Our environments can have a fundamental effect on our health, with everything from the colour of the walls to the amount of sound influencing our mental wellbeing. Since more and more of our lives are played out in ‘phyigital’ (Physical + Digital) spaces, we wanted to explore innovative ways to mitigate anxiety in the spaces that we create and use everyday.
Anxiety and depression are complex issues. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), 1 in 13 people globally, suffers from anxiety. As with other complex social issues, many of us wish we could do more to help. At Arigami, we believe that our senses play a pivotal role in how we perceive spaces. Generally speaking, most spaces today (Retail, Hospitals, Hotels, Workspace etc) can be quite overwhelming. Being overwhelmed can lead us to apathy rather than to action. As researchers and design practitioners, we can start by thinking more about the diversity of users who see/touch/smell/hear the things we make, including those with varying levels of anxiety, depression and other mental illnesses. While the senses are only one piece of a very big picture, it’s a vital step in building + designing a more inclusive, safe and welcoming world, online and off.
Decisions such as type of sound, temperature and colour of your canvas really matter a lot if you are to have a positive and healthy experience. Even though these decisions may seem small and insignificant to some people, they are actually the reasons as to why the general atmosphere of your space is conducive or not. Social anxiety and psychological vulnerability are often exploited and sometimes even created by designers intentionally to boost engagement and dependency on a product. We believe that we can do better! By encouraging a new wave of wellness-led initiatives across sectors that supports designers with science-valid tools designed to enhance customer appeal, while reducing unnecessary customer sensory overload.
Once the light switches on in a space, we begin to consider endless possible outcomes... For us at Arigami, there are only two ways things can go: debilitation or empowerment. Instead of succumbing your customers to the paralytic weight of worry, we choose to empower others by solving for any variables we can anticipate in advance. Minimising these unknown variables in advance can greatly alleviate work, travel and social-related anxiety. We continue to work with strategic partners from various industries and academic institutions, helping brands recognise, alleviate and improve anxiety-triggering environments. We are chasing down the logical thread for each possible behavioural outcome and answering questions that arise along the way in a holistic, iterative and scalable manner. Is your brand equipped to lead the way forward with wellness?
Interested in learning more about how we help clients address wellness and sensory design? Contact Us