SMELL - FORGOTTEN YET CRITICAL DIMENSION IN PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT?

Conclusively, we argue for the importance to include olfaction as critical design function. This results in the need to not only build standard prototypes when we do rapid prototyping and/or human centered design, but to make allowances for supplementary olfactory design tools. We call for the need to include “rapid smell prototyping” and smell user testing in the early stage design process. Going even further and holistic, we propose to return to the actual sensations when designing, in order to generate different types of interaction prototypes that (un-) cover the entire spectrum of possible interaction components and dimensions. Specifically, we propose to use the Quantified Object Sensation Index (QOSI) framework (Balters et al. 2015) as a tool for user centered design with the intent to make the designer aware of the entire range of possible sensorial inputs possibilities, from a physiological and thus objective perspective. In the next working step, we will deploy the QOSI matrix to several test cases in order to design a sensorial based consumer test.