Inside Evidence-Based Design Art
If you walked past this painting in a healthcare hallway, would your brain receive a message of love without being overly impacted or stressed by the art?
I do not have the expertise of a neuroscientist or medical researcher or practitioner, but I do LOVE to study their evidence-based design results and find ways to experiment with them in art.
Symphonies Of Love Number 12 by Dorothea Sandra, EDAC
This painting was strategically and deliberately designed using evidence-based design principles and guidelines.
My first goal for this painting was to create a soothing, stress-free background. A large body of research is consistent with the proposition that humans are hard-wired to appreciate and benefit from exposure to nature. I chose the color green for the background because green gardens and parklike settings are acceptable in evidence-based design. I could have added some dabs or splatters to the background, but I decided a super smooth, flat background would create beauty without impact or stress.
My next goal was to decide on a composition. I chose the shape of a heart because I wanted to very clearly and very powerfully create a message that said, “You are loved.” I find too much evidence-based design art today wispy and without form. I think those designs are truly wonderful and quite celebratory of nature, but sometimes humans—especially children—need a clear, up-in-your-face message, especially of love.
Can you imagine a child in this patient bed? I think an image of a heart outperforms a typical biophilic design when it comes to encouraging feelings of love, safety, and care.
My third goal for this painting was to add some fine art flair. Nationally and internationally, people have begun to recognize my signature style of making flowers and they like them. As I am forming the flowers, I use a variety of art techniques to build in and create feelings of happiness and joy.
Keeping with my evidence-based design goal of beauty without impact, I very minimally added a pistil tip to each flower.
If you walked past this painting in a healthcare hallway, would your brain receive a message of love without being impacted or stressed by the art?
Did You Know This About Our Brains And Art?
Did you know a growing body of research shows conclusively that our physical environments (rooms, buildings, walls, etc.) actually have an impact on our quality of life?
Did you know a growing body of research shows conclusively that our physical environments (rooms, buildings, walls, etc.) actually have an impact on our quality of life?
Evidence-based design has been defined as the process of basing design decisions about the built environment on credible research to achieve the best possible outcomes.
When inside built environments our brains get triggered by all kinds of things like color, lighting, texture, and especially art. In one study done on hospital waiting areas, physical and ambient properties influenced patient experiences. Areas associated with higher physical attractiveness reduced anxiety, were perceived to provide better quality of care, and were perceived to have shorter waiting times.
“Similarly, a waiting area with a nouveau (non-traditional) style was associated with lower self-reported stress and higher patient satisfaction than a traditional style.” (Improving the Patient Experience, California Healthcare Foundation)
Fun Fun Everywhere is a playful evidence-based design work of art. It’s a fun painting designed for attractiveness in a nouveau/non-traditional style.
Happy Together With Friends by Dorothea Sandra, EDAC
As I am creating this style of playful evidence-based art, there’s always the challenge of balance. One goal is to trigger the brain to create lots of feelings of fun and happiness without causing any stress. Another goal is to achieve high “distraction” levels of interest, again, without causing stress by overwhelming the viewer with too many details.
Especially when people are troubled or in pain, research studies show that happy art distractions will very positively impact the quality of human life.
For Happy Together With Friends, I was going for the moods of playfulness, happiness, and fun. I also wanted to add in a dash of ironic quirkiness with the hope of making someone—who just didn’t feel good or well—crack a smile.
I have a painting, similar to this one, in the cancer wing of a hospital. When coming out of the blood draw area and on the way to the infusion center, there it is.
Cancer patients, family members, and staff tell me all the time just how much they enjoy that painting. I’ve always suspected it’s the ironic quirkiness built into the painting’s many layers that triggers the brain to create happy emotions, especially at solemn times like this.
These paintings were created—not for their realism or beauty—but to trigger the brain to create the feelings of fun, happiness, and joy.
