How clever design impacts how we live, save and drive

Decluttering your home not only brings clarity and lightness to living but can help you reduce overconsumption, saving you money. Follow these easy tips for a tidier home and a happier headspace.

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  • Visual clutter and cognitive noise continuously tax your brain, driving up stress levels and leading to decision fatigue in your daily life and finances.
  • With its minimalist style, Scandi design and the silence of electric driving remove friction to support mental clarity and lower daily anxiety.
  • Premium design is shifting away from loud excess toward seamless technology, practical sustainability and everyday value.
  • Powered by superior engineering, the Polestar 4 Coupé – awarded Drive’s Car of the Year: Best EV Under $90,000 for 2026 – pairs a technology-first cabin with sports Coupé performance and the silence of electric driving.

Our surroundings affect far more than just aesthetics. Clutter and poor design actively drive up stress, cloud our focus and quietly chip away at our ability to make good decisions. Here, we look at why visual noise drains our brainpower and how thoughtful design, from your desk setup to the car you drive, can help your day run a little smoother.

The hidden cost of visual noise

Ever feel drained just looking at a cluttered room or a chaotic screen? Your environment is actively draining your mental battery. Princeton neuroscience research shows that crowded spaces force your brain to work overtime just filtering out background distractions¹.

“If you look at a room filled with clutter, that’s not just ‘stuff’,” says clinical counsellor Justine Campbell. “Your brain views it as unfinished business and keeps re-reading it.” The same applies to clunky digital layouts and noisy car dashboards – they trigger the exact same mental friction.

She describes it through a simple metaphor: the "front-" and "back-of-house.” While front-of-house is how you show up at work, with your money and in your relationships, back of house is everything running quietly behind the scenes – your environment, routines and emotional state.

The result? Overstimulation and decision fatigue. You snap at a colleague or make a bad impulse buy simply because your brain is running on empty.

The power of purposeful Scandi design

How the Polestar 4 Coupé simplifies your commute

  • Award-winning design. Named Drive’s Car of the Year: Best EV Under $90,000 for 2026.
  • A calmer cabin. A minimalist interior made with recycled 3D-tailored knits and built-in Google software helps cut down on visual distraction.
  • More light, less clutter. Replacing the traditional rear window with a high-definition camera enables the distinctive Coupé-inspired design, creates a brighter, more spacious cabin and gives drivers an unobstructed rearward view.
  • More light, less clutter. By swapping the rear window for a HD camera, the glass roof extends all the way back, creating an airy, open feel for rear passengers.
  • Effortless driving. Combines quiet Swedish design with responsive sports Coupé handling and up to 620 kilometres of range (WLTP) for a smooth, composed ride.

Discover purchasing options via Cars for CommBank or learn more at polestar.com/au.

How simplicity can energise us

If clutter drains our battery, clever design recharges it. “Thoughtful or intentional design isn’t about having fancy styling, it’s about building systems and designs that make your daily life easier to run,” says Campbell.

Centred on clean lines, natural light and ergonomics, Scandi design is one of the best examples of how removing complexity can create a real sense of calm. “It’s all about lagom – not too little, not too much, just enough,” explains Campbell. “When a space isn’t shouting at you, your nervous system gets a break.”

At home, Scandinavian-inspired interiors prioritise practicality, warm minimalism and uncluttered areas. By maximising natural light and choosing well-crafted, functional furniture, living spaces become sanctuaries that encourage calm. In the workplace, bringing this same clarity to your set-up – hiding cables, choosing an ergonomic chair and decluttering your surroundings – can reduce fatigue and sharpen critical thinking for decision-making.

Thoughtful design on the move

That same philosophy extends straight to the road, where the daily commute is often a quiet source of stress. Automotive design is shifting away from button-heavy cockpits toward calmer, more intuitive spaces – an approach embodied by the Polestar 4 Coupé, recently named Drive’s Car of the Year: Best EV Under $90,000 for 2026.

Inside, the cabin drops clutter in favour of Google software, recycled 3D-tailored upholstery and a panoramic glass roof that stretches right to the back. By replacing the traditional rear window with a high-definition camera, engineers created a light, open space for everyone on board.

Of course, thoughtful design isn't just about how a space feels sitting still – it’s about how it functions in motion. On the road, instant electric torque, responsive sports Coupé handling and quiet aerodynamics come together for a drive that feels smooth, keeping you connected to the journey and your stress levels low.

Investing in peace of mind

Designing a sense of calm isn’t just a means of lowering your daily stress levels. It has knock on effects that may help with relationships, work productivity and even finances.

“Good decision-making needs bandwidth,” says Campbell. “When our mind is overloaded, we stop making healthy decisions. Instead of responding clearly, we make reactive choices that are short term, comfort-based, avoidant, fear-based or impulsive.” In short, if your brain is operating under pressure, your risk of making a poor decision – financial included – may increase.

With that considered, there’s a lot of potential gain that comes from choosing spaces and experiences that prioritise intentional design and ease of use. After all, as Campbell puts it, “calm isn’t about a style per se. Calm is what is left when your brain has less to manage.”

Discover how thoughtful design and superior engineering can transform your daily drive. Explore the award-winning Polestar 4 Coupé – Drive’s Best EV Under $90,000 for 2026 – at polestar.com/au. Discover more about purchasing options via the Cars for CommBank website.

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Published: 15 Sep 2026

Things you should know

Sources

1 Stephanie McMains and Sabine Kastner, Interactions of Top-Down and Bottom-Up Mechanisms in Human Visual Cortex, 12/1/2011 

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An earlier version of this article was published in Brighter magazine.

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