SCENT MEMORY BOTTLE
Event Design & Art Installation
An art installation investigates human extension, olfactory synesthesia, aiming to enhance odor memory and build the local scent culture. The user can select the time and direction of the smell story by rotating the bottle cap to view the uploaded smell story, and then visit event location with the map.
OVERVIEW
4 weeks (2020.09-2021.10)
Adviser: Zhiyong Fu
RESULT
Exhibit in CIDIH-THU 110th Anniversary & New Normal workshop, Ewha Womans University X Tsinghua University
MY ROLE
Team leader, Interaction experience researcher & designer, Concept designer, Programmer, Structure designer
BACKGROUND
4% of the World Has Been Infected With COVID-19, WHO Estimates.
During Covid 19 epidemic sitiation, people all wear masks everyday and also the sense of smell is masked, missing so many memories about smell during this time.
People may ask:“ How to rebuild our smell experience we have missed?”
CORE IDEA
Connection / Synesthesia / Olfactory Memory / Time Regression / Story / Urban Memory
Future design based on human extension -- Olfactory synesthesia & Time retrospection
OUR WORK
We created Scent Memory Bottle, an art installation based on
human extension, Olfactory synesthesia and time retrospection,
aimed to enhance people’s unique memories of scent to build
the scent culture of the region.
SENARIOS
Quiet park / Youthful campus / Street corner intersection ...
Places with high traffic and
unique smells around them.
POV
People who are forced to wear masks and have their sense of smell obscured by the epidemic want to
experience a "sense of smell" that they have missed somewhere else.
How to give the user a certain "scent experience" while wearing the mask?
In what way do you make the user feel the scent?
How to resonate with the user's feelings?
How to make them experience "the smells they have missed in the past"?
How to make the whole experience more engaging and interesting?
How to tell the scent story?
How to make people feel safe in the experience?
(Distance, Understanding, Hood, Expression)
HMW
HOW TO USE
1.
Rotate the bezel.
Red arrow points in the direction of the scent you are looking for.
5.
Press the cap of the bottle.
A gentle breeze comes,
the smell stories corresponding to time and location.
2.
Rotate the cap of the bottle.
Select the time of the scent you want to retrace.
3.
Front screen shows the time of the scent stories as the cap rotating.
(Year/month)
4.
The bottom of the bottle will flash the red light to indicate that there are many scent stories at this time and direction now.
6.
Scan the QR code into the
mini program.
You can browse the scent map & Upload your own scent story.
7.
The map on the printed card will lead you to find the location of the scent story, and feel the story through time and space.
IMPACT GOAL
Total: 105
Time Duration: 1996.Jun - 2020.Jul
Update time: 2020.Oct
In our website/mini program, we have a map mode to show all of the olfactory stories uploaded by community.
PROTOTYPE & TESTING 1.0
1. Rotate the bezel
4. Print the scent map
5. Scan the QR code,
enter the Wechat applet.
2. Rotate time dial
3. Press time cap
We made our first prototype with cardboard-
based materials and conducted user testing,
Overall we got good feedbacks, but we still needed to make further adjustments to the structure of the prototype.
PROTOTYPE & TESTING 2.0
Sensor Hall:
Rotary Encoder:
Rotate & Press
8 Directions
Identification of magnetic fields
Direction determination
Press the button and blow.
Print out a scent map
Printout & Air Outlet
& Button & Screen
& Directional Arrows:
Screen:
Time Retrospection
Bearing:
More comfortable
& smooth rotation
After the first round of user testing, we changed the position of the printer and added a screen to show the time.
Also, we put it in the real forest to test.
Printer & Fan:
DESIGN DETAIL
LOGO：
COLOR：
Bottle + Memory + Overlap
DIMENSION
MATERIAL LIST
Sensor Hall
Directional information
via magnetic output
Rotary Encoder
Rotation time
& Press confirmation
3D Modal
Stable & Precise
Little Bottle
A clear, rhyming bottle is more evocative.
Fan
Printout
Ten seconds to blow.
Little Printer
Map of Blow Out Scent & scent stories
Time Screen
Show the corresponding time with the knob
VIDEO
Video duration: 2'38''
EXPLORATION
After identifying the problems that exist, we do what we need to
do to solve them. Using a 2*2 matrix, we list a number of possible
design outputs in physical-virtual, personal-public dimensions,
and finally focus on a prototype of physical interaction as a vehicle
for extending the primary senses, integrating information into visual
publics and websites, and engaging citizens to extend their influence
USABILITY TESTING
8 students and teachers were selected for user testing, centering on the small woods of Tsinghua University of Arts and Sciences, and the whole process of their system was tested for usability.
Result & Questions:
·The overall feedback is good, the average user experience rating of 8
people is above 8. And would like to continue to contribute their own
scent stories to it and willing to recommend it to others.
·Users were able to use the device smoothly and complete the task by
reading the prompt instructions.
·The overall process is somewhat complex, making the learning
experience difficult for first-time users and taking some time in
understanding the whole set of concepts.
·The geographical range covered by the device is not very clear and
can be marked out to make it clearer to users.
