Laura Pike Seeley

At Modulous we are building a technology platform that enables the delivery of high-quality, sustainable multi-family homes, at scale and pace, globally. One aspect of my work at Modulous is that we are designing and delivering standardized housing modules – like Lego boxes that plug in side-by-side and top-to-bottom. 

I realized the benefits to be gained from a formal list of mental model heuristics drawn from the decades of published research on the subject. So, I revisited the literature and sketched a list of eight heuristics for designing to support mental models.

Intense response to interpersonal strife is known as an amygdala hijack: it’s your brain telling you to fight, run away, or freeze, even though there’s no actual physical threat. 

The Nowhere Office addresses the problems which beset work - the endemic stagnant productivity and crisis of stress which predate the pandemic - and the new challenges of remote working, repurposing offices for more creative interaction, managing WFH teams and satisfying the demand for more purposeful work with greater work/life balance.

The ability to connect and form strong social bonds is fundamental to human experience and emerged through unique structures in our brains. But ever-more-powerful technologies and ubiquitous access to media have hijacked our need to connect intimately and emotionally with others.

The implication of these studies is that this so-called “selective exposure bias” may be pushing us into more polarised positions.