Toby Israel, PhD, is the founder of Design Psychology, defined as “the practice of architecture, planning, and interior design in which psychology is the principal design tool.” This discipline continues to gain international attention, including in the New York Times, the Financial Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Boston Globe, and on CBS Sunday Morning, NPR’s Talk of the Nation, and Radio Times.

The Design Psychology visioning sessions and one-on-one interviews/exercises Dr. Israel conducts bring to the forefront the vast personal store of experience and emotions that contribute to an individual's choice and design of home and place.

Trained as an environmental psychologist, Dr. Israel has more than 25 years of experience in design, psychology, the arts, and education. She has served as an environmental consultant in the US and UK, including as project manager for the research division of LRK design firm, as the visual arts coordinator for the New Jersey State Council on the Arts, and as a professor at the University of Lincoln School of Architecture (UK).

Through Oasis by Design LLC in Princeton, New Jersey, she works nationally and internationally with designers and clients and as a world-class speaker spreading the word about Design Psychology. Her groundbreaking approach to people and place as applied to women is described in her newest book, Designing-Women’s Lives: Transforming Place and Self.