Colegio de Arquitectura y Diseño Interior
The Importance of
Interior Design Research
Assigment: Argumentative Essay
Author: Michelle Revelo Arias
Code: 00202483
MICHELLE
ARIAS López
Instructor:REVELO
María Gabriela
NRC: 2178
Due Date: 8th December, 2021
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Interior Desing Research
Humans spend most of their lives indoors, according to the National Human Activity
Patterns Survey (NHAPS) in the United States this figure reaches 90% of people's time.
According to science journalist, Emily Anthes, the ecosystem of spaces as a whole, significantly
impacts people's lives even in unimaginable ways. Anthes mentions that it has been observed
that the design and layout of interior spaces affect many aspects of daily life: mental health,
interpersonal relationships, mood and decision making. There is extensive literature on design
and academics have even theorized about it, thus design theory suggests that the design of
products or spaces induces certain behaviors to those who interact with such designs. (GarcíaArano, 2020) Interior design contemplates different aspects such as: colorimetry, spaces design
and distribution, air circulation, among others; these aspects affect population in a sociological,
psychological, medical and financial way, so it becomes a matter of interest to create spaces that
meet the needs of customers and users and even improve economic returns of companies through
the proper use of instruments obtained by prior design research, which is particularly important
for this essay.
According to the BBC, 67% of businesses in the world fail because they do not have an
attractive and functional design, a situation that occurs because there is no adequate research
prior to the design of an interior space. The “raison d'être” of companies are their clients and/or
users, which in the case of interior design are not the same thing; on the one hand, clients are
those who pay monetary values for a design or remodeling service, while users are those who
make final use of the spaces. This distinction clarifies the importance of previous research in the
development of interior design since this first stage allows designers to know the client's needs,
analyze the psychology of the space, identify the relationship of materiality and chromatics even
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with the level of consumption desired by each business and details the importance of the creation
of habitats that generate greater welfare in the population.
In economics or finance, information is a fundamental asset that has become the engine
of daily business operations which can be palpated in the importanceof big and thick data,
similarly, in design it is important to collect as much information from the population, a correct
usage of this information will give designers the ability to influence in human beings in the short
and medium term, this influence should be in favor of improving the quality of life of people,
therefore, it must have a transversal and holistic factor as (Delgado, 2020)mentions. Prior
information will make design efficient and inclusive; it will allow designers identify the final
user’s behaviors, actions, needs and desires. In Ecuador, for example, there are formally 470.820
people with disabilities registered in the national registry of disability, obtaining this first stage
of information regarding the disabled population allows to act optimally in the distribution of
spaces, analyzing that in this case places free of obstacles should be provided with enough space
to maneuver or circulate safely and freely, the statement is useful and concrete on promulgating
public construction parameters, like the requirement to build public corridors not less than 1.2m
or 1.5m . All with the objective that the space remains as functional over the years and does not
require modifications that involve heavy monetary expenses.
Secondly, an element of great interest is psychology of space, which describes how the
physical state of a place conditions the user's behavior by manipulating the notion of interior
space between the logics of spatial coherence and visual perception. Continuing with the
influence of design in business, we take as an example a shopping mall: due to the dynamics of
the mall itself, the psychology of space allows to establish factors such as the distance traveled
by the user within the place, in this sense, it is expected that the space is distributed in such a
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way that allows the user to go through the entire store and this impacts on their level of
consumption, improving business sales. For these objectives to be achieved, optical illusions are
used to create a certain impression on the user, such as painting an entire space white or using
continuous elements to create the visual effect of a larger than real space, another device allows
the use of certain patterns of light or shapes to draw people's attention to a specific point or even
divert that attention.
Thirdly, it is important to analyze the psychology of color as it is a transcendental
element in design in general. Neuroscientists, doctors and psychologists state that colors directly
affect human beings emotions and sensations. Colors have the ability to provide temperature
perception and generate feelings of happiness, according to (Peláez-Becerra, Gómez-Gómez, &
Becerra, 2015) in an observational research developed in Colombia, the research group assigned
emotions to a range of colors, where it is observed that, for example, black color causes feelings
of fear to 45% of the population. The designer in this case controls the desired emotions through
instruments such as the color wheel, which allows creating better combinations and shades. The
color even includes cultural aspects, thus, in occident countries white color is synonymous of
purity, while for certain Asian cultures, white is synonymous of mourning, the same applies to
colors such as red or black among others that have different connotations depending on their
location.
An additional element within the design is materiality. Historically, materials and colors
have been assigned to a certain gender, in this sense, the use of raw stone or dark leather skins
have been stereotyped as elements whose projection denotes masculinity, pastel colors have been
assigned to child populations and floral patterns have been assigned to femininity, however, it is
important to note that these perceptions are subject to the evolution of society itself and the way
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it eliminates stereotypes or creates others over time. The materiality also provides a message
according to the objective, for example, the use of natural fabrics or fibers communicates
sustainability and naturalness, while the use of glossy vinyl in hospitals provides a message of
cleanliness and neatness necessary for those spaces. With this said, it is clear again, that previous
information and knowledge of the user allows to fulfill the design objective that businesses or
institutions wish to project.
Finally, it is concluded that each element analyzed above, such as prior information,
psychology of space, psychology of color and materiality, play a key role in achieving the
construction of efficient and pleasant environments. Fundamentally, research in interior design is
as important as creativity and good taste, since it allows designers to identify the characteristics
of clients and users in order to use this information for the designs benefit, knowing that
neurologically, this has a great influence on the behavior, relationships and emotions of human
beings. Given the responsibility involved in the construction of spaces, designing an environment
in an empirical way without research or previous knowledge can be dangerous, unfunctional,
unprofitable or unsustainable, because it is useless a space that is only visually beautiful and does
not meet the desired functionality, without optimizing space and function, therefore, although
each client chooses different and unique designs, all projects are framed in a general objective
pursued by all of the people who make up the design; which is to provide comfort to the user of
the space and to ensure that each project cost becomes an investment rather than an expense in
the long run.
References
Delgado, C. (2020). Nociones del espacio interior entre las Lógicas de Coherencia Espacial y La
Percepción Visual. Cuadernos del Centro de Estudios en Diseño y Comunicación. Ensayos.
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Enriquez, K. (25 de Septiembre de 2020). Universidad de las Americas y el Caribe. Obtenido de
Psicologia ambiental y diseño de interiores: https://unac.edu.mx/2020/09/25/psicologiaambiental-y-diseno-de-interiores/
García-Arano, C. (2020). El diseño como una necesidad interdisciplinar. Una reflexión desde la academia.
Interticios sociales no.20.
Grimaldo-López, J.-A., & Botello-Arredondo, I. (2018). Proceso creativo para una línea de diseño
interior. Jóvenes en la ciencia, 2068-2072. Obtenido de Jóvenes en la ciencia.
Peláez-Becerra, S., Gómez-Gómez, P., & Becerra, M. (2015). Emociones cromáticas: análisis de la
percepción de color basado en emociones y su relación con el consumo de moda. Anagramas.
Pérez-Jaimes, A. (2016). Diseño interior: solución integral a los espacios. . Belgrado: Universidad de
Belgrado.
Polifroni-Peñate, O. (2013). El diseño de espacios como hábitat interior del ser humano. Módulo
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Semchysyn, N. (2011). ¿De qué manera el diseño interior influye en el desarrollo de empresas? Buenos
Aires: Universidad de Belgrano.
Suarez, V.-G. (2020). Diseño basado en la evidencia. La Plata: Universidad Católica de la Plata.
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