Our History

Aesthetics has evolved continuously since it was founded by Annette Ridenour in 1980 to provide art for hospitals and medical clinics. In the 1980s the firm established itself as a leader in the emerging field of wayfinding. Integral to that success is Aesthetics' commitment to understanding how patients and visitors actually experience a facility, then using multiple design elements to eliminate confusion and create clarity while also adding beauty and overall design coherence.

By the early 1990s, Aesthetics had become a recognized leader in innovative design and art programs. For example, our work at Rady Children’s Hospital, completed in 1993, was hailed as ushering in a new era of children’s hospital design. Interiors magazine called Rady “unique in the world of medicine . . a place which heals, charms, and inspires patients, their families, medical staff, and all those in healthcare design who wish that hospitals had more to do with healing.” Architecture magazine cited Rady as setting “a new precedent in children’s healthcare, which suggests that good feelings and healing should go hand in hand.”

Continually developing its capabilities and refining its methods, Aesthetics now has collaborated with more than 400 companies, including some of the largest and best-known healthcare organizations in the United States and Canada, as well as with numerous major artists and architects around the world.

In 2009, the book Annette Ridenour’s co-authored with Blair L. Sadler, Transforming the Healthcare Experience through the Arts , further extended Aesthetics’ reputation and influence. Dr. Donald Berwick, the former President and chief executive officer of the Institute for Healthcare Improvement, described the book as “deeply important and inspiring,” and Health Futurist Leland Kaiser praised it as “destined to become a classic in the literature of healthcare.”