Summary

Cognition is the way in which we think, learn, form, memories, and make decisions. An innate
attraction in the human form begins as early as infacty This is referred to as anthropomorphizing, or
attributing human qualities to nonhuman items. A host of the cries attempt to explain our
attractions to anthropomorphized deign which include familiarity, comfort, social, best-bet, object
subject interchangeability, phenomenological intersubjectivity, and command and control.

Aesthetics is a branch of philosophy that deals with beauty and art. The fundamental premises
behind the study of aesthetic are the definitions of what constotuties beauty, the rational and
emotional criteria of beauty, and the value of beauty. Symbols provide a tangible expression of a
shared reality between multipe groups of people.

Cognition

Broadly definied, cognition is the process of thinking, knowing, or mentally processing information. It
encompasses memory, attention, perception, action, problem solving, and mental imagery.
However, because different hemispheres, conflict in cognitive abilities can occur, which can be
exacerbated when one feels apprehensive or nervous.

Environmental cognition

Is a more specific concept that refers to how people understand, diagnose, and interact with the
environment. Much of cognitive theory contends that solutions to problems are based on rules that
are not recessarily understood but promise a solution, or are understood but do not guarantee a
solution. Some research maintenain that environmental cognition is simply the way in which we
acquire, store, organize, and recall information about locations, distances, and arrangements.

Spatial cognition

Is specialized thingking process that helps humans navigate throught their environments. Most
people do this by forming cognitive maps, pictorial and semantic mental images of how places are
arranged. As we move throught these spaces, items within the the spaces are often regarded as
having volume and depth.

Nonspatial environment cognition

Is a mental model of how we cpnceptualizeideas and concepts (e.g categorizing local restaurants
according to food, price, location, and so on). Critics food, fashion, film, etc, captitalize on this form
of cognition, which provides them with their menas of categories information.

Environmental conceptualization

Reinforcing the idea that we think through the conduit of vision, Karon Oliver defines environmental
cognition as “the way we perceive, think about and make sense of our environment” (Oliver,
throught oliver’s definition, we can establish that as a species predominantly use the sense of vision.

Anthropomorphizing

At term anthropomorphizing means to attribute human qualities to nonhuman items. Designers

have often looked to the human form for inspiration because it is typically perceived favorably. This
attractions because it is typically perceived favorably. This attraction to the human form begins as
early as infancy, where studies have shown that infants are innately attracted to the symmetric, top
down shape of an inverted triangle

The role of Gender in Desig

Gender can play a highly significant role in design at all scales, from fashion, industrial design,
interior design, to architectural design, and urban design. The socially constructed, gendered design
of products, spaces, and places sends hidden messages to us about power, privilege and authority,
leading to disparate percepyions of men and women. Our focus here is on small scale design.

Aesthetics

Humans have come to regard aesthetics and color from different perspectives, such as regional
culture. Just as arctic cultures use dozens of specific terms to describe snow and xeric cultures in
arid climates have many aesthetics are more sensitive to the nua nces of color and design. Aesthetic
can be defined as a branch of philosophy based on ideas of beauty and conceptualizations of art.

Point of view

Phenomenology, lifeworls, and design

Phenomenology is the description and interpretation of human experience. One important

phenomenological concept is the lifeworld – the everyday, taken-for-granted world of which we are
typically unaware unless it change in some way.

The lifeworld is normally unnoticed in day to day life and thus is hidden as a phenomenon.

Phenomenological research attempts to break free from the natural attitude to better understand
the lifeworlds.

Formal aesthetic

Within western cultures the sensory apparatus has been investigated since the beginning of the
academe of ancient Greece. The word aesthetics, which realtes to the idea of being visually
simulating or pleasing, was derived from the Greek aethetikos, which means “of sense perception”
(Harper, 2001). From the scientific perspective the purpose of design is to create attractive, pleasant
environments that we enjoy. It is essential that planners and designers create environmental
features that elicit pleasureable responses and fulfil function requirements. Evidence shows that
aesthethic can be important in determining behavior. However, aesthetic design considerations may
conflict with behavioral considerations. Pleasant and attractive can be highly subjective terms, as can
function well and some the most functional design lack aesthetic qualities.

Jay Appleton theorized that humans continue to prefer the natural landscapes that our ancestors
were adapted to live in. therefore, aesthetics, geometries, and spatial dimensions that reflect our
anchient environments tend to be more pleasing and preferable to us at a primitive level
There are differences between the physical and psychological aspects of design aesthetics. The
physical aspects focus on formal aesthetics, which have traditionally depended on the gestalt theory
of perception. Gestalt theory hypothesize that people’s perceptions of stimuli affect their responses.
For more on gestalt theories.

Dimension: Shape, proportion, scale, novelty, illumination

Enclosure: Spaciousness, density, mystery

Complexity: Visual rinses, diversity, environmental stimuli

Orde: Unity and clarity

Symbolic aesthetics

Symbolic aesthetic complement formal aesthetics by moving beyond the physical world to the
intangible world of meaning. Whether denotative or connotative such as welcoming or forbidding,
sources of symbolic aesthetics include the following.

Naturalness: the level in which natural elements were used in the design

Upkeep: the level in which designs can be easily maintained

Intensity of use: the intensity or presence of particular design features

Syle: the overall design arrangement

Gestalt tradition dictates that if two individuals are exposed to an identical stimulus, their reactions
will be different based on their separate past experiences. For example, two people may have been
raised in different size homes-one large and one small. When exposed to a midsize home later in life,
the person who grew up in the large house will likely view the midsize home as being small, whereas
the person who gre up in the small home will likely view it as large.

Symbols and iconography

During the mid eighteenth century, French philosopher denis Diderot understood that emotional
experience might be heavily based upon association rather than exact reasoning (furbank). A great
poet, for instance, had the ability to relay meaning thrugh the use of methapor, analogy, and
associative memory, which were not the product of any form of classical exact reasoning. In his
paradigm of thought, people could develop emotional connections to places and objects based on
associative meaning. Which is similar to a stimulus response.

Symbols and iconography convey meanings that are real or merely the result of designer oversight.
However, messagers can also work their way into our behavioral manisfestations. At one time or
another most of us have foud ourselves humming, whisling, or playing a catchy slogan over and over
in our head, particulary when we are esposed to associative stimuli. For example, the commercial
1887 kars kids which has a catchy tune and depiction of clean-cut, middle class children has been
very popular. This ad was in response to the an emphasis placed on children in the early 2000s, and
the growing influencer of conser vatire Christians. The song is so successful that those who have
been exposed to it can easily remember the number because of the associated tune and dancing
children. However, this commercial not likely to have the same appeal in a couple of generations
because social trends envolve. In this way we can see messages of social and cultural trends being
introduced and reinforced through the designs of the era. Whether the designs of aoutomobiles,
building, or cityscapes the uniform message of the later 1970s was simplicity, functionality, and
reliability. Today design messages are also about scaling down, minimizing, being environmentally
friendly.

The current tiny house movement is similar to the tiny homes offered in the pasts and is response to
growing economics disparities.

Dubai’s burj khalifa is the world’s tallest building. The building size is a symbol of wealth, success,
and modernism

Symbols and iconography

Symbols and iconography convey meaning that are real or marely the result of designer oversight.

Symbolic representation

Culture and tradition

Create attractive, pleasant environements that we enjoy

The study of aesthetics in design has evolved from eighteenth century philosophical conceot of
beauty to include valuem form, tate and appropriateness (Gage, 2011)

Symbols and Iconography

Convey meaning that are real or merely the result of designer oversight

Symbolic Representation

Recogizing objects and then using them as a guide for environmental understanding has long been a
central focus of human evolution and survival (Kaplan & Kaplan, 1982)

Culture and Tradition

Who we are in the Context of the greater population

Culture is many respects the compilation of a community knowledge, experience, beliefs, values,
actions, meanings, hierarchies, religion, roles, spatial relation, concept of the universe, and artifacts
acquired by a group of people in the course of generations through individual and group striving
(Velkley, 2002)