Summary of Genuine Comfort by Scott Fellows
The article ‘Genuine comfort’ by Scott Fellows talks about comfort. According to Scott Fellows comfort is a multifaceted thing and should start from the room. Architecture designs should be inside out and rooms proportioned according to the intended use and furniture. Though comfort is often thought in visual and sensual terms, proportion can be felt. As one walks into a well-proportioned room, he becomes centred and relaxed. The Hodgson house, for instance, is nicely designed, and people often commend the living room describing feelings of calmness. Everything is in the right place. There should also be a balance in lighting in the room. Designers aim at creating harmonious spaces where everything is in the right place. Individual’s physical relationship with furniture is what keeps them in the room, and the scale is the major contributor to comfort. Designers often push proportion over comfort to create newness. Touch is the most overlooked aspect of comfort. Natural materials like wood are often used on furniture to honour and elevate their intrinsic value. Natural wood gives furniture a beautiful patna. It helps them look beautiful and comfortable with age unlike plastic. Comfort equates to thoughtfulness. It requires a lot of thinking to produce a well-proportioned room. It is a result of what the authors call Thoughtful Minimalism.
Summary Using Menu Psychology to Entice Diners’ by Sarah Kershaw
The article ‘Using Menu Psychology to Entice Diners’ by Sarah Kershaw illustrates how restaurants use menus to entice customers. For instance, on the menu, the price is written I numbers without the dollar sign because numbers are friendly and manageable. The dollar sign is not ideal on menus because it reminds dinners that they are about to spend money, and it feels aggressive and looks tacky. Also, price formats ending in the numeral 9 like $ 9.99 signify value and not quality. Restaurants such as Tabla believe that diners can be coaxed into spending more money by combining prices, adjectives, fonts, type sizes, ink colours and placement on the menu. Restaurants are becoming increasingly creative on their menus and pricing. They are removing the dollar sign and replacing it with the logo of the signature item. Menus are also used as advertisement tools, and they contain subliminal messages. Some restaurants place the expensive item at the top of the menu list so that other items will look reasonably priced.
Neuromancer Sport by Claire L. Evans
The article Neuromancer Sport talks about the use of technology in sports. It particularly emphasizes on Fitbit wristwatch. The author particularly likes the Fitbit wristwatch because of its texture. It is grippy, soft and peripherally abject. The Fitbit has a silicon skin which is sensual enough to qualify it as a kind of fetish material. It has a small accelerometer. It can be charged via a USB on the laptop as it syncs data just like a hard drive. It relays invisible metrics of the user’s existence and thousands of daily steps. Fitbit is designed to help users achieve their health and wellness goals.