Sharps Furniture has named Japandi as literally the most eye-catching interior design style, after conducting a study which used eye-tracking technology to see which styles were most appealing to participants.
The company asked 150 participants to view images of different design styles from around the world. Sharps then used eye-tracking technology to record how quickly each style attracted their gaze as well as how long it kept their visual focus.
The Japandi style (a fusion of Japanese and Scandi minimalism) ended up having the highest “eye catching” score, clocking up 88.7/100, which Sharps attributed to it having the lowest average Time to First Fixation (TTFF) score in the study. This means participants’ eyes were drawn to the style faster than any other image.
According to Sharps, the second highest spot was taken by Balinese (an Indonesian interior style which sees homes arranged as a series of open spaces) which had an eye-catching score of 88.3. This was followed by the Tudor interior style, which had a score of 86.7.
Balinese interiors recorded the second-longest average viewing time of any style in Sharps’ study, behind only Zen-style homes. Interestingly, Tudor interiors were also found to capture visual attention faster than every style except Japandi, having the second-quickest average TTFF of all styles.
One of the most surprising conclusions of the study was that classic interior styles such as Tudor, Victorian, Regency or Georgian, were found to be much more visually compelling than modern styles. As an average, Classic-style interiors scored 78.7 in the study, which was considerably higher than the 71.5 averaged by the Bauhaus, Industrial, Maximalist and Mid-Century Modern aesthetics.
“This study is a great reminder that beauty in the home isn’t one-size-fits-all,” commented Natalie Prince, an interiors expert at Sharps. “While some styles might grab your attention more quickly, others might be harder to look away from – so visually captivating you can’t take your eyes off them.
“It’s easy to assume that newer trends are more eye-catching and appear more ‘beautiful’ than those which have been around for a lot longer, but it’s fascinating to see that centuries-old styles like Tudor and Georgian are holding their own. Good proportions, natural materials and quality craftsmanship never really go out of fashion,” she continued, “but ultimately, knowing which kind of beauty you’re drawn to is the best place to start when designing a room you’ll never tire of.”
In related news, Sharps Furniture has also recently opened a new “more design-led” concept store in Rugby after a major investment, and says that it intends to roll out further stores using this format in the near future.
