A little while ago, we featured an article on nef-New Economics Foundation, which focuses on our well being such as Gross National Happiness and Happy Planet Index.

Here is a TED talk by Nic Marks who is the founder of nef.

Our environment such as Nature has great influence on human being.  For the same reason, the design, or good design of the living and work space is very important to our well being.  As many of us spend at least 1/3 of our day at work, we must acknowledge the importance of the work space. The better designed the work space is, the happier we and the company become.

Here is an interesting article written by Heather McCulligh titled, “How Workplace Design Can Make a Happier Workforce“

(Energy Pod)

MetroNaps is the premier Australian provider of power napping solutions for the workplace. The company also has offices in the United States, Germany, Denmark and the United Kingdom.

Occupying the same amount of room as a sofa, the EnergyPod creates a cocoon from outside noise and distractions. Occupants are reclined into the optimal napping position to promote blood circulation and reduce pressure on the lower back and ambient sounds help nappers drift into light sleep. At the timer’s expiration, the occupant is gently woken with a combination of lighting and vibration.

(Napshell)

A better way to fresher thinking! The Napshell incorporates the finest German engineering out of Stuttgart. Manufactured by leading automobile manufacturers in the area, it has sleek smooth lines that you will fall in love with. A real working design piece that incorporates sound & light to give you an extremely comfortable nap experience.

Anna Bond of RIFLE event design is a designer, calligrapher specializes in hand painted illustrations.  Her warm, down to earth (meaning simple) beautiful letters and illustration reflects the inner essence of her clients and brings joy to those who receive and view them.

Go see more of Anna’s work at www.riflepaperco.com

“The Greater Good Science Center studies the psychology, sociology, and neuroscience of well-being, and teaches skills that foster a thriving, resilient, and compassionate society.

Based at the University of California, Berkeley, the GGSC is unique in its commitment to both science and practice: not only do we sponsor groundbreaking scientific research into social and emotional well-being, we help people apply this research to their personal and professional lives. Since 2001, we have been at the fore of a new scientific movement to explore the roots of happy and compassionate individuals, strong social bonds, and altruistic behavior—the science of a meaningful life. And we have been without peer in our award-winning efforts to translate and disseminate this science to the public. “

As many studies found out that cartoon like characters on food packaging design attracts children.  The issue is that so many “junk food” use cartoon like characters.  These examples may not be the healthiest food out there, yet they are good examples that show how a good design can be used to attract more children to healthier food.

(Paris Brunson, 4 years old, Sinclair Lane ES #248, Pre-K, Baltimore, MD, “Healthy Children”)

(Min Ji Yi, 15 years old, 10th grade, Los Angeles, CA, “Only Healthy Children are Able to Carry On America’s Future”)

(Daniel Lee, 7th grade, La Crescenta, CA, “Anyone Can Participate”)

(Sharan Jeon, Cornerstone Art & Design, 7th grade, Irvine, CA, “Kids of America”)

Sometimes, adults can learn from children by looking at how they see the world, the American and healthy children.  These arts part of Korean Resource Center’s art project.

The Heads of State is the award-winning design and illustration studio of Jason Kernevich and Dustin Summers.  They are donating half of each sale of these beautiful limited edition screenprints to Save the Gulf clean up efforts.

How “happy” are the American people?  This “mood visualization” may give us a clue.  It is based on 300 million tweets from Sep 2006 – Aug 2009.

“The plots were calculated using over 300 million tweets (Sep 2006 – Aug 2009) collected by MPI-SWS researchers, represented as density-preserving cartograms. This visualization includes both weekdays and weekends; in the future, will we create seperate maps for each. The mood of each tweet was inferred using ANEW word list using the same basic methodology as previous work. County area data were taken from the U.S. Census Bureau, and the base U.S. map was taken from Wikimedia Commons. User locations were inferred using the Google Maps API, and mapped into counties using PostGIS and U.S. county maps from the U.S. National Atlas. Mood colors were selected using Color Brewer 2.”

Go see more at “Pulse of the Nation” U.S. Mood throgh the day inferred from twitter.”

Images  are shared under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.

Can you guess the name of this restaurant from these pictures?  Hint: golden arch.  They are designed by SHH, an architectural firm based in west London.  Color, stylish design and environment all affect us and our brain perceives beauty in the same way we appreciate other pleasures as eating, thus good stylish environment does enhance our dinning experience.