Dr Frederik G. PferdtFrom Stanford & Google — To You

Why Your Brain Reacts to Design Before You Think

26 Jan 2026 · 1 min

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Dr. Frederik G. Pferdt studies how design affects your body before your brain catches up. At Milan's Salon del Mobile, he built rooms with changing light and experimental products, then measured visitors' physiological reactions as they moved through. Design shapes you physically first, consciously second.

Chapters

We were very inspired by neuroaesthetics and inspired by nature. And I remember when we, when we last met, which is quite some time back, you just came back from the Salon del Mobile in Italy and you and your team actually created a space where people entered and you measured how they react to that environment. They physically change when they are in a specific room, right? And so people walked from room to room and you had like a couple of experiments or products in that, in that environment. Also, lighting was changing and so forth, and you measured how people physically change in their bodies.