Calm Living: Simple Design Transformations to Fill Your Spaces with Tranquility
Olga Trusova
168 pages, Chronicle Books, 2023
There is no single aesthetic of calm, but there are underlying principles that can empower anyone to create spaces that bring out the best in themselves and others. But it isn’t about sparse white rooms where everything is in its place; it is about filling your space with intention. Calm is not static.
At the start of the pandemic, I began writing about what it means to have calm living and working in the new hybrid environment. All of us are facing additional challenges, maintaining productivity and creativity while managing compounding stresses and demands that come with hybrid work. After practicing design and innovation for over a decade, and teaching design thinking workshops and webinars to thousands of people, I knew it was time to put everything I knew together in a book so that people could have their very own handbook at home for creating spaces. Simple, intentional changes to any environment can have a profound impact on your calm and well-being at home and at work.
This excerpt from my book, Calm Living: Simple Design Transformations to Fill Your Spaces with Tranquility, explains the idea of intentionally using visual elements to express daily mood and how such simple practices can leave you feeling more inspired, clear, and energetic. My goal is to help you create spaces and routines that offer peace and clarity (even amid chaos), enable your mind to flow, and give you room to learn and grow effortlessly.—Olga Trusova
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Have you noticed that “How are you doing?” is used as a greeting instead of a question we expect an answer to? This common courtesy that we use to greet strangers and coworkers is not one that we necessarily want answered. This is because, while the question may be simple, the answer often is not. It is hard to put feelings into words on short notice and find a quick answer to such a question.
Last year, I was working with a wonderful designer, Kay, on creating a new mobile app. As part of that project, we collaborated on creating an interactive workshop with multiple key stakeholders. Kay was in charge of the agenda and setup; I was in charge of research and facilitation. This was the first time we’d worked together and, of course, when we met in person, I asked her how she was doing. She replied, “Great.”
We met daily for about a week and everything was going well, but Kay had to step out of our planning sessions every hour or so. Toward the end of the week, I noticed how sad Kay looked despite how well the project was going. I asked her again how she was doing, and she broke down. Her father had passed away two weeks before. Her mom lived in Toronto, and Kay had to step out occasionally to call and comfort her mother. I gave her a big hug and some words of consolation. At that point, I wish I had found a better way to understand what she was going through earlier, when I first noticed her sadness.
According to most prominent researchers on emotions, there are at least five universal emotions—fear, anger, sadness, disgust, and enjoyment—each with its own characteristics. For example, sadness is triggered by a feeling of loss, and contains both disappointment and despair. The intensity varies: We can feel mild or strong disappointment. As we worked together, Kay experienced various states of sadness throughout the day, triggered by the loss of her father.
Dr. Paul Ekman and his daughter, Dr. Eve Ekman, supported by the Dalai Lama, developed the Atlas of Emotions to help us become more aware of our feelings and more mindful as we move through our days and lives. (Fun fact: This work served as the basis for the Pixar movie Inside Out.) According to the Ekmans, each emotion is triggered and then followed by a response.
Practicing mindfulness can help us get in touch with what triggers certain emotions and come up with strategies for responding appropriately. It is not easy to do on the spot. So answering the question “How are you?” is not so simple after all, since it requires first deeply understanding our own emotions (with their various states of feelings and triggers) in the moment.
Telegraphing Feelings with Colors
Designers found a way to answer “How are you?” elegantly and effectively though the use of colors. At the beginning of the day, I ask people to pick a color that represents their current mood and share why they picked it, if they’re willing to voice such details. It’s always surprising how quickly everyone picks a color and how open they are to sharing the reason behind the choice. I wish I had used a quick check-in tool like this with my colleague, Kay, at the beginning of the project to give her an easier way to express what was happening in her life.
The color of the day can help identify emotional hot spots and set the right tone. We often begin our day by making or reviewing to-do lists and tasks. That experience can be anxiety-inducing, setting the wrong tone for the day. What if, instead, you asked yourself about how you’re feeling using colors? Walk around your space and place stickies of different colors (representing your feelings) on walls in rooms that trigger emotional hot spots, or even pieces of furniture (e.g., sofa, chair, or kitchen table).
Start the day by getting in touch with how you’re feeling using simple colors. Referencing Pantone’s wide range of colors can help you represent a greater range of emotions. Here are a few examples of Pantone colors associated with specific feelings: Living Coral or Radiant Orchid (enjoyment), Chili Pepper (fear), Classic Blue (sadness), and Very Peri (a warming, bold lavender tone that represents personal inventiveness and creativity). Develop your own palette of colors based on what colors resonate with your most common feelings. By beginning each morning with a color-check-in, you’ll have a clearer understanding of how you’re feeling and how that might impact your day.
Once you’ve discovered what colors make you feel most calm and relaxed, consider how you might incorporate them into your space. For example, if mustard yellows make you feel calm, you might add a mustard throw to your couch or a small mustard vase to your workspace.
If You’re a Numbers Person
While I was working with the team at Starbucks on new, innovative products, I made a morning ritual of practicing a psychological safety exercise each day. I used a simple two-by-two grid with mood on the vertical axis and energy on the horizontal axis, displaying numbers from 1 to 4. The number 1 represents high energy, high mood, 2 represents high energy, low mood, 3 represents low energy, low mood, and 4 represents low energy, high mood. You can use this as a self-check tool by drawing this grid each morning and then spending a few minutes considering which square you’re in. For example, you might self-identify as a 3 if you didn’t sleep well last night and are feeling irritable, or a 1 if you’re ready to go and full of positive energy.
You can use the mood and energy axis to help you better understand how different spaces make you feel. Apply this technique by walking around a room and labeling different areas and objects with a number from 1 to 4, based on how they impact your mood and energy levels. It’s rare to always be at a 1, and it is healthy to know whether you’re not feeling 100 percent present in a particular area of your dwelling so you can begin to change it. Alternatively, you can draw the mood and energy axis on a large poster, and then write down names of furniture or areas of your home on sticky notes. Plot the sticky notes on the grid to spotlight what areas drain you and what areas uplift you.
Expressing your feelings with colors should go beyond creating a mood board and can be translated to furniture and your general surroundings. I would encourage you to adopt natural fabrics and materials with light, soft colors—those that are often associated with the Japandi style, a blend of Japanese and Scandinavian design—to give your brain a rest. Replacing heaviness with light in your palette (both the one that you use to express your emotions and the one you surround yourself with in your home) will promote tranquility, keeping you more centered and focused on what matters most, instead of being distracted by a variety of colors that don’t represent your mood and well-being.