The science behind calm.
At Lumina Labs, we translate insights from behavioral psychology, choice architecture and cognitive and affective neuroscience into practical guidance for digital interfaces, physical spaces, and urban experiences.
Our nervous systems are constantly responding to the environments we move through — online and offline. Even small, intentional design choices can influence attention, emotion, and decision-making. Calm design isn’t just aesthetic — it’s measurable. Every texture, tone, rhythm, and interaction primes the brain to feel safe, focused, and capable of intentional action.
Overstimulation — from notifications and screens to fluorescent lights and crowded spaces — increases stress hormones, fragments attention, and disrupts emotional regulation.
Calm design — grounded in behavioral psychology, choice architecture and cognitive and affective neuroscience— helps environments, interfaces, and urban spaces support attention, intentional decision-making, and emotional coherence.
Even small, intentional adjustments — a predictable visual rhythm, a biophilic texture, or a restorative city route — can profoundly influence how people feel, focus, and act.
Key Research:
Stanford University: Interface rhythm and visual clutter’s effect on cognitive load
MIT: Narrative flow and microinteractions influence attention and emotion
TU Delft: Sensory design principles for reducing digital fatigue
TU Eindhoven & Well Building Institute: Biophilic, sensory-calibrated spaces reduce cortisol and improve focus
Aarhus University & EU Joint Research Centre: Urban aesthetic coherence enhances social cohesion and perceived safety
Calm design is more than a trend — it’s a measurable way to shape attention, emotion, and choice.
Why calm matters
How interfaces, environments, and rhythms shape emotional regulation and decision ease
Digital Calm
Designing interfaces that reduce cognitive load, support focus, and guide thoughtful decision-making.
Behavioral Principles: Predictable pacing, microinteraction rhythm, and simplified choice hierarchies.
Impact: Users experience less digital fatigue, greater clarity, and more confident decision-making.
Applied Behavioral Levers:
Present Bias: Reward calm instantly — design interactions that feel smooth and immediately satisfying.
Choice Architecture: Simplify decisions with clear hierarchies, limited options, and intuitive flow.
Implementation Intentions: Predictive pacing cues what comes next, reducing uncertainty.
Confidence Building: Gentle, affirming microcopy and feedback loops increase perceived control.
Habit Formation: Repetition, visual rhythm, and predictable flow create intuitive calm loops.
Measurable Outcomes:
↓ Cognitive load
↑ Emotional stability and sustained attention
↑ Positive affect and trust
Applications:
Calm UX Framework: Align motion, typography, and tone with the nervous system’s rhythms
Digital Choice Audit: Map flows for cognitive overload or emotional dysregulation
Neuroadaptive UI: Interfaces that pace with physiological signals like HRV, galvanic skin response, or eye tracking.
Spatial Calm
Creating environments that restore the nervous system, replenish attention and scaffold daily behaviors.
Behavioral Principles: Biophilic cues, sensory predictability, and cue-based habit scaffolds.
Impact: Spaces support focus, reduce stress, and make restorative behaviors the natural path.
Applied Behavioral Levers:
Temptation Bundling: Pair effortful behaviors (focus, transitions) with sensory pleasure (warm light, texture).
Implementation Intentions: Cue-based transitions like “If I enter this space, I focus.”
Fresh Start Effect: Use thresholds and lighting changes as micro resets.
Habit Design: Repeat sensory patterns (color, rhythm, scent) to scaffold routine behaviors.
Social Accountability: Design communal spaces that subtly synchronize behavior.
Measurable Outcomes:
↓ Cortisol and perceived stress
↑ Task-switching efficiency
↑ Sense of control, focus, and emotional coherence
Applications:
Calm Office Blueprint: Biophilic neurodiversity-aware spatial templates
Predictive Design System: Light, acoustics, and rhythm signal task transitions
Spatial Choice Architecture: Layouts that make intrinsic behaviors the default.
Urban Calm
Shaping urban experiences that foster connection, belonging, safety, and collective ease.
Behavioral Principles: Curated sensory routes, aesthetic coherence, and social co-regulation.
Impact: Urban spaces support exploratory behavior, perceived safety, and community connection.
Applied Behavioral Levers:
Fresh Start Effect: Landmark transitions (parks, squares, water) cue emotional resets.
Social Accountability: Make collective calm visible — e.g., public calm zones or synchronized soundscapes.
Choice Architecture: Nudge foot traffic toward restorative routes using sensory cues and signage.
Confidence / Safety Signaling: Use visual coherence and lighting to increase safety and belonging.
Temptation Bundling: Make restorative routes more rewarding than high-stimulation paths.
Measurable Outcomes:
↑ Perceived safety and social trust
↑ Exploratory behavior and cultural engagement
↓ Urban fatigue and overstimulation
Applications:
Calm Routes™: Neuroaesthetic city pathways that restore attention using rhythm, color, and sensory coherence
Urban Emotional Mapping: Identify points of sensory overload that reduce emotional ease
Restorative Tourism Design: Cultural journeys structured to regulate arousal and foster exploration.
How science becomes practice
Our behavioral science, choice architecture and cognitive and affective neuroscience frameworks combine cognitive clarity, physiological regulation and social coherence through:
A cognitive layer to enhance clarity and reduce cognitive load through mechanisms such as choice simplification, friction reduction, and implementation cues.
A physiological layer to support emotional congruence and restore attention through mechanisms such as predictive processing, safety signaling, and sensory congruence.
A connection layer to foster cultural ease through mechanisms such as collective norms, synchronization, and aesthetics.
Our philosophy Is grounded by the following 5-step approach that transforms insight into a reinforcing loop that positions the nervous system in an optimized environment to feel safe to choose, focus, and act.
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Safety: Environments signal predictability
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Clarity: Choices become cognitively easy
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Agency: People act intentionally
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Belonging: Shared calm reinforces behavior
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Restoration: Capacity for attention and connection is renewed
The story of Lumina Labs
Lumina Labs is a behavioral design consultancy that applies behavioral psychology, choice architecture and cognitive and affective neuroscience to create calm, coherent experiences across digital, physical, and urban environments. We help brand and project teams reduce cognitive load, restore attention, and foster emotional and social ease through evidence-based frameworks, audits, and coaching. Our focus isn’t just on aesthetics—it’s on measurable outcomes — illuminating how even subtle, intentional design choices can transform how people feel, focus, and act.
We help organizations create digital, physical, and urban experiences that reduce stress, restore focus, and guide intentional action—using evidence-based behavioral psychology, choice architecture, and cognitive and affective neuroscience.
Our philosophy
Calm isn’t the absence of stimulation — it’s the presence of coherence. When sensory and narrative elements align, the brain recognizes safety — and the experience follows.
By integrating the sciences of sensory perception and emotion, we can create digital, physical, and cultural experiences that are not just beautiful — but replenishing.
Because every texture, tone, and transition tells the brain what to expect.
And when design feels coherent, attention is restored, emotion aligns, connection becomes intrinsic — and the path to calm is clear.
Meet the founder
Dana Skylar Blake
Calm Design Educator | Author | Podcast Host & Producer | Consultancy Owner
I apply neuroscience and psychology to craft digital, spatial, and urban systems that regulate emotion, clarify decisions, and restore collective ease.
My work sits where choice architecture meets calm design — using behavioral science not just to persuade, but to protect attention, lower cognitive load, and make intentional action feel easy. Whether through a digital microinteraction, a room’s rhythm, or a city’s sensory flow, I explore how every cue can signal safety and support agency.
By grounding design in the nervous system — not just aesthetics or efficiency — I help people craft experiences that regulate rather than overwhelm, invite rather than demand, and build trust through coherence.
From Behavioral UX to Neuroaesthetics
After earning dual bachelor’s degrees in Behavioral and Consumer Psychology and Biology — with a focus on how design influences decision-making through physiology — I spent several years working in behavioral UX and emotional experience design, helping SaaS brands craft digital experiences that supported clarity and trust.
Over time, I realized that much of design operates on a neurophysiological level long before we consciously notice it — shaping not just how we think, but how we feel and choose.
Design is more than communication — it’s co-regulation, a dialogue between the environment and the nervous system. The more our digital worlds were designed for conversion and engagement, the more overstimulated our nervous systems became. I now design for connection, intentional action, and calm, translating neuroaesthetics — the study of how sensory experiences affect cognition and emotion — into applied frameworks, grounded in evidence from my pursuit of a master in Brain & Cognitive Science.