08 – Making sense with Dr. Sally Augustin

Design awards are handed out all over the world – for how things look. Yet we experience the world in at least five senses and they all affect how we feel, think, and act. There’s a great deal of scientific research on the impact of all these inputs, so it’s time now to start designing spaces with a real understanding of how to make all the sensory inputs point in the same direction, instead of clashing with one another.

Dr. Sally Augustin is doing just that. She is an Environmental and Design Psychologist and the author of several books, including Designology: How to Find Your PlaceType & Align Your Life with Design. She is a Principal at Design With Science where she applies scientific findings to advise clients worldwide on the design of places, objects, and services to create specific cognitive, emotional, and physical experiences by considering and integrating all the human senses. Dr. Augustin’s work has been featured widely in the media from The New York Times and Psychology Today to the Harvard Business Review. She also holds leadership positions at the American Psychological Association and the Environmental Design Research Association.

Dr. Augustin joins me today to discuss why the eyes are so dominant when we think about design and how we can integrate our other senses when designing a living or working environment. We discuss how the things we consider when designing an area or environment have shifted over time and why it’s crucial for designers to remember that people absorb information through all the  senses, not just our eyes. We highlight the role that space and workplace design plays on our thoughts, feelings, and behaviors and the ‘universal standards’ designers can implement when designing a sensory-focused shared space, like an office. We also explain how our personality traits can influence our design preferences and what designers should consider when working with neurodiverse personalities like people with depression, ADHD, and autism.