Understanding Neuroaesthetics: How Good Design Can Heal

Neuroaesthetics is the intersection of design and neuroscience. It puts a name to the feeling that good design delivers to its occupants, and it's a significant focus of Urbanology Designs Founder Ginger Curtis' work.

"Neuroaesthetics uses neuroscience to explore how we experience beauty and, in turn, the impact that it has on the human experience," explains Curtis. "There's just no denying it. Great design is not sugar on the tongue. It's not this sweet moment and then it's gone. It's not fleeting. It's actually a worthy pursuit and neuroaesthetics is now giving us the the tools and the language to be able to communicate a very powerful message."

On this episode of Women at WIRC, Curtis dives into the basic elements of neuroaesthetics and shares how it affected her journey of caring for her daughter through leukemia and her own breast cancer experience.

Register for the ninth annual Women in Residential + Commercial Construction Conference to hear Curtis speak, and join hundreds of women in construction for three days of education, professional development, and networking.

Timestamps:

00:00 Introduction to Women at WIRC Podcast
01:17 Meet Ginger Curtis: Designer and CEO
01:32 Understanding Neuroaesthetics
02:01 Ginger's Personal Journey and Inspiration
04:26 The Power of Fractals in Design
06:44 Ginger's Story of Resilience and Design
13:42 Launching a Design Firm from Adversity
16:26 Practical Tips for Neuroaesthetic Design
18:04 Conclusion and Upcoming Events

Transcript:

Caroline Broderick: Welcome back to Women at WIRC, brought to you by Pro Remodeler and Pro Builder. On this podcast, we talk to standout women in residential construction to share their professional insights and highlight the strong but small share of just 11 percent of the industry.

Be sure to rate and review and like and follow our brands on all social media channels to stay up to date on everything women and res. I'm Caroline Broderick, editor of Custom Builder Online, and today we're diving into neuroaesthetics with designer Ginger Curtis. Ginger will be speaking at our annual Women in Residential and Commercial Construction Conference from September 18th through September 20th in Phoenix, Arizona.

Registration's now open, so head to our website, which is linked below, to see the full lineup of speakers and content, which ranges from home building to remodeling, design and home improvement, on the topics of sales, marketing, technology, leadership, AI, and more. Keep listening to learn about what the heck NeuroAesthetics is.

That is and understand its effect through Ginger's Very personal story. I just wanna personally thank Ginger for joining me and being vulnerable. It's really a discussion that will inspire you to look at your own work in a different lens. 

Ginger Curtis: I am Ginger Curtis of Ology Designs. I am based in the Dallas Fort Worth Metroplex. My title is founder and CEO. 

Thank you so much for joining me today. We're going to talk about, uh, I think a pretty hot topic in the design world right now. Um, and it's that intersection between design and science and that's called neuro aesthetic. Right. So you'll also be  topic at our women and re construction conference t phoenix, which is super e to have you.

Broderick: Before we dive into neuroesthetics, I first want to start with you though. So Ginger, please give us a little bit of background.

Curtis: Yeah, absolutely. Um, I always like to start with just a little bit of like my personal and then the business because I feel like that's so foundational to my life and who I am. And so I like to tease that I have a bajillion kids.

Um, it's really actually five, but, um, it, it might as well have be, you know, hundreds or thousands. That's what it feels like. And I say that jokingly, I always wanted a big family. And then, um, my husband, Eric, he runs the company with me. He's our CFO and COO. So he handles operations and finance. And so I started Urbanology, uh, about 10, almost 10 years ago.

But yeah, I started out as a solo entrepreneur and, um, you know, I had designed a space that kind of went viral on online. It became like the number one, most popular children's room in the entire world on Houzz, and it was refeatured in all these countries in different languages. And so this like random, nobody North Texas interior designer kind of got like a little bit of street cred.

Broderick: And I mean, the things you've achieved as well. I know you have a book published, you've been named on so many different lists for top interior designers. I mean, you're just doing wonderful things. So maybe let's dive in. Cause I think we're going to learn a little bit more about you and your journey with design through this topic of neuroaesthetics. So we'll just kick it off with, can you give maybe a high level description or definition of what Neuroaesthetics is? 

Curtis: Yes, absolutely. I love, I love this word 'cause people are like, neuro what? And it sounds really like geeky and, and then you kind of hear about it and you're like, okay, this is actually really powerful.

So neuroaesthetics uses neuroscience to, to explore how we experience beauty  and in turn how you know, what is the. impact that has on the human experience. And so really what I love to say is guys, there's just no denying it. Great design is not sugar on the tongue. It's just not, it's not this sweet moment and then it's gone.

It's not fleeting. It's actually a worthy pursuit and neuroaesthetics is now giving us the The tools and the language to be able to communicate a very powerful message. And that's why I'm so passionate about this because I love our industry. I love it with just so much passion because of what we're bringing.

And so now for, you know, um, anybody in the space of design or architecture or construction can get ahold of the same message and really transform, um, some of the foundational, um, communication of, of their business and what it is that they're actually providing to people. 

Broderick: Could you maybe define what fractals are and maybe some other elements that, that you were doing in your designs that you didn't realize were neuroaesthetics?

Curtis: Yeah, so fractal patterns, you know, it, it, it relates to, you know, biophilic design and in basically it's, it's a pattern in nature, a repeating pattern, pattern of different scale. And so, um, let's see. So a icicle. Is a fractal, a snowflake is a fractal. The clouds are fractals. The veining on a leaf in a tree is a fractal, right?

And so, um, this, this happens in nature. We, there's been these really profound studies that show of all the things that we gravitate towards, like, you know, because it's beauty is, is beauty. Like what's beautiful to you versus what's beautiful to me, right? It can be super subjective. Well, what we're understanding from, um, you know, uh, neuroscience is that when we are exposed to fractals across the board, this area of our brain lights up, like we are innately really drawn and wired to the beauty of fractal patterns. Well, that's really compelling information because now we can go into, you know, different, uh, whether it's a hospital or a home, and we can be intentional about bringing these patterns in. And so the wood grain on your floor. Is a fractal pattern, you know, um, and so it's, um, it's, it's quite fascinating.

And it's, um, it's actually, it's also just a lot of fun, right. To just kind of, you know, move away from what we traditionally know about design and start really bringing kind of science into it. Right. 

Broderick: Oh, absolutely. Oh, that's so interesting. A cloud, a veining on a leaf. And I can imagine in the design world that can be interpreted in so many different ways as well. So there's so many possibilities there, right?

Curtis: That's exactly it. That's very exciting. And so I read, and you have a three part kind of intro to neuro aesthetics on your blog, right? And you kick it off part one, you discuss some very intimate parts of your life, um, that have allowed you to understand from the other end, the power of neuroaesthetics, instead of just from the design lens, from the other end of the person who's living in these spaces.

Broderick: Would you be able to share a little bit about that? 

Curtis: Yeah, absolutely. So this, this is a story that that's, you know, um, years before I would ever start my design firm. And, um, in fact, if you had told me in my future, that's what I was going to be doing as a profession. I really would have probably just laughed until I fell over and quit breathing because that was so far from my like reality.

But this is, um, this was a time I had just had, um, my fourth child.  And, um, essentially at five months old, we found out that she had leukemia and she started getting all these purple bruises all over her body. They weren't bruises, but that's what it looked like. We took her to the doctor and they said she has got cancer cells in her blood, in her skin, and in her bone marrow.

And this little child is fighting for her life. And we just thought, how on earth is a five month old Baby basically born with cancer. There wasn't answers. It was just time to like, you know, start fighting. And so we found ourselves from, you know, we, we live in North Texas. We were transplanted to Memphis, Tennessee to go to St. Jude. And this is where I ended up having a really profound experience. Again, this is not, has anything to do with,  you know, the design firm. Cause this is years before it started, but experience that would be tucked deep in my heart. And that would like. You know, it would spring forth later, so it's all kind of connected.

But we were staying at the Ronald McDonald house, and I'm really grateful for the experience that we had at St. Jude in our journey. But this is what I'll say. I walked into this building, and it was brown, and the walls were brown, and the floors were brown, and there was no natural lighting, and there was this harsh fluorescent lighting, and I didn't subconsciously think, Hmm, I feel sad.

I didn't, I really didn't make that connection, but there was a million percent, there were like hormones and chemicals being released in my body. I was responding to my environment and I felt sadder.  It was, it was ultra depressing and it, it was the nature of what we were fighting through and other families, but then also compounding with this just really, really dreary building.

And then  to, you know, to contrast that one day we got an invite to go to a different Ronald McDonald house right down the street. And I was like, Oh, I didn't even know there was two in such close proximity.  And it was like craft day and they were going to make grilled cheeses for the families. I walked into this building holding my little baby girl and immediately my tears, my eyes just welled up with tears. 

And I looked around and I just thought, I don't know where I am, but I never want to leave. And I just, I was just overwhelmed  in a really,  a really powerful way of the beauty that I was beholding and the thoughtfulness behind the design and the colors and the creativity. And there was a, like a library room with books from floor to ceiling and all these incredible colors and a chandelier that was made out of guitars.

I mean, it. Somebody had the foresight to think that the families and the Children are going to be walking into this building are going to be suffering. They're going to be hurting, grieving, fighting. What if we made a space so beautiful and so creative? I wonder if it would change the way that these families walk through their journey.

And I am here to tell you, I literally just have like goosebumps right now. The answer is a resounding yes. And I just cannot even tell you how powerful it was. And, and to have those two, you know, those two back to back experiences, um, and, and they, they both were serving the same sort of like purpose, right?

It's like to house families who are going through, you know, treatment. And so fast forward, Avery, praise God. And she survived her treatment. Um, and she was part of a, uh, it was an experimental treatment. She was one of 30 kids in the nation, and she's one of the only ones who actually survived. 

And so to say that this child is a miracle is, you know, is an understatement.

And we. We go back home to Texas and you just never seen a family more grateful, like to come home with our baby and, um, and she was done with chemo and she was done with her transplant and we find ourselves back home settling into normal life and, um,  and not long after that we, I have, I get pregnant, I have my son Asher and he's now five months old and I find a lump.

And it, it turns out that I have breast cancer and it had spread throughout my body and my lymph nodes and immediately had a double mastectomy and started 18 months of one of the most painful things I would ever walk through, which is interesting to say, because I just described this journey with my daughter, 

My fight was very different than what we walked through with her.

And it was like when Avery was sick. I was able to fight on her behalf, but I almost felt like I couldn't fight for myself. I was so weak and just completely depleted. But something really incredible happened in this process. Um,  we moved, which was insane because why would you do that? I weighed like 90, 95 pounds.

I was completely thin. I look like a walking dead, like a living dead person. But we just, I, we decided it would be fine to move. And we bought a house that I just was like, you know what? I'm going to gut renovate this thing. What I discovered was that in my pain and in my suffering, my instinct was to create beauty. 

Why? Why?  Why was my instinct to create beauty? Well, definitely some of those seeds that were planted when we were in Memphis at the Ronald McDonald House and learning and  having that just, So impact us and then realizing that my environment was going to nurture me, you know, my, my environment, just the longing to be surrounded by, by beauty and then not to mention, it really did help take my focus off of just like the pain I was in and I had to boss contractors around and I had to like, you know, come up with this grand vision of, of, of how I was gonna, you know, I was going to remodel my house and what this was going to look like.

And, and, uh, anyways, the  project ends up completing, I'm kind of at the tail end of chemo, still don't have any hair, starting to get a little bit of energy back, and I'm just telling you like this. sanctuary that I created for myself. I also created for my family and all of us together got to enjoy this really beautiful environment.

And  I'm not exaggerating when I say every morning I would put my feet on the ground and they would, they would hit the ground, my bare feet and I'd get up and I would look around and I would just start smiling and just this overwhelming gratitude would just, you know, um,  and so that is the reason why these stories are important is because It very much ties to what we're talking about, the impact of neuroaesthetics, but then it also really is what launched my business.

And so, um, soon as I finished chemo,  it was like there was a coffee pot stuck in my chest and it was bubbling. Like that's the, that's the feeling of like, something's coming, something's coming and it would just never quiet down or hush, you know, it wouldn't shush. I couldn't turn it off and I knew something was coming and it turns out that I would launch the design firm right.

You know, out of this experience. And I, the thought that I had was that you really shouldn't have to be fighting for your life or facing some traumatic battle for your home to be a sanctuary and for your home to be a place of beauty and order and reprieve and rejuvenation. And I thought, you know what? 

Other people need this too. And my, my design firm was literally based out of my experience and what I had learned about the power of place. And, uh, you know, and here, here we are today.

Listen to the full episode above.