Concurrents – Environmental Psychology: The Same But Different
Several recent articles in the popular press have highlighted how stressful reviews – of projects, design and otherwise – can be. Understanding differences in the mindsets that are brought to the review process can lessen some of the “challenges” of frank discussions with clients. Workplace designers and their clients assess novelty and other design criteria differently, although the fundamental ways that they each process sensory information are the same. While designers review design options and design decisions made, by themselves and others, for hours each day, their clients are simultaneously and separately reviewing financial spreadsheets and marketing programs or new distribution plans or something similar, almost never anything actually related to how their offices are designed. These hours spent influence familiarities built. And those in turn affect evaluations. It is not surprising that the level of familiarity leads to variations in evaluations because each group assesses options presented in terms …
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