2
project
Don’t design for brands. Design for people interacting with brands. Steve Jobs
Start of the concept I initially came to think about this idea after comparing the advantages and disadvantages of on-line shopping and store shopping, with the global situation that the traditional shopping of visiting the store is fast being displaced by online shopping, especially in developed countries, where many customers shop online, which made me realize that what on-line shopping can’t replace is the need that customers had to try it on, for instance, clothes, food, makeup, and perfume. According to my own observations of daily life, I found that interior design of most perfume store was clutter, disorder, and all the products put on the shelves, waiting for being picked up, without any interaction. I did deeper research of perfume commercials from famous brands. It can be said that each fragrance is given an unique background and story to define its own flavor. Much of the research on store atmospherics has presumed a mediating effect of mood on consumers’ cognition and behavior. “Obermiller and Bitner (1984) showed that respondents who viewed retail products in an emotionally pleasing environment evaluated products more positively than subjects who viewed the same products in an unpleasant environment.” (J.-C. Chebat, R. Michon 2003)
John Lewis Shopping Center, Glasgow 16
Effects of odors on cognitive processing The link between odors and cognition dates back to 1932, when Laird investigated how scented hosiery influenced women’s perceptions of quality. Scents that are congruent with specific product actually improved product evaluation. Odors are often associated with objects, events and persons. They stir up happy or sad memories. Perhaps, the most famous example comes from French novelist Marcel Proust’s Remembrance of Things Past. In this monumental work, sensory cues arouse pleasant or melancholic feelings by retrieving deeply entrenched, if not almost forgotten, memories. People’s reactions to odors may be tied to evoked associations (Kirk-Smith, 1994). —J.-C. Chebat, R. Michon / Journal of Business Research 56 (2003) 529–539
Smell and Emotion In addition to being the sense most closely linked to memory, smell is also highly emotive. The perfume industry is built around this connection, with perfumers developing fragrances that seek to convey a vast array of emotions and feelings; from desire to power, vitality to relaxation. On a more personal level, smell is extremely important when it comes to attraction between two people. “Research has shown that our body odour, produced by the genes which make up our immune system, can help us subconsciously choose our partners.” (Fifth Senses Organization UK, 2012)
The research about relationship between emotion and memory make me realized that we can not only treat perfume as a product but also a personal relationship that customer and brand share.
17
Based on my review in co-lab project, which taught me that interaction design was about facilitating interaction between people in richer, deeper, better ways and find new ways to better connect human beings to one another, made me start to use the way that active five senses to provide personal shopping experience based on customers’s own memory. So in my design, I try to combine music, images, lights, and smell, of course, together in a certain space, by which to stimulate consumer senses, in order to emphasis on the emotion and memory about smell.
18
>Speaker and Projector the light will turn on automatically when found someone enter this space, as well as music.
2300mm
>inductive screen images will appear with the movement of picking up the bottle displayed on it. 1500mm
700mm
19
“Fragrances especially natural scents, which are more subtle and nuanced than chemicals – smell different on different skins because of skin chemistry.” —Tammy Frazer
Another point that has been ignored is that when we try perfume, usually using a slice of paper, what we smell is the perfume without heat. As we know, the smell of perfume varies from person to person because of the differences of our body temperature. Fragrances – especially natural scents, which are more subtle and nuanced than chemicals – smell different on different skins because of skin chemistry and factors such as fat content, diet and even medication. “The more oil-filled your skin is (often helped by a Mediterranean diet), the more oil the perfume has to cling to, and last longer with.” (Tammy Frazer 2014)
20
scan temperature
There will be a wall, covered with small lattice like this. When people put their hand on it, it will scan your body temperature, all the data will be transformed to the device under the lattice, and the smell with heat will release from these tiny holes.
21
The sense of smell is closely linked with memory, probably more so than any of our other senses. —Avery Gilbert
Smell and memory
According to my own experience, my memory with emotional reaction stored in my brain by different smell, which means the most direct way to remind me of one certain familiar scene is olfactory sensation, instead of language or images. Those with full olfactory function may be able to think of smells that evoke particular memories; the scent of an orchard in blossom conjuring up recollections of a childhood picnic, for example. This can often happen spontaneously, with a smell acting as a trigger in recalling a long-forgotten event or experience. “ Marcel Proust, in his ‘Remembrance of all Things Past’, wrote that a bite of a madeleine vividly recalled childhood memories of his aunt giving him the very same cake before going to mass on a Sunday.”(Fifth Sense Organization, 2012) Fifth Sense Organization UK
22
After the research about memory and smell, I want to introduce the computer that is able to search for the perfume according to customer’s personal memory, like childhood, parents, or simply a part of a film or music.
23
computer with perfume search
interaction experience area
perfume test area with temperature scan
24
25
the interaction experience area can also be placed outside of the store to attract more people 26
Conclusion My project 2 is about smell and emotion. Actually, most people care little about the role that olfactory sensation play in our life, so do I. After this project, I learned how smell affect people’s emotion and how it works to remind us of the memory of one scene the we may even not realized. For me, it’s romantic to remember the details in our life by smell. I also learned the importances of the way we think, based on people’s preference, about how a interior space can serve users, instead of products, especially in retail space. More importantly, I realized that, as an interior designer, I should care about the relationship between people and space, not only with the products displayed, but also with the atmosphere. As for retail store, we should concentrate on customers’ reaction instead of product or brands. The high-technology I used in this design centered on people’s emotional reaction, which was of great importance on the atmosphere.
29