Conclusion
Now that you’ve explored this resource, your ideas about multisensory product design will be more clear and you have new tools and knowledge to recognize that sensory, emotional, and cognitive design qualities contribute to people’s interactions with products. Likewise, you’ve started to develop an understanding of how design decisions impact people’s experience of using products, services, and environments. Clearly multisensory design features are important for supporting a user’s holistic interactions with products. Lastly, given the variety of sensory factors and multisensory design combinations we have discussed, you now know that designers can choose among a wide range of features to create optimum product aesthetics and interactions.
By way of review, consider what you have learned:
- The differences among the sensory, emotional, and cognitive qualities that contribute to people’s interactions with products.
- The integration of sensory and emotional attributes into products by design.
- The variety of multisensory experiences that affect the design of products, services, and environments.
- Sensory design concepts through the interactive simulations and related assessment activities in many of the chapters of this resource.
- The sensory design factors that may contribute to users’ meanings and emotional responses derived from products.
This foundational information should make a significant difference to your understanding of multisensory design principles for your user-centred product design education and practice.
BACKGROUND
Did you know that sensory design education dates to the curriculum of the early twentieth-century German design school – The Bauhaus – from 1915 to 1933? Its instructors believed that, “the quality of concrete experience arising from multiple sensory sources was at the heart of their work” (Heywood, 2017; Harris et al., 2019). Later in the twentieth century Italian designers like Gaetano Pesce and Joe Columbo, explored the impact of sensory interactions in their designs in the 1980s, as did the design team at Philip’s Design in the Netherlands with their ‘new everyday’ conceptual design explorations (Power, 2007; Power, 2017; Verbrucken 2003). In addition, an influential Sensory Turn in design was underway in the Faculty of Industrial Design Engineering at the Technical University of Delft between 2002 and 2007. It involved industrial design engineering researchers who were working on a project called the ‘Multimodal Experience: Implications for Product Design’ (Schifferstein & Ludden, 2002-2007; Sonneveld, Ludden & Schifferstein, 2008).
Following that project the book Product Experience (Schifferstein & Hekkert, 2009) was published; it was a seminal call to attention for product designers. It provided a comprehensive message to contemporary industrial designers that the design of traditional physical structures, materials, and manufacturing factors were part of a much larger approach to designing for people’s experiences with products. Their book introduced the idea that product experiences are subjective and include the “awareness of the psychological effects elicited by the interaction with a product, including the degree to which all our senses are stimulated, the meanings and values we attach to a product, and the feelings and emotions that are elicited” (Hekkert & Schifferstein, 2009, p. 2). In the same book, Hekkert and Leder update the definition of aesthetics, explaining that a multisensory aesthetic is tied to sensory pleasure, through seeing, hearing, touching, smelling, and tasting (2009). This is a key premise behind our online resource.
By 2012, there was a wider disciplinary movement toward sensory awareness. Researchers in fields such as anthropology, architecture, design, engineering, psychology, neuroscience, sociology, and urban planning were also exploring sensory practices related to people’s lived experiences (Frankel et al, 2021: Howes, 2019; Howes & Classen, 2013, Malnar & Vodvarka, 2004). In addition, the emphasis on multimodal design and sensory knowledge for designers was becoming more relevant given the growing complexity of people’s interactions with networked products, spaces, and urban environments (Coulton, 2017, Heywood, 2017, Schifferstein & Wastiels, 2018).
This sensory focus in design was documented in the exciting 2018 Cooper Hewitt exhibit, “The Senses: Design Beyond Vision” (Lupton & Lipps, 2018), and in two recent publications, “Sensory Arts and Design” (Heywood, 2017) and “Senses and Sensation: Critical and Primary Sources Art and Design” (Howes, 2019).
Today, designers are increasingly venturing beyond the traditional emphasis on visual aesthetics; there is a need to understand, integrate, and synthesize the senses with design across all cognitive and sensory modalities (Bacci & Melcher, 2011; Núnez-Pacheo & Loke, 2018; Lupton & Lipps, 2018; Mau, B., 2018; Park & Alderman, 2018; Schifferstein & Desmet, 2006). As a result, we believe that design education will benefit from more foundational resources for integrating multisensory design approaches into the design curriculum, which is explained in the following section.
The Context of Design Education
Product design education has traditionally trained designers to determine the visual and three-dimensional attributes of products. In product design schools there is an emphasis on form-giving, according to fundamental principles governing visual and tangible properties (Frankel, 2014; Gilles, 1991; Pipes, 2009). Students also learn about user-centred issues in separate ergonomics or human factors courses and user-centred design projects (Courage & Baxter, 2005). There is often a separation in the design curriculum between learning creative design skills and human-oriented research skills, such as human factors and usability. In the former case, a good designer applies the rules of compositional unity and balance to achieve or disrupt a model of harmony (Jordan, 2002). In the latter case, user studies provide feedback for refining and adjusting a product’s formal properties to meet user requirements (Kuniasvsky, 2003).
We take the approach that the visual and formal qualities of a product are part of the same domain or multisensory aesthetic as user-centred product elements, such as affordances (Norman, 2004). From that perspective, user-oriented design can benefit from a larger multisensory and cognitive set of perspectives that encompasses both compositional attributes and the broader range of design detailing for subjective multisensory product experiences.
Inspiration
While studying with Sensory Anthropologist Dr. David Howes I became aware of the growing emphasis and importance of multisensory design and user experience. As part of my PhD studies, I determined that the literature on the senses and design could be divided into four categories (Frankel, 2015):
- Multisensory aesthetics for product design that provide pleasurable experiences for users. This approach, which uses quantitative research methods based primarily in the field of psychology, focuses on creating an overall context for the user to engage their senses in the activities they are doing (Desmet & Hekkert 2007; Hekkert & Leder, 2009; Jordan 2000; Norman 2004; Overbeeke et al. 2003; Schifferstein & Hekkert 2008). Much of the information for this introductory online resource was extracted and simplified from this literature.
- Sensitizing designers so that they will understand the multisensory nature of a user’s interaction with a product. Such an integrated and coherent sensory approach is powerful for enriching the overall experience that one is designing for, as well as avoiding unwanted conflicting messages (Schifferstein 2011; Schifferstein & Desmet 2006; Sonneveld, Ludden & Schifferstein 2008). This online resource provides introductory information and simplifies information from the existing literature to fill a gap and sensitize aspiring designers to multisensory design.
- Sensory design detailing provides information for designers so they can optimize the sensory features of products to enhance user experience. This realm of sensory design includes visual choices such as colour palettes and typography; sound elements, such as the background music in a shopping mall or the beep of a microwave oven; tactile qualities, like the textured handle of a power drill or the click of a button on a remote control, as well as smell and taste attributes (Garrett 2006: 39; Karana, Hekkert & Kandachar 2010; Kim & Boradkhar 2002). This resource compiles many of the principles and guidelines regarding sensory design detailing, making them easily accessible.
- User requirements that specify the quality and kind of sensory feedback users need to operate a product. For example, when using a computer mouse, the tactile characteristics were reported to be the most important feedback for the user. When using a vacuum cleaner, it was the emanating sound. For a cleaning product, its smell was most important and for those drinking a soft drink, its taste was most important (Dore et al. 2007; Gibson 1966; Salvendy 2006; Schifferstein & Desmet 2007, p. 2027). This information is addressed by extensive literature in the area of human factors and ergonomics. Nonetheless, it is complementary to this qualitative introductory resource about the multisensory aspects of design and addressed where suitable.
As I became aware of these four categories, I also became inspired to include the study of more multisensory design features into the traditional designers’ skill set to sensitize them about multisensory aesthetics (Frankel, 2015; Frankel et al, 2021). I taught a Form and Colour Design Studio in the School of Industrial Design at Carleton University for close to two decades. In 2012, I began to convert that course into an applied theory lecture course, which the students named Sensory Aspects of Design. Since making a transition from studio to lecture required a big leap, I began to insert experiential modules in my lectures to keep our hands-on design students engaged. The course content was primarily adapted from information in the Product Experience book (Schifferstein & Hekkert, 2009), which was rather complex for second-year industrial design students. So, the content was simplified to become engaging, experiential, and alluring for junior undergraduate students.
To assist in this endeavour, I formed a design research group, which we ultimately named The Sense-It! Team. Our group consisted of undergraduate and graduate students, most of whom had taken the course Sensory Aspects of Design. We developed the experiential activities to appeal to second-year design students and expose them to the importance of sensory design as a key to enriching and mediating people’s lived experiences. We conducted extensive usability testing to evaluate our learning resources and the students’ ability to engage with these new ideas.
Our group has since developed a large range of educational resources for sensory design studies and presented them through papers and workshops at several conferences (Frankel, 2013, 2014, 2016, 2017, 2018, & 2021; Özcan et al, 2018). The Sense-It! team includes a design education specialist and Sensory Aspects of Design and User Experience Instructor, as well as industrial design and information technology undergraduate and graduate students. Given the synergy and playfulness of our imaginative and talented team of design research assistants and educational specialists, the modules blossomed into a set of exploratory in-class activities and related resources. Although we did not realize it at the time since we were immersed in experimentation, the work that we have been doing since 2016 contributed to the groundwork for this online resource.
Sense-It! Logo
Authors Information
Lois Frankel, PhD is an Adjunct Research Professor in the School of Industrial Design and the School of Information Technology at Carleton University. For 27 years, she was an Associate Professor in the School of Industrial Design, at Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada, and was the School’s Director for 4 of those years. Her design research applies a sensory anthropology perspective across areas of design for ageing and disability, sensory aspects of design, and user experience. She was the sensory design editor for the Routledge Journal, The Senses and Society from 2015-2020. She can be contacted at lois.frankel@carleton.ca
The content for each chapter of Sense-It!: Insights into Multisensory Design evolved from Lois’ initial course lectures and was later enhanced by Claudie St. Arnaud’s subsequent lecture material. Lois, who was determined to develop this material into an easy-to-use educational resource for designers, refined the content, chapter by chapter. Her goals were to contribute to the field of design and to share the Sense-It! team’s playful and novel approaches for engaging students in learning about the senses and design.
The Sense-It! Team members who are responsible for generating this online educational resource include Alanna Bamber, Dawson Clark, Kristine Hipolito, Amélie Houle, Matthew King, Lindsay McCauley, Cora Vasut, and Marta Wasiak. Only 3 are still in their undergraduate design studies, and the others are in different stages of their professional design careers. They reviewed each chapter, offering editorial suggestions and adding to the team’s incredible graphics archive, developing new assets such as graphic images, animations, videos, and interactive activities, as well as publishing it all in Pressbooks. Their thoughtful creativity, enthusiasm, knowledge, and perseverance have infused this project with meaning and innovation.
Acknowledgments
The Sense-It! team has been a bit like an interactive snowball as we have been gathering more ideas and more members as we’ve rolled along. Up to this point, more than 20 of us have had an amazing and sometimes challenging time creating, testing, and refining our learning materials and sharing them with others. A big thank you goes to all the Sense-It! team members: Alanna Bamber, Dawson Clark, Martin Eisert, Eileen Harris, Kristine Hipolito, Amélie Houle, Matthew King, Kat Kostina, Lindsay McCauley, Claudie St. Arnaud, Sudarsana Sandeep, Victoria Smith, Alura Sutherland, Sofia Tapia, Cora Vasut, Alex Young-Davies, and Marta Wasiak.
Thank you to Eileen Harris, Lori Rosove, and Trudy Gold for your keen attention to how we communicate this information. Thank you to the many classes of IDES 2205 Sensory Aspects of Design and User Experience students who participated in ethics-approved usability testing and to more recent classes who read excerpts and provided comments. We appreciate the contributions of Accessibility Assistants Grace Martin, Amanda Potvin and Nolan Jenikov who have made a significant difference to the quality of this Online Educational Resource.
The Critical Review team members for this OER provided support and helpful feedback along the way. The members include Carleton University School of Industrial Design Educators: Rob Watters, Instructor, Juan Carlos Jiminez, Assistant Professor, and Carleton University School of Information Technology PhD Candidate and Algonquin College of Applied Arts and Technology Professor Anthony Scaverelli, as well as Carleton University Program Assessment Specialist in the Vice-Provost’s Office, Eileen Harris, and Contract Instructor for Sensory Aspects of Design and User Experience at Carleton University, Carla Auyukawa.
The School of Industrial Design Administration has been a wonderful support, especially past Director Bjarki Hallgrimsson and Roman Minakof, the school’s Computing and Technology Technician. Thank you to past Director Thomas Garvey who was willing to support my new course in 2012, and to current Director Wonjoon Chung who is carrying on this support. Many of my colleagues in the School of Industrial Design were also willing to embrace these ideas in their studio project courses, which provided consistency in the Bachelor of Industrial Design curriculum – Bjarki Hallgrimsson, Chantal Trudel, Tim Hatts, and Rob Watters.
In addition, Carleton University’s Teaching and Learning Services (TLS) has been wonderfully supportive throughout the years, especially in supporting this OER project. Many thanks to Patrick Lyons Director of TLS, Dragana Polovina-Vukovic, Research and Strategic Initiatives Officer, TLS, and Laura Ravelo, Administrative Officer, TLS.
We received fantastic support for this project and wish to thank the following organizations that provided funding along the way:
This project was made possible with funding from the Government of Ontario and through eCampusOntario’s support of the Virtual Learning Strategy. To learn more about the Virtual Learning Strategy visit: https://vls.ecampusontario.ca. The views expressed in the publication are the views of [the] recipient [of the eCampusOntario funding] and do not necessarily reflect those of the Province of Ontario or OOLC (Ontario Online Learning Consortium).
This work was supported and funded by the National Sciences and Engineering Council of Canada (NSERC) through the Collaborative Learning in Usability Experiences (CLUE) CREATE grant (2015-465639) and through the Undergraduate Student Research Award (USRA).
This work was supported by Carleton University’s Teaching and Learning Service’s Discovery Centre through the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL), Carleton University Experiential Learning Fund (CUELF), and Internship-Carleton University Research Experience for Undergraduate Students (I-CUREUS) program.
This work was also made possible by support from Carleton University’s Co-op Program and Campus Co-op Employer (CCE) Fund.
Lastly, we gratefully acknowledge how much we learned in person and through scholarly works from David Howes and Constance Classen, Paul Hekkert and Rick Schifferstein, Ellen Lupton and Andrea Lipps, Kate McClean, Jason Morris, Lucas Lacerda, Elif Özcan, Owain Pedgley, Christine Park and John Alderman, Marieke Sonneveld, Joyce Malnar and Frank Vodvarka – some of whom we know and others who we wish to know. We have tried to integrate your inspirational work in a way that provides a thorough and relatively easy-to-grasp introduction to multisensory aspects of design.
Audience
We hope that Sense-It!: Insights into Multisensory Design provides an easy-to-read, instructive, and interactive overview for design students, design instructors, and practicing designers who want to learn more about designing for optimal sensory interactions between people and the things that enrich their lives. It is also for those in related fields, such as applied social sciences and marketing, who want to understand the multisensory design issues that are important for people’s everyday experiences with products.
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