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While design is fairly well recognized in the health sector—where it has been called upon to contribute to the quality of health care facilities, delivery, and technology development—it has yet to demonstrate its potential value in the public health sector. This paper aims to build bridges between the fields of design and public health, analyzing four social design projects promoting healthy living habits. Through the prism of realist esthetic theory, our analysis highlights the experiential quality fostered by public health measures. It also shows that the design issues of public health extend beyond the mere nature of the objects concerned and into the ways we acquire knowledge about these objects. Therefore, this paper acts as a theoretical foundation for a design approach to public health.