1. Bridging Neuroscience and Design…
7th May 2023 - Kristiansund
Menno Cramer

2. Story of Design
Neuroscience - basis
Math (don’t worry, it has pictures)
Real world Example

12. Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't
mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny
iprmoetnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be at the rghit
pclae. The rset can be a toatl mses and you can sitll raed it
wouthit porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed
ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe.

27. Ceiling height study, Meyers Levy & Zhu (2007)
• Thesis: “ceiling height may affect the very manner in which consumers process
information and thus how they respond to products”
• Sense of freedom versus confinement
– Architectural aspects can prime concepts
• Link: https://assets.csom.umn.edu/assets/71190.pdf

29. • Rectangularity illusion (Sadella & Oxley, 1984)

30. Tranquil state
• A tranquil state is considered not in absolute value but in a change in state, this
change should be towards decreased arousal measured in > SCR, > Heart rate
• The largest percentage difference towards reduced arousal is considered to be the
stimulus leading to the highest tranquil state.

31. • “Tranquility is a mental state more likely to
occur in the presence of objective sensory
inputs that arise from natural features in the
environment.”

32. Horizontal Vertical
High lighting quantity Low lighting quantity
Hard lighting edges Soft lighting edges
Angular emphasis Angular intergration

34. Spaciousness hypotheses
• Increased perception spaciousness will lead to increased state of tranquillity.
• Visual repetitiveness will enhance features spaciousness and lead to a tranquil
response.
• Lighting symmetry is more important for a tranquil response than spatial
symmetry.

39. Isobenefit Lines Rewrite Rules for
Understanding City Life, Luca D’Acci
A new way of mapping cities according to the benefit they give residents has
the potential to change the way planners think about city design.
Cities are vast, dynamic entities that are complex on a multitude of different
scales. A visitor to any city can usually gauge within hours whether it “works”
on a human level. But it is famously hard to quantify the factors that make
one city better than another.

52. A restorative place
A healing place
A place to be alone
A place to come together
Be comforted by light
Bright airy spaces
Lavish green and open views
A new Horizon
A Warm Nest
—
https://archekta.com/en/work/warm-nest-maggies-centre

64. Takeaways
1. We are a biological machine.
2. We can only understand how to design by truly
understanding how we act/react and are.
3. You can only consider the whole and not an
individual parts.
4. There are millions of neuronal pathways that
fire in order to “comprehend”.
5. There is no way we can design for a “single”
pathway to have the “perfect” response.

65. THANK YOU!
Menno Cramer
cramer.menno@gmail.com
https://www.linkedin.com/in/menno-cramer/