By: Yuna Wu
Everyone has a different way to relax. Shapes are one kind of way can let people relax, but not every shape can let people relax. Some shape can let people feel relax, some shape can let people feel uncomfortable, and nervous. For knowing which shape can let people relax, and which shape will let people feel uncomfortable and nervous, I research some article to read.
The first article says that circle can let people feel relax. The reason that circle can let people relax is because that cirle’s line are soft, and no corners. The softer the line, the more comfortable it is. The article also says that “Sharp objects often give a sense of danger”. The shape that have corners, and sharp will let people feel danger and nervous. For example, triangle is the sharp shape that will let people feel danger and nervous.
The second article says “the notion that downward triangle is perceived as negative and circle as positive and their emotional meaning can be activated automatically and then exert an influence on the electrophysiological processing of subsequent stimuli”. The downward triangle will let people feel more danger than the normal triangle. They find out that people categorize downward triangles as unpleasant, rather than neutral or pleasant. The article also says “That means that people can extract affective meaning from simple geometric shapes and this affective perception could occur even without explicit affective value judgments”.
The third article says “This study suggests that in the design of stress-relieving products, shapes with interesting association such as, humorous, novelty, playful, will makes users easier to shift their negative emotions and relieve emotional stress”. The shapes that was intersting will makes people easier to shift their negative emotions and relieve emotional stress. The intersting shapes can be the shape are humorous, novelty or playful. As long as it is a shape that makes people feel interesting, it can relieve stress and relax.
Combined with the above articles, as long as the lines are soft or the shapes are interesting, it can make people feel relaxed and relieve stress. Also, if the shape are interesting but the line of the shapes are to sharp, it might let people feel uncomfortable, dangers and nervous.
Second Article: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4911398/