design and research to make you think: it's totally bigger on the inside!

Early jet airplanes like this 707 had interiors designed for comfort, but based on research,

psychology, and design…today's airplanes consider comfort and a lot more.

We visited Boeing's Customer Experience Center in Washington state to see how they conceptualize

a space, that's essentially a flying tube -- into something more!

When you're flying in an airplane, one of the needs you have is really to be quite connected to the sky.

So, there's many ways that you can have that manifest in your designs.

That's Blake Emery, he's the Director of Differentiation Strategy for Boeing.

in the airplanes that we're creating now, we're moving the windows to a different place.

We're making them larger.

So now, if you look around this airplane, as an example, 787 Dreamliner, it doesn't

really matter where you're sitting, you have access to a window.

You can look out the window.

Therefore, you have connection to the sky.

Something as simple as reminding people they're skybound makes people more comfortable -- surprisingly,

even if you're afraid of flying.

A 2005 study done for the European Space Agency, found living in confined spaces can cause

strain, unless there's a window…

It's somewhat counterintuitive, but the idea of having the windows accessible to everyone

actually can help relieve some of that fear.

Because a lot of that fear is actually related to the claustrophobic aspect of it.

When Yuri Gagarin became the first man in space in 1961 his spacecraft -- Vostok 1 had

a window!

It turns out, that was one of the most powerful parts of that flight.

For some reason, humans need to see the outside.

While airplanes can feel small they are actually quite large.

A Boeing 747, has

over 31,000 cubic feet (876m3) of space, larger than the area of a six bedroom house.

Imagine 400 people in a six bedroom house.

It would feel crazy crowded.

To make a space that size feel livable for hundreds of passengers involves a lot of psychological

"techniques," as Dr Rachelle Ornan-Stone says...

A lot of it has to do with perception...

So something that I've been completely fascinated by is visual perception, um, so tricks of

the eye, if you will.

Dr. Ornan-Stone works in Cabin Experience at Boeing; she helps design the parts of the

plane that people interact with.

So, she's always thinking about how we use the space in an airplane.

we've looked at the correlation between satisfaction ratings of passengers with the width of the cabin

at 50 inches above the floor.

Why 50 inches?

Because when you're seated in an airplane, your eye line is about 50 inches from the floor.

So, the engineers made that, the widest part of the airplane's cabin.

We also use light as a really interesting way of drawing the eye to the locations that

we want people to, to look at.

we think about all these subtle ways to affect emotion.everyone appreciates a change of scenery

once in awhile and when you're on a really long flight, um, to match lighting to the

activity that's going on is really important and it marks parts of the journey for the

passengers as well.

When you enter a confined space like an airplane cabin, engineers and designers use light and

structure to draw your eye upward.

But that's not all the lighting is for…they can actually make these colors do anything.

Now, if an airline wants to do something different or something wild, or have rainbows or have,

you know, crazy light shows, or something like that, uh, that's fine too.

But you take something, you know, dynamic like an Aurora Borealis, okay, I mean that's

something that's moving, it's beautiful, um, and at the same time, it's still sky.

And these are just a few of their techniques.

See those indentations around the windows?

They draw the eye toward the window, so you can see outside, it psychologically makes

your brain feel the space is larger.

They even designed the overhead bins to move up and get out of the way adding to the visual space...

You have all the stuff up and out of the way and you have this beautiful light that draws

your eye up and, and above.

We know that from perceptual research, a well-lit interior always looks more spacious.

As airplanes get more efficient and can stay in the air longer, it's important to make

the airplane feel more comfortable.

Even making see-through curtains and barriers can help you feel like you're in a bigger space.

I love it when science is truly practical.

Thanks for watching DNews everybody, for more about 100 years of Boeing Innovation go to

TheAgeOfAerospace.com.

And if you want to know how they built these airplanes... we went to the factory!

You can watch that video, here.

Make sure you subscribe so you get all the episode of DNews that we got coming at you.

Also, let us know down in the comments, what was your most memorable flight experience?

Thanks for tuning in.

We'll see you next time.