She also gets into the color of light and how light can impact and change colors.

This chapter deals a lot with the power of color, particularly bright color! The idea that color and light can really challenge the world around you and that brightness can give you the power to create your own sun. Each chapter is based around one key idea (think freedom, harmony, play, surprise, etc) with examples from the design world but also the science behind why these things spark joy. The book is broken down into ten chapters (with an amazing toolkit at the end to help you implement the ideas from the book into your own life). Reading this book will give you such a better sense of what brings you joy… and why! Joyful Book Key Ideas In fact, this book solidified that for me even more. I’ve always felt that it’s important for my home to feel like a place that energizes me. And surrounding ourselves with things that help to positively impact our mood is so important (especially now when things like travel and gatherings aren’t able to bring us that joy!).

It was so fascinating – really well researched and just plain interesting and fun to read! I think also, that right now it is especially important to find joy wherever we can, in whatever it is we choose to invest our time and energy in. I feel like I say “that sparks joy,” at least once a day… it was so interesting to learn more about why! Joyful Book Review Harmony, play, surprise, transcendence… etc. Why round things make us joyful, why symmetry is so pleasing to the eye, etc. I have always been really interested in design but have no background in it so what I liked about this book was that it taught me a lot behind WHY we derive joy from the things that make us happy. (And once I sat down and read it, it also took me a while to finish… I went into full nerd mode and was underlining and highlighting and taking notes and googling all of the different artist and architect references she made. I ordered it in 2019 but for whatever reason it hung out in my TBR pile for way too long… it took me a while to sit down and read it.

My sister had been singing its praises (and Ingrid’s… she’s a fun follow on Instagram – she also has a blog called The Aesthetics of Joy). I talked about it on the pod and in January’s reading list but I wanted to write a longer post about it. It is all about (in Fetell Lee’s words), the surprising power of ordinary things to create extraordinary happiness. Joyful, by author and designer Ingrid Fetell Lee, is one of the best, most interesting and helpful books I read all year.

Joyful by ingrid fetell lee