright. So you know, if you're thinking about what color to paint your bedroom or a place where you want people to be able to relax and hang out together. You'd want to use a color that's not very saturated and relatively bright. So if you think of that like Sage green that I was mentioning before and add a tremendous amount of white heat to it. So you get a very light sage green, that's a great color for a room we want people to relax and there's, you know, a sort of dusty blue that's like that green and, you know, there is some dusty, warm peachy colors that also fit that bill in terms of relaxing, if you want to create a space where people feel all revved up, maybe you know in your laundry room, you know, depending on your relationship with your washing machine and laundry in general, you know, but you know, you might want people to be feel really energized in the laundry room or when they're working out. In those cases, you want people to be looking at colors that are saturated, but not so bright. So that would be like that Kelly green that I've mentioned before. And we also have very special relationships with some colors, like seeing the color red, gives us a burst of strength. So that could be a good color to paint, like the wall you look at while you're lifting weights, and we get this burst of strength over and over. But so red is great for giving you a burst of strength, you know, physical strength, but it degrades our analytical performance. So you don't want to be looking at Red well, like your tax season, we can use the tax example. You don't want to be looking at Red while you're completing your tax forms, probably. Now, looking at greens, all the greens have has been shown to boost our creative performance. So well, I guess it depends on you know what's going on with your taxes. Maybe you'd want to be looking at while you're doing your taxes if you're trying to come up with some sort of clever solution to an issue a tax related issue, but green is also a great color for spaces. Were you trying to do creative writing or come up with new advertising slogans, etc? You know, so in your home office, you can be relaxed, but in a state that's good for creative thinking you'd want you know, that sage green, that mixed with the white that I was talking about a few months ago?

Kimberly Holmes : 10:22

And did these things have to be painted on walls? Or can you just have things around you that are these colors that stimulate the same way?

Dr. Augustin : 10:31

It really doesn't matter how you see the color, so much as long as you do see it. you know, when we're in a space, all the various sensory experiences that we're having, they're sort of combined in our head to produce an overall emotional, cognitive etc response to the space and since walls are usually the biggest, you know, the largest amount of surface color you'll see in a room, they can have a very powerful effect on you. But, you know, if you're seeing greens in upholstery and things like that, you know, they would have the same effect inside your head as a green on a wall. But you need to think about the overall experience of being in a space and sort of add up your various color experiences and how they will affect you to get the overall repercussions of the various colors in space.

Kimberly Holmes : 11:38

Now, let's talk about sounds. So you there was a lot as well where it was mentioning how different sounds can delight us or frustrate us or help us concentrate. And, you know, typically, I've always thought the less noise the better in order to be able to just be more relaxed and concentrate better. What are those noises that do delight us? What are the ones that can frustrate us?

Dr. Augustin : 12:06

Sure. Sound is sometimes up puzzle to people, and you have to understand right off the bat that just as a space that's really loud, can make us feel stress, a space that's that we perceive as too quiet is also stressful to us. So you're looking for a happy medium, our ears didn't develop in, you know, a super quiet space, you know, you know, they evolved in the natural world. So we like certain sorts of sounds that are around us today. And you know, our brains perform in different ways and different sorts of sounds. So for example, I'm hearing a more regular like, really Make sound can be less stressful to us than hearing intermittent noise, particularly if that intermittent or noise is something that we feel we need to process because it might have something to do with us. So, you know, if you're, you know, in a work environment and you have, like a, say you're at home and you have it's warmer weather and you have a fan around you that is making, you know, a very predictable sound, you know, as the blades rotate, that actually can create a white noise effect that can help you ignore other sounds around you. But if every so often someone is speaking near you, in a workplace environment, well that, you know, unpredictable, speaking, particularly since you need to monitor to make sure it's not about you. Well, that can really up your stress levels and I care about stress because I care about people but also, when you're stressed, a little part of your brain is always trying to deal with that stressful situation and understand it better. So you know, you don't have all your mental faculties if you will focused on what you need to accomplish and one sort of sound that can be particularly desirable for people to hear. A sound, that's really relaxing and mentally refreshing are nature sounds. And these are the sounds that you might hear in a lovely meadow on a wonderful spring day. So these sorts of sounds are like a burbling brook gently flowing brook, tree leaves that are quietly rustling in a faint wind, birds that seem to be having a great day and are calling out to each other. So, you know, if you think about the sounds, you know, you might hear in a forest clearing, that's what you're trying to do. Those are the sounds that are most positive view. You don't want like hurt the sound of like hurricane winds, you know, rushing past you, or dangerous sounding water or parents screeching at each other in the sound, signals danger. You know you want what you might hear on a, a very peaceful pleasant, good weather type day. And these sounds are readily available, all sorts of different online sites, stream them and things like that. You want them playing quiet in the, in the background of wherever you are. You wouldn't want somebody to walk into, you know, your home office and say, "Hey, what's up here, you know, like is the window open anymore?" Or whatever what's going on, you don't want that response you want, you know people to, after they're been in the space for a while and sort of have settled in to start to notice these sounds and in the world around them. So, you know, you want to be careful with volumes always with your soundscapes as well.

Kimberly Holmes : 16:35

Even as you were speaking about the birds and the rustling leaves, I I felt calmer, just you talking about what those sounds like I said, Yes, that sounds, those are amazing.

Dr. Augustin : 16:47

It is science, you know, and it's been rigorously derived, you know, and repeated projects, you know, in labs, and then in real world contexts. There are really very consistent relationships between things that happen in the world around us and what goes on in our heads.

Kimberly Holmes : 17:06

Hmm, so fascinating. So what about smells and shapes? And how open a room is versus how closed it is? How did those different things affect us?

Dr. Augustin : 17:19

Sure. And well, first, I can talk about shapes, we find curvy shapes, relaxing, generally, and more angular shapes wrapped up and we associate them with efficiency. So I was just in a post office in Finland, and you know, all of the, the graphics on the walls and, you know, the different counters and things like that were very Angular straight lines at minute right angles and that was perfect for a post office because Well, most of us want to move through the post office as quickly as possible. So it's creatibgsignals that places efficient. You will have a different effect you're trying to create in your in your home, where you want people to relax. So in your home, you want to have relatively more curvy shapes than rectilinear shapes. And, you know, no matter where you're creating an environment or what you're, you know, what what you know what sort of place you're working on or what object you're working with. You need to remember that no place is entirely filled with curvy lines or entirely filled with rectilinear lines, you know, place that made it like sharp angles, a place that's, you know, more than straight lines and in sharp angles. That actually is a lot often like the sets of you know, horror movies set in space for example. And, a space that's entirely curvilinear brings to mind things television cartoons. So you're always over happy medium, but we'll be more comfortable and relaxed in a space that features relatively more curvy lines than than straight ones. In terms of scents, there are particular odors that in studies across cultures, people living in different parts of the world, etc have been linked to different sorts of outcomes. For example, research has shown that the smell of lavender really is relaxing to us. So it's a great now to use your in your pillow while you'll be falling asleep at night. The smell of lemon has been shown to enhance our cognitive performance. So you know you might want to add something that smells like like lemon to your workplace at home or at work or at work if you can't add odors, which is regularly the case in a public space, you know, you could do something like suck on lemonhead candies while you're working in the the lemon in your mouth will be something that will be perceived by your olfactory system and influence your your performance. So there are scents that have been known to directly influence us in very specific ways and more generally, when you're thinking about setting your environment and by the way, you always want set to be extraordinarily subtle. You want people not to be aware of it when the interest base and you can fine tune Over time to make sure that the scent you're using is indeed subtle. I wanted to make a general point of scent. Before I got off topic there for a moment. You should surround yourself with scents that you find positive and link to desirable experiences in your life. You know, so for example, lavender is a generally relaxing scent. But if you have associations to say, Honey suckle as a relaxing scent or Jasmine say as a relaxing scent, because on your grandma's front porch were used to hang out during the summers and just, you know when you're a kid and just be able to rest and decompress. Well if that area was covered with jasmine vines, you you yourself will associate Jasmine with relaxation that will be relaxing scent for you. You know, if when you ask yourself honestly about scents you find relaxing, if nothing comes to mind, definitely add lavender to your environment. But if you can recall, like an example from your past like the grandmother, front porch scenario I just outlined, well make sure to use the scent associated with that experience in the spaces that that's around you when you need to relax. And then in terms of open or closed environments. This is where things like personality start to come into play. There are some general responses in terms of open and closed like we are extraordinarily comfortable in our mind. work particularly well, when we're in a space where we feel protected, but we have a view out over the world around us. So an example of this is where we feel protected but have a view out over the world is a restaurant booth. For example, when you're in the restaurant booth, generally the backs come up pretty high. So that gives give you a feeling of security but you can see into the world around you. And similarly if you're sitting in a in a high back chair and have a view over the nearby environment that's relaxing and comfortable and productive place for you to be you know, any sort of space like a seat that's in a niche niche in a wall, from which you can see people traveling your body that works out well too. So does a window seat where Um, you can like, lean against the side of the window, but you have a view out over the world around you. That's the sort of space where you feel really comfortable, even like a canopy bed. You know, that can give you a feeling of security, you know, in the bed, but you would if the curtains that are open, you know, you can survey the world around you from a place where you feel comfortable and secure. But personality comes into play in terms of relative amount of openness. From my perspective, as an environmental psychologist, the most important difference between or one of the most important differences between extroverts and introverts is how well they process the sensory information that they receive from the world around themselves. Extroverts don't actually do as good a job at processing all the sights and sounds, etc, that they experience in that fill their world. So therefore, they prefer a more sensory rich environment, while introverts actually do a better job at processing all the sights and sounds and things like that that's around them. So it's important for them to have a more carefully curated environment in order, you know, mood and things like that. So, you know, a person who's extroverted, prefers a much more open environment, you know, than somebody who's introverted. You can see this play out in things like television shows where people are doing home makeovers. Often that people who are potential purchasers or walk into a house and start to talk about knocking down all sorts of walls and, and things like that. And if that makes sense, because you're going to television shows, you know, is something that it's probably more consistent with an extrovert personality than an introvert personality. Not that everybody is extroverted or introverted. We're talking about broad generalization here. But, extroverts love an open space, where they can see from one area to another, where introverts would prefer prefer a more segmented environment. Like in my conversation, we're talking about, you know, reasonableness here, nobody wants to be you know, in a space that's just larger than they are for sure. That's claustrophobic for everyone. So we're talking about relative experiences. spaces that, you know, meet our basic standards in the Western world for, for places to spend time.

Kimberly Holmes : 27:13

I can totally see tha. A few years ago when my husband and I were looking for houses, I didn't consciously realize it until we had seen several. But I realized that every time we went into a house that did not have super high ceilings, when you walked into the door, I automatically hated it. I didn't even want to see the rest of it. And it felt too confining to me. I'm more of an extrovert than my husband is. Whereas he wasn't necessarily as bothered by it. So I can definitely see how that feeling of openness transpires in that in that arena.

Dr. Augustin : 27:48

Right ceiling height is an interesting issue, generally because that does also tied to some extent, to our height. You know, I'm very tall. I'm always interested in in the higher ceiling in anybody, my height would be dressed in a slightly higher ceiling just because of her head height, but there is a feeling that's generated by the ceiling height, and when it gets too high, then space gets a sort of formal feeling. So people don't have as comfortable experience just hanging out with each other there. That's why a lot of the McMansion you know family rooms, you know, the ones with those super high, often vaulted ceilings. That's why people don't often have good times in those spaces because they're in them. When we talk to each other, our sound, our voices, the sounds we make bounce off all the surfaces in the room, and the ceiling is really high. You know, the people you're interacting with sound more formal to you. This is just our sensory apparatus work. And when people you're speaking with seemed more formal, you would reciprocate and act in a more formal way. And before you know it that experience that, you know, people have imagined with everybody hanging out on the couch together watching a, you know, a cool movie on TV, you know, isn't like people hanging out together having a good time anymore. It's more like, almost like a panel of reviewers or something like that you've collegial family familial sort of situation, to one that's much more formal.

Kimberly Holmes : 29:40

Interesting. Well, Dr. Augustine, this is absolutely amazing. where can our audience find more about what you do? follow you and and learn more about all of this?

Dr. Augustin : 29:52

Sure. I have my own firm which is Designed With Science where I work implementing this science you know, making recommendations to groups, individuals, etc divided designing places, objects and services. And I also have a book that came out in 2019. That will interest lots of your readers called design ology, which was by mango. And I enjoy speaking with with people. I'm an extrovert. So, give me a call.

Kimberly Holmes : 30:32

That is fantastic. I love this. Thank you so much for your time, Dr. Augustine, and I can't wait. I'm going to get that book because I want to know much more about this. I I've loved it. I'd love to speaking with you, and I appreciate you sharing with our audience.

Dr. Augustin : 30:46

Well, I'm glad I've had a chance to be with you today. And I look forward to our next conversation.

Kimberly Holmes : 30:50

Thank you. Absolutely. That'd be great. Well, stay healthy. Stay safe.

Dr. Augustin : 30:56

Same to you.

Kimberly Holmes : 30:57

All right. Thank you. Here are the key pies takeaways from this episode with Dr. Augustin. The first one is be mindful of your environment. What is the end result that you want for the space that you're in? Start with the end in mind and work backwards. So for your home, you might want comfort and relaxation in that area. So pick those colors that bring that Zen feeling maybe those lighter blues or those softer greens that Dr. Augustine was talking about. Pick the sense that gives you that sense of home and comfort and even good memories from your childhood. I know for me it was the smell of honeysuckles the smell of fresh baked pound cakes that my mom would make or really any Southern food and to look to find those things to fill your home with, including comfortable chairs, curvier items that give a sense of common sit a while and stay. But maybe for work, you want to focus on focus and efficiency, where you bring those colors like Dr. Augustin was talking about if you're trying to be analytical than focus on something that's green, depending on the type of work that you do, build your office or the space that you work in the most to bring about the ideal result that you want during the time that you're working. Focus on having a structure inside of your office that leads to efficiency. Maybe you don't want a couch in there because you don't want to get too comfortable. You want to be efficient, focused while you're trying to get the job done. And for your gym, you want to focus on energy and drive. Maybe that's a garage gym or just an area in your house that you tend to work out more or maybe you just like to go on walks. So instead of focusing On that space in your home that you can focus on design with maybe you're focusing on the things that you're wearing to keep you energetic and driven to finish the workout that you're doing. Focus on having those bright colors, those that music, that loud music, or even since like citrus that can really get you moving. But remember what tops everything is what brings positive memories for you. Things that make you feel good are worth the investment if you then are more likely to do the things that you want to do. It's better for you to spend a little more on the couch that you just love and believe would look so good in your space and it's so comfortable and you could see your family all joined around or sitting on it watching a family movie together. If it cost a little more money, it's worth it. If you're going to want to be around your family more using it. It's worth spending a little bit more on your running shoes if the fact that you have a red pair gets you more excited to put them on than the plain white pair. So focus on your end result and do what it takes to create your environment in such a way that you will want to get it done with what you have put in your environment. Friends, I hope you enjoyed today's podcast, remember to go and subscribe to this podcast and leave an honest review. I love to hear from you guys. So be sure to go and do that. And it will also help more people find the podcast as well. You can always find out more information by going to it starts with attraction.com for show notes, for updates and to join the email list so that every Friday you can get an encouraging email that specifically tells you what you can do to work on your pies so that you can become the best that you can be physically, intellectually, emotionally and spiritually. Until next week, keep working on your pies and stay strong.