What we see matters. Certain forms and patterns give us a dose of dopamine and happiness. But, design at the cell level goes beyond form and function; it determines how we see, use, feel and perceive the space and, as a result, our general well-being.

Neuroscience studies of art and beauty have shown a strong connection between beauty and desire. The same brain areas are activated when we look at something beautiful versus when we desire something. The works of neuroscientists like Semir Zeki suggest strong links between beauty and the brain. His studies, particularly the mOFC part of our brain, focus on the brain when we experience beauty like seeing a piece of art or listening to music.

Movements of our eyes, bodies and the world around us have a tangible and intangible presence in all aspects of our daily lives. Studies have shown that the direction, orientation and nature of the movement can impact what we see and how we process the information received and its associated emotions.

How we see the world is based on how we perceive it. Some studies using neuroimaging technologies have proposed neurobiological differences between introverts and extroverts.

The Necker cube was founded by a Swiss scientist, Louis Albert Necker. The image is drawn in a wireframe mode with 2-D planes exposing all 6 sides of a cube in an orthographic projection. It is an ambiguous drawing of a cube with no obvious visual orientation. This lack of visual direction triggers an optical illusion which results in multiple interpretations of the cube’s direction.

Sfumato is an Italian word derived from the word “Fumo”.The term is often a reference to a painting technique popularized during the Italian High Renaissance period. This article will explore Da Vinci’s approach to Sfumato in one of the most famous paintings in history, Mona Lisa, and the art of Sfumato and our visual perceptions.

In terms of Spectral Colors, White and Black are not colors; however, White is arguably considered a color with no associated hue, an achromatic color. Then, White is described as all colors of the visible light (white light) with no designated color family (hue). So in technicality, White is a color but in visual perception, White means a lack of color.

Objects don’t possess any colors by themselves. Color is created by our visual system when visible light interacts with an object. So color is rather the creation of our perception of space around us.

According to Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), an average person spends about 90% of their life indoors. That is equivalent to about 72 years of our life (with an average 80-year lifespan). And yet scientific evidence has shown that indoor air is a lot more polluted than outdoor air even in industrial and busy cities that don’t have great outdoor air quality, which can pose variety of risks to our health and quality of life.

One of the key components of interior design is the access to and quality of natural lighting which can contribute to positive health benefits, reducing light pollution and energy consumption and lowering energy costs. A sustainable interior lighting plan allows connection with the outdoor and utilizes the natural lighting in the best way possible which can result in significant savings in both energy consumption and energy cost.