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The Power of Touch.

Haptics, the neuroscience of touch, explains how feeling plays a powerful role in communicating emotions and information based on surface texture, temperature and quality. Two unlikely partners – global fine-paper company Sappi and neuroscientist Dr. David Eagleman – teamed up to explore this interesting topic and discover how daily tactile experiences shape human beliefs and decision-making processes.

While the duo highlighted several concepts and ideas, here are the three that stood out most to our team.

Differences in Touch

Did you know that half the human brain is devoted to processing sensory experiences? Because of this, there is a significant difference between oral, written and tactile messages. And touch stands out because it’s the only sense that puts you in direct contact with the subject. In fact, we have over 2,000 sensory receptors in our fingertips alone that allow us to feel surface changes as small as the width of a human hair.

We Are Wired to Interact with Paper

Studies show that reading something on paper versus something on a screen is cognitively easier, leading to higher memory retention and improved comprehension. As creatives who consistently design print materials such as direct mail campaigns, we understand just how much this medium translates messages that resonate with consumers.

Paper Matters for Brands that Matter

Jennifer Miller, the executive vice president of coated business and chief sustainability officer for Sappi North America, said that we are able to definitively draw connections between paper quality and positive consumer reactions. High-end paper resonates with people, and consumers are more likely to remember a company if they are provided with a quality tactile experience. In fact, people are three times as likely to recall companies presented on high-quality coated paper as those presented on low-quality paper or on websites.

First impressions are huge, and we’re delighted to know that there’s scientific reasoning to why designers fall head-over-heels for soft-touch paper or a bit of spot varnish. Writer and philosopher Alain de Botton stated, “What we see [and touch] affects how we feel, how we act, in a sense who we are.” We could not agree more.

Sources

SappiNorthAmerica. “Sappi Neuroscience Shorts – How the Medium Shapes the Message.” Online Video Clip. YouTube. YouTube, 24 September 2015. Web. 4 August 2016.