Have you ever heard designers speak about the way something feels?

Has it given you pause for concern, worried that any moment now someone's going to grab your hands, look deep into your eyes and ask you to share your feelings?

Fear not.

What we're talking about here are the qualities that affect how you feel when you’re in a particular room, garden, house, building, park, or city - any place really.

How does this place make you feel?

A bit freaked out, maybe? Is it overwhelming? The edges are a long way away if you're standing there in the middle. There’s nowhere to find shelter or privacy. Everything you did would be on full display. Unless you're a despotic dictator with need to frequently remind your peoples of your terrific might and power, you'd be unlikely to feel especially relaxed in such a place.

How about this place?

It’s different, isn’t it? It’s a lot more enclosing and protective for one. Perhaps you find it more welcoming.

This one?

Some people might find this place private, secure and serene. Others might find it a bit isolating.

Why is this important?

If you start to notice and understand how different places make you feel, it’s much easier to describe how you want places in your home or garden to feel. And once you know, it’s much, much easier to work towards achieving that feeling, or quality.

There’s lots of ways to achieve the quality you’re after, and we’ll talk about some of them in future Design 101 topics.

Now it’s over to you.

Think about your favourite place, either at home or somewhere you’ve visited. Now tell me what qualities it has – how does it make you feel when you’re there?

Let me know in the comments section.

If you found this useful and interesting, consider sharing it with a friend, and I’ll see you soon for more Design 101.