book – Page 3 – Claire's Essays

Growing

After interviewing another student from my college for a feature article, I asked for feedback like I always do and her answer was this:

“Wala naman akong problema. I felt comfortable while doing the interview. Hindi nga ako kinakabahan eh.” (Eng trans: I don’t have any problem while doing the interview. I felt comfortable while doing the interview. I was never even nervous at all.)

Honestly, that is a huge compliment for me. During my very first interviews for a feature article as well, I got a feedback that wasn’t exacty a compliment but rather a call for me to grow and I am grateful that he is honest with me and for that, my future interviewees wouldn’t have to suffer so much because of my nervousness and inexperience.

I have so much more to learn with regards to how to listen well and converse effectively but such small compliments (small successes) gives me further strength to continue.

Just a few days ago, I experienced the feeling of “everything’s futile” again. And somehow, I think its related to my constant hustling these past few weeks. And I need to re-balance my self again. And I found this writings by one of my favorite youtuber, Dinara:

With that, I wanted to start my everyday with gratitudes. Letting the universe hear my thoughts and what I am grateful for.

I can feel that I am growing in many avenues of my life. But I want to teach myself to not get attached to some imaginary ladder that I need to achieve to be happy.

Small things matter the most. I interview various people and write down their narratives because I love to write a lot and read a lot. I enjoy writing as well as reading so much. And it feels me up with joy knowing that I am doing something that I love everyday.

I hope that stays. I hope that for the rest of my life. I keep choosing what I enjoy, what makes me grow, and what I love.

As a kid, I just enjoy what I love. When I was younger, my father had me take Kumon worksheets but as I grow older, I realize that solving Math problems isn’t what I am interested in. Hence, my younger self fought to do what she loves: reading.

I hope as I grow older, I will never forget that. I will never forget that as a kid, I chose to do something that brings me joy instead of doing something that people perceive as “will get you into a nice university or will land you in a nice job” but you do not actually enjoy.

I hope I will always remember to be alive. And to be alive means asking yourself: what makes me come alive? What is something that kept me going? And do it. Do it with my very best. The world needs people who are alive.

Like the Little Prince, I hope I will not forget. And I hope you too.

Odd Grownups

The Little Prince asked the man to draw him a sheep. The man replied that he does not know how to draw. But the Little Prince said, “That doesn’t matter.” The Little Prince continued, “Draw me a sheep.”

And this is something that we can learn from kids. Kids do not do things for the sake of improvement or praise. They just simply do.

When my cousin was younger and just draws all the time, I used to look at her drawings and compliment her. She just shrugs (eventually, she learned to say her gratitude). And now, I understand why she just shrugs. Because to her (and to almost all kids), what she had done is just normal and something that she just does. Hence, compliments and praises don’t matter to her. At the same time, there is no success or failure, just doing.

Recently, I interviewed a college senior for Spotlight, a weekly article that features students from the College of Architecture and Fine Arts who have art accounts.

I asked her about her teaching experiences from the past year. She taught kids how to draw and paint. And she finds them the best students she had handled. Why?

Because, according to her, kids never complain. Unlike when she teaches older students, she never heard complaints when she was teaching kids.

And I think that is amazing. Again, to kids, it is all just something that they do for the sake of enjoyment and just doing it.

I read of an activity wherein a professor created a program for her graduate students, wherein each of them will be paired up with a kid. And the reason for this is so that her students will re-learn how to do things in a less structured, less rigid, and more enjoyful way.

“Grownups are very, very odd.” The Little Prince said. I found myself thinking that I became an odd grownup myself.

One message from the book is that growing up isn’t the problem, forgetting is.

Re-connecting to that kid inside each one of us is not done overnight. We have to re-learn things again. But at the end of the day, what matters is that we remember.

Do more of what brings you joy

I just finished The Lorien Legacies (7 books). For me, its one of those books that you can’t put down.

After reading the last book, I stopped and feel. I let myself feel the exhilaration knowing that a book is finished. I just finished reading their story. Now, I can put them down to rest.

You know what?

I’ve read The Lorien Legacies a few years ago but I just discontinued it because as much as I enjoy it so much, the reviews I read in Goodreads make me feel like I’m the most stupid person for reading the book. Hence, I stopped.

Fast forward to now, The Lorien Legacies crossed my mind when I’m thinking of what makes me happy.

I realized that I should not let other people’s opinions stop me from doing what I am interested in and what gives me joy. For every day in my life, I should choose to do the things that makes me happy. For then, I will truly be able to say, that I have lived well.

Doing things that give you joy makes you alive. Honestly, what the world needs right now are people who are alive.

Hence, I continued reading the books of The Lorien Legacies, starting from the beginning because I forgot all the details. And I have never been so joyful in my life. And I continue to live like this, just doing what I enjoy, letting my interests, curiousities, and desires lead the way.

And before I decided to just do it– to just do the things that I enjoy. Here is what I read, this post is from wyattwesleywriting on Tumblr:

“When I was in fourth grade, I wanted to read Harry Potter. Someone in my class told me I couldn’t because it wasn’t in my level and I wouldn’t understand it. I read Harry Potter just to spite him. I’ve reread it a million times, it’s one of my favourites. I realised after reread and reread that I didn’t understand it in fourth grade.

When I was in sixth grade, I wanted to read the classics. I read the Bell Jar, Red Badge of Courage, Shakespeare, and as many as I could find. I couldn’t tell you what they said. But I looked like I could read at a higher level than I could. I read the same books and plays in high school. They made sense, I enjoyed them, I read them not to prove something but because I wanted to.

When I was in eighth grade, I only read murder mysteries and criminal books. That’s what more advanced readers read. I wanted to prove that I could read as well as someone twice, three times my age. I enjoyed them, but it was because I was proving something.

When I was in college I reread the series of unfortunate events. I loved every single book, every single line. I’d forgotten what it was like to read a book because I wanted to. I read young adult novels more than anything because I like them. I don’t care that they’re below my level, that they’re ‘too’ young for me. I don’t care that people see me reading them.

I realised something. I was taught to read because I needed to. Intelligent people read, that’s how people become smart. Reading isn’t a waste of time like television. I wasn’t taught to love to read. No one is. I found a love of reading by giving up the idea that people gave a shit if I read or not. I enjoy it more than I should. I realised that instead of instilling the idea of doing something because it’s expected or because someone should do something, instill the idea of doing something because you want to. Instill the idea that happiness comes from what we choose, not what others have chosen for us.

I realised that when I’m happiest, when I have the most joy, it’s when I do something for me. It’s when there are no expectations, no drive to prove someone wrong. I realised that my happiest when all inhibitions and perceptions are gone. Maybe that’s how we should enjoy our hobbies.”

—

I can’t stress this enough: DO THINGS THAT BRINGS YOU JOY.

I read that from someone a long time ago but when I read that, it just felt weird. Like I know I’m supposed to do things that gives me joy but why am I not doing it?

I want christmas lights on my room all year long and not just during the holidays because for me, lights have something magical in them. So why am I not doing it?

I do not enjoy scrolling on socmed so much but why do I continue doing it?

When I started to become aware of these things, I started taking more proactive actions on doing more of the things I want and I enjoy doing.

For me, reading sci-fi and fantasy books are one of the things that makes me happy. Whenever I find a good read, I can stay in one place for a couple hours and just get lost in the character’s thoughts. For me, reading is similar to play.

Experts are now redesigning their office systems and spaces to make it more conducive to play. Play is any activity that gives you joy and has no result. The results are only intangible– it improves your overall well-being. Hence, since the result is not tangible, people denote it as unimportant. But play overall helps you to be present.

Most adult spend time worrying about their mistakes and responsibilities. But with play, you get to be here. In here, this moment right now. And that is exactly what reading does to me.

I know, most of us (if not all) are suffering. But may you continue to play, to do the things that you enjoy regardless of what people perceive of it. What is important is what you feel about it.

By choosing to do more play or to do more of the things you enjoy, I am not encouraging you to go on “toxic positivity” but its more of, taking a break from ruminating. And instead, be in the now. Focus on the now. Focus on this hour asking ‘What can I do for this hour that would give me joy?’ or ‘What is the most beautiful thing that I can make?’

Almost two years ago when I cried to my friend after sharing something with her, and I remember how she replied, “Ate, ang importante ginagawa mo kung ano ang nagpapasaya sa ‘yo. Siyempre hindi nila maiintindihan ‘yan kasi hindi naman sila ikaw eh. Ang importante masaya ka. (What is important is that you are doing what makes you happy. Of course, they might not understand because they are not you. At the end, what is important is that you are happy.)” Also, I do not remember why I was crying at that time but I clearly remember that I am crying because I felt like no one understands.

A few years back, my dad pushed me to Kumon. At first, I was okay with it. Believe me, I am able to understand Math pretty well because of Kumon but I just wasn’t happy doing it. My dad forced me to do complete Kumon but I just don’t want it. I do not enjoy doing it. I always go for reading.

When my dad saw it, that doing math worksheets just do not make me happy at all. And he saw how much I love reading, he just let it go. He probably saw that I am old enough to do the things that i wanted and I should learn how to follow my interests instead of forcing me to do what he wanted.

Do more of what you enjoy. I am rooting for you.

“It is your Rose.” the fox says.

In the Little Prince, “But it is not any common rose,” the fox says. “It is your Rose.”

I love to think that the “rose” is a metaphor for the things we love and we create. To me, my journals are where I keep my history and the history of the environment around me. But to others, it may just be any notebook out there,

This just to show how each of us is vastly different from each other. We cannot shame people for liking something we do not like and vice versa. Let people enjoy things.

In the Little Prince, the Little Prince asked the fox if they can play but the fox replied that he is not tamed. Then, the Little Prince asked what is tamed. The fox answered that it means to build a relationship or to need each other.

To the Little Prince, the fox is just like the 100,000 other foxes out there. To the fox, the Little Prince is just like the 100,000 other boys out there. But if they choose to build a relationship or to “need” each other, they become unique in each other’s worlds. Both the Little Prince and the Fox became each other friends. And their journey would never be the same.

To you, I may just be like any other person out there. To me, you may just be like any other person out there too. But then, I decided to write this and you chose to read this. What I create is now on your mind and will become a part of your journey. Everything that will happen from now on is affected and influenced by our actions and nothing will ever be the same again.

Highlights From Atomic Habits

Atomic Habits is a book written by James Clear and here are some of the lines I highlighted while reading the book:

“Environment is the invisible hand that shapes human behavior. Despite our unique personalities, certain behaviors tend to arise again and again under certain environmental conditions. In church, people tend to talk in whispers. On a dark street, people act wary and guarded. In this way, the most common form of change is not internal, but external: we are changed by the world around us.” – James Clear

In designing, designers can influence people to act in a certain way using visual cues. They design a space not only considering the technical specifications but also how should they want people to act in the space.

An interior designer and a professor from SoFA Design Institute shared to us how her client had asked her to not place a dining table in their house because it is always left unused. According to her client, her kids eat separately in their rooms, hence she though it would be useless to have one. Through the story, our professor remind us how important designing can be. As designers, they can design the spaces inside the house in such a way that families will spend more time in the living room and dining room so they could eat and bond together.

Another example of redesigning an environment to shape human behavior is the Alley Oop of HCMA Architecture + Design. By adding bright colors, basketball hoops, and lights, the dark alley transformed to a public space. Observations showed that after revamping the alley, more women spent time and passed by the alley- this means that alley felt safer than before when it was all dark and gloomy. Also, college and high school students frequently use the space for their physical activities.

1% Better Every Day

Reading one page a day.

5 minutes of exercise every day.

Writing a paragraph every day.

All of these when done for 365 days are a big thing. Most of the time, big goals intimidate us, but when we take it day by day, we can achieve it.

A novel might seem a lot of work and may take even for years. But when you write a page per day, by the end of the year, you will have 365 pages!

One small step per day. Every day.

“The secret to getting results that last is to never stop making improvements. It’s remarkable what you can build if you just don’t stop. It’s remarkable the business you can build if you don’t stop working. It’s remarkable the body you can build if you don’t stop training. It’s remarkable the knowledge you can build if you don’t stop learning. It’s remarkable the fortune you can build if you don’t stop saving. Its remarkable the friendships you can build if you don’t stop caring. Small habits don’t add up. They compound. That’s the power of atomic habits. Tiny changes. Remarkable results.” – James Clear

15-Minute Writing Exercise to Be More Optimistic and Persistent in Reaching your Goals— Backed by Research

I finished reading the book Redirect: The Surprising New Science of Psychological Change by Timothy D. Wilson. The book is filled with intervention programs and the reasons why they work or do not work— all backed up by comprehensive research studies.

One of the effective intervention exercises that worked and significantly improved the behavior of the participants is the Best Possible Selves writing exercise.

Compared to students who only wrote about a neutral topic, college students who did the Best Possible Selves writing exercise scored higher on the Life Orientation Test (a test used to measure optimism | see below). Also, 21 days later, participants had greater satisfaction and outlook in their lives.

Click to access LOTR_Scale.pdf

As written by Timothy D. Wilson, Best Possible Selves writing exercise worked this way:

“The Best Possible Selves Exercise: If you would rather not dredge up upsetting events from the past, and prefer to focus on the positive, try this writing exercise. Again, find a quiet, private place and follow these instructions on four consecutive nights: “Think about your life in the future. Imagine that everything has gone as well as it possibly could. You have worked hard and succeeded at accomplishing all of your life goals. Think of this as the realization of all of your life dreams. Now, write about what you imagined.“

Don’t just think about what you have achieved (e.g., getting your dream job), but be sure to write about how you got there (e.g., doing an internship, going to graduate school). By so doing you might become more optimistic about your future and cope better with any obstacles you encounter.”

Speaking from experience, doing this writing exercise for four consecutive nights helped me develop a sense of clarity and purpose. The first night of exercise, I had an unclear way of imagining my best self– it was all over the place. By the succeeding nights, I discovered that finishing a degree wasn’t part of the process that I imagined to get to my ‘best possible self’. Basically, I am not relying on schooling to get an education. Degrees aren’t all that important to me but what I learned. Also, I discovered areas where I gravitated. By understanding myself on what I imagine is my best possible self and devising ways on how I could get there, even to the simplest tasks, I focused on the process rather than the outcome. And that is the goal of this writing exercise– to focus on the how; to focus on the verb and not the noun.

Artist and author Austin Kleon wrote it better in his book Keep Going,

“Let go of the thing that you are trying to be (the noun) and focus on the actual work you need to be doing (the verb). Doing the verb will take you someplace further and far more interesting.“

References:

Harrist, S., Carloozi, B., McGovern, A., & Harrist, A. (2007, August). Benefits of expressive writing and expressive talking about life goals. Journal of Research in Personality, 41(4), 923-930. doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrp.2006.09.002

King, Laura A.. “The Health Benefits of Writing about Life Goals.” Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 27 (2001): 798 – 807.

Wilson, T. (2011). Redirect: The Surprising New Science of Psychological Change. Penguin Group.

Just do your thing. Every day.

We, Filipinos, are currently facing various issues right now aside from the pandemic. This carrd contains information, actionables, and organizations where you can donate to help. Thank you very much!

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In times like this, I can feel that my life isn’t an accumulation of things that I had done and accomplished, but rather its like puzzle pieces that all fit in with each other.

For a design blog that I handle, I wrote an article about Halden Prison (dubbed as the most humane prison in the whole world). And I would have never known the existence of this amazing human-centered prison if I did not searched for design-related videos on Youtube last April; and if I did not had the privilege of having a Netflix account, I would not have additional information of how they treat crime offenders in Halden (which I watched through the documentary Inside the World’s Toughest Prisons). (Find the article here: https://empathyindesign.wordpress.com/2020/07/13/halden-prison-for-rehabilitation-not-for-punishment/)

Another article (here: https://empathyindesign.wordpress.com/2020/07/15/57/) that I wrote is about Terminal 2 at San Francisco International Airport or SFO (one of the best airports in the world because it is designed not for the planes but for the people). And here is my journey on how I got to know about it and led me to write an article about it:

> May 2020, I searched for TED talks about art and design. I stumbled upon Austin Kleon’s Steal Like An Artist TED Talk. I really loved his talk so…

>I got a copy of all of his books. And finished all of them.

>I want to read more of what he writes so I subscribed to his weekly newsletter.

>On the first weekly newsletter that was sent to my email, the ‘podcasts’ recommendation caught my eye and so I followed the link.

>I got landed on podchaser.com and I, again, searched for art and design related podcasts.

>That led me to 99% invisible (they are the ones who co-produced the Halden Prison video alongside with Vox).

>I listened to their podcasts and viola, I heard about T2 Terminal at SFO from Ep. 32: Design for Airports.

>Coincidentally, I was looking for more articles to write and publish on Empathy In Design, a blog that posts curated content about architecture, spaces, and products that empathizes. Basically, it fits the criteria and I would not have found it if it were not for the actions that I did in the past weeks.

The adventure was amazing. Every action leads to another and it just fits! I did not even do something extraordinary. I just continue doing my work.

In the KDrama Itaewon Class, the female lead shared to her boss that she feel so bored in life because “everything is just the same.”. Her boss replied to her, “Life may seem repetitive but.. we never really know what will happen tomorrow.” And I think that is my life.

I follow a routine and I know that there will be a lot of unpredictable happenings along the way but I will still continue.

The spontaneous things that popup when you are just doing what you do everyday makes life exciting to live and journey through everyday. Oftentimes, these things are considered the smallest things.

Just do your thing.

I hope that a lot of good things will happen to you.

The Work Behind The Article: Internship Article

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For my internship, I wrote an article entitled “Stories That Make Sense: Recommendations from the Sensereporters Team”

In this article, I hope that I showed who are the interns of Makesense and what do they do based on their book and/or film recommendations.

I interviewed them with the thought ‘I want to get to know them through what they read and watch’. And it turned out better than I expected. I believe that we are what we consume and my fellow interns took all of those to the next level. One of them recommend a movie related to mental health and psych wards entitled One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest. Watching the film reminded her of her excursion to one of the psych ward (she’s a psych graduate). By the end of writing my article, I concluded that the arts really do have the power to educate and influence viewers to take action.

Excerpt from the article:

In the book, Steal Like an Artist, author Austin Kleon wrote, “You are, in fact, a mashup of what you choose to let into your life. You are the sum of your influences.” I agree. We are what we consume. Everything from architecture. art, books, musicals, webinars, talks, music, poems, colors, YouTube videos, and movies that we consume makes us who we are today.

Written below are film and book recommendations from several members of the Sensereporters team that also, give a glimpse of who they are and what they do.

Sensereporters are the newest (and youngest!) content creators of Makesense under the Makesense Micro-Internship Program. Sensereporters craft stories, videos, and art about social good and building the new normal together.

Why Do We Love Being In Nature?

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selective photo of a girl holding bubbles — © Leo Rivas | Unsplash

James Corner, a landscape architect, told designer Ingrid Fetell Lee that landscape is more about how we feel, “It’s a whole host of things that will never show up in a photograph. Plants. Scents. Colors. The effects of light and shadow. Water. The sounds of water. Ambient humidity. Texture. Temperature. The effects of mist. The concentration of weather effects and atmospheres… These things are not obvious but they are very powerful and they bring joy.” Ingrid Fetell Lee added, “Being in nature liberates our senses.”

Reading the above statements from the book Joyful: The Surprising Power of Ordinary Things to Create Extraordinary Happiness created an AHA! moment in my brain. So that is why we love being in nature or be surrounded by nature because it is a sensory-rich environment.

In a TED talk entitled Designing for the Five Senses, designer Jinsop Lee used to ask himself “why is sex is so damn good?“. He found the answer when he used the 5-senses graph.

The perfect experience would be a 10•10•10•10•10. Doing sex uses all of the senses hence, it is considered a pleasurable experience.

I started to look for other examples and concluded why eating, swimming, and traveling are enjoyable experiences for almost everyone– because we actively use our five senses when doing these activities. The same goes when being in nature. These activities lead to sensorial richness which is vital to healthy neural development.

Reversible Destiny Lofts, an amazing architectural work designed with the belief that we can prevent death if we constantly engage in a stimulating environment. In these lofts, corners are curved, floors have lumps everywhere and they are never flat, and bright, vivid colors everywhere. Architect Arakawa and poet Madeline Gins, designers of Reversible Destiny Lofts, believed that the comfort given by modem buildings lead us to an early death. Without enough activity for all of our senses, they push us to a stupor and causing us to say goodbye to the world at an early age.

Reversible Destiny Lofts is an extreme example of sensorial richness but there are still tons of ways wherein we can feed our deprived-senses. Like I mentioned eating, just look at mukbang blogs on YouTube. They eat really well plus, they sound well. When I’m eating noodles, I make slurping sounds to add up to my eating experience.

Designer Ingrid Lee writes, “A sparse environment acts as an anesthetic, numbing our senses and emotions. The abundance of aesthetic does the opposite. It wakes the senses up. It brings us to life.”

References:

Lee, I. F. (2018). Joyful: The Surprising Power of Ordinary Things to Create Extraordinary Happiness. Little, Brown Spark.

TED. (2013, August 6). Design for All 5 Senses [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N6wjC0sxD2o&t=4s

Why Do We Need To Play Even As Adults

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“The opposite of play is not work. It’s depression.” – Stuart Brown

I watched one of an episode of Abstract of Design S2. The episode is all about play. I remembered in the book Joyful: The Surprising Power of Ordinary Things to Create Extraordinary Happiness written by Ingrid Fetell Lee, one chapter is dedicated to play.

Stuart Brown, the founder of the National Institute for Play, had been tasked to study convicted murderers of the Texas prison system– searching if there were factors that they had in common to understand what makes a person susceptible to violent behavior. Surprisingly, after a comprehensive review of the inmates’ lives and interviewed their families and friends, they found out that they have something in common. “Nearly all of these violent offenders had deficient or deviant play histories,” said Brown to author Ingrid Fetell Lee during their conversation.

There were inmates who experience abuse from their parents during their childhood. Some lack social experiences. To sum it up, their childhood lacks play.

Lee wrote, “Play let us practice give-and-take, through which we learn empathy and fairness it also promotes flexible thinking and problem-solving, which increase our resilience and help us adapt to change. When we play, our awareness of time diminishes, and our self-state, which allows us to let go of everyday worries and be absorbed in the joy of the moment.”

It makes sense that the lack of play in children these past few years had lead to a rise in narcissism, anxiety, and depression among children these days. Peter Gray, a psychologist who studies play, shared in his TED talk, “We have become a worse world for kids.” Instead of letting them play freely, most parents keep their kids occupied by letting them use their gadgets most of the time.

Going back to the episode of Abstract of Design entitled Cas Holman: Design for Play, designer Cas Holman concluded that most toys today are designed to keep children occupied. I looked back at the toys that I used to play when I was younger but are now sitting idly on display on our shelves. The toys that I own are close-ended; they only had one way (or four ’cause we never really know what is the limit of a kid’s imagination) to play it. These type of toys is something to keep us occupied and not stimulate our imagination. Many of these get thrown every year.

Cas Holman's Search for the Ideal Playground | The New Yorker — © Netflix

Cas Holman’s works are different. She does not label her works as toys because the word ‘toy’ is associated to the word ‘frivolous’ in which her works are far from that. Her works are for both kids and adults. It engages, unexpectedly has the power to get users into the flow. There is no one way to play it. Users can make anything that they want as much as where their imaginations take them. Above all, by giving users an opportunity to create something, it provides confidence to users– something that toys today fail to give.

Rigamajig is a group of materials used in constructing something in real life. These objects are enlarged with all edges curved such as large bolts and nuts, large pulley, and long plywood. Thus, preventing any child from eating it or scaring away from sharp edges. Entrusting kids to play and create something with “real” materials helps them in building their confidence. This design is something that stimulates the user’s mind and not deadens it.

There is this hotel/apartment in Japan called Reversible Destiny Lofts designed by architect Arakawa and poet Madeline Gins that aims to challenge and stimulate the senses. They believe that people can reverse their destiny (aging and death) by being in an environment that constantly engages their full senses. Hellen Keller was their source of inspiration in developing Reversible Destiny Lofts as she had reversed her destiny during her lifetime.

Arakawa and Gins believed that white walls, muted colors, and flat floors lead our bodies to atrophy. Hence, the exterior and interior of the lofts are painted with bright and vivid colors; floors are covered with lumps– actively engaging anyone walking to be in the present moment, no time for worrying; rooms are circular– helps the mind to not be in fight-or-flight mode while staying in this challenging environment.

Fun fact: Reversible Destiny Lofts is one of Cas Holman’s inspiration to create her works. She realized that toys are “crap” and do not engage with users at all.

Oftentimes, we tend to go into autopilot mode. We tend to spend our everyday lives not registering what is happening around us. We get our mind and senses numb to these amazing world around us. We left out play during our childhoods and downgrade it as frivolous and childish.

All this information led me to think that comfort isn’t such a good thing after all. Designing for comfort when done to the fullest, instead of ‘resting’ the mind, it will actually deaden it to the point of numbness and total disengagement from the present. Play helps us both kids and adults to be actively engaged and keep all our senses in use. Designers can help their users to ‘reverse their destinies’– designing products or spaces in such a way that will affect the users in a significant way psychologically; influencing users to be more creative more imaginative, more community-oriented, more joyful and more empathetic towards other people.

References:

Lee, I. F. (2018). Joyful: The Surprising Power of Ordinary Things to Create Extraordinary Happiness. Little, Brown Spark.

TEDx Talks. (2014, June 13). The Decline of Play [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bg-GEzM7iTk&t=63s

TED. (2009, March 13). Play is more than fun [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HHwXlcHcTHc&t=24s