Is Evidence-Based Design Legitimate Or Just Another For-Profit Buzzword?
Not long ago, I left a positive comment about a Dopamine Decor article at a homes and gardens magazine. Then, I got attacked by some troll saying that Dopamine Decor was just some new way for companies to make money off people.
Usually, I do not get involved with things like this, but I felt a strong urge to explain that a lot of Dopamine Decor and Evidence-based Design art is based on real, authentic, legitimate science and medical studies.
In my book, 100 Days Of Happy Happy Art, Evidence-Based Design, I wrote: “From the 1960s until today, serious researchers with very serious studies…from different countries…from different multidisciplinary fields have converged to create a new field called Evidence-based Design.”
Even the National Library of Medicine at NIH, the National Institutes of Health, has a definition of it. “Evidence-based design is scientific analysis methodology that emphasizes the use of data acquired in order to influence the design process in hospitals. It measures the physical and psychological effects of the built environment on its users.”
In cancer center lobby.
Today, Evidence-based Design isn’t just for hospitals. It’s for all of us. It is for many of the places humans go.
What is my role in all of this? A very small one—but I think an important one. Today, my art hangs in hospitals, businesses, organizations, and homes. Using my talent and evidence-based design training and certification, I very deliberately and very strategically create HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY art for built environments.
Here’s one of my paintings as it hangs in the lobby of a cancer wing in one of the U.S. hospitals.
The person in charge of art placement at the hospital apologized for its location on a side wall in the lobby.
She thought I might be offended by not having it centered over the main mantlepiece in the waiting area. I wasn’t offended at all. In fact, people come face-to-face with it as they enter the blood draw area. Putting all artist ego aside—and focusing on patient/people needs—I thought it was perfectly located.
Too Beautiful For Words, 36”x36”
Too Beautiful For Words is a super cheerful “distraction” piece. Getting cancer and getting treated for it is often horrific, and at times, it can make patients and others feel as if they are about to lose their minds or are living through some “other world” reality. I thought adding an upbeat quirkiness to the art would help—in a positive way—identify with the circumstances and would also help release some dopamine (happiness brain chemicals).
Patients, their families, and the staff kept telling me—all the time—how happy this painting made them feel, so I decided to donate two other paintings that evolved over the years into a new evidence-based design series called Symphonies of Love.
Both paintings below are placed today in cancer patient examination rooms. People in this community with cancer or with a loved one with cancer continue to tell me how much they appreciate the heart shape, which simply but beautifully communicates to patients that they are loved.
One of these 61” x 78” evidence-based design heart paintings recently got featured on one of the world’s most prominent online art gallery websites. I was listed as one of sixty-one American artists to follow.
In patient examination room #1.
In patient examination room #2.
Click on the photo below to go to the website.
Different Types Of Evidence-Based Design
There’s Evidence-based Design, and then there’s NOT Evidence-based Design.
Here are a few evidence-based design art guidelines. Many of these guidelines come from “A Guide to Evidence-based Art” from The Center For Health Design, research by Ulrich and Gilpin, a case study on best practices in evidence-based design by the Mays Clinic at the MD Anderson Cancer Center, and so much more.
Landscapes
They can be regional, generic, or seasonal. They should have visual depth or open foreground. Trees should have a broad canopy. Savannah and park-like landscapes are preferred by many. Vegetation should be lush. Empty park benches and sunsets should be avoided. The empty park bench might remind someone of loss and loneliness. A sunset might represent the end of life.
Florals
Florals should include familiar shapes of plants and flowers. They should appear healthy and fresh, and flower colors should be vibrant. Gardens and bouquet styles are acceptable. Flowers in vases should be used sparingly and only for variety.
Taking scientific or medical study results and turning them into artistic creations is not the easiest thing to do. There are no step-by-step guides to follow, and the rules need to be there, but sometimes they need a little bending.
The painting above, Healing Flowers, spent time on exhibit in a museum and then in a gallery. It recently sold, in 2025, to an art collector in Fort Worth, Texas. Also, in Jan/Feb 2025, it was featured on the cover of Healthcare Design Magazine. In addition, in 2024, I was also asked to show it in another issue of Healthcare Design Magazine issue. On one international art gallery website, this painting received thousands of views.
While creating it, I tried to adhere to the evidence-based landscape design guidelines for healthy outcomes. By following the rules, I figured I could trigger the brain to create dopamine, which would produce in its viewers feelings of happiness.
If you look closely, you can see through the stems, which gives viewers visual depth. According to the research, seeing through the stems helps humans feel safe. It takes us back to our days of hunting on the Savannah, where dangerous animals could hide in thick grass and then attack us. While the stems were thin, I ensured the flowers appeared lush and abundant. Again, this would suggest an abundance of food.
Healing Abundance by Dorothea Sandra, EDAC
Using the same evidence-based design guidelines, Healing Abundance also sold in early 2025. It was sold from a gallery in Paris, France, and shipped to a company in Hong Kong with television channels in Hong Kong, mainland China, Macau, and other Chinese-speaking areas. The soil and stems are there, but I wanted to add lush vegetation through the flowers.
Years ago, when I was living in Asia, a good friend who was also a medical doctor ended up in the hospital. I went to visit her with a bouquet of cut flowers in hand. After she got out of the hospital, she told me that a bouquet of flowers was not the best gift. A potted plant would have been more appropriate. When I asked why, she explained that cut flowers will soon die, while a plant in soil continues to live on.
Most everything I do in the creation of an evidence-based design painting is for the health and happiness of viewers.
Inside Evidence-Based Design 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.
In Symphonies Of Love Number 11 my goal was to create a beautiful work of art without much impact.
To create the beauty, I chose the shape of a heart because I wanted a very clear, strong message that instantly communicated, “You are loved.” I find too much evidence-based design art today a little too wispy and without form. Sometimes people, and especially children, need a clear, up-in-your-face message, especially one of love.
Can you imagine a child in a patient bed or waiting area? Fear, worry, doubt can be big factors within a healthcare setting. I think an image of a heart outperforms a typical biophilic design when it comes to encouraging feelings of love, safety, and care.
Also for this painting, I chose to blend the inner area of each flower mostly with each flower’s petal color. What this does is create beauty without impact/stress, something super valuable within many healthcare environment locations. Some people are at the outer limits of their emotions in this setting, so creating beautiful art that does not stress is often welcome and greatly appreciated.
Take a look inside my book, 100 Days Of Happy Happy Art, Evidence-Based Design.
There’s even a chapter on neuroscience and art.
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?
