I am interested in pursuing a career in trend forecasting/consumer behaviour, which has been supported by my BA in Business and Design. Outside of university, my main passion is painting, which I was able to incorporate into my major project.
“Since art is the articulation of the shapes and spaces of the world around us and the expression of our inner thoughts and emotions, we can all understand art, given the proper tools” (Bird, 1991)
My project, “The Scents of Art”, looked to understand the existing relationship that individuals with vision impairments have with art and how the added use of senses, specifically scent, could be used to improve their experience. The main areas of focus were:
-The overall role scent could impact within the “viewing” of art and how effective it could be, compared to existing experiences.
-How the inclusion of other senses, such as touch, could enhance these experiences and not undermine them.
-If using multiple scents could be beneficial in translating the visual identity of art into a scent identity.
Participants were blindfolded to remove their reliance on their sense of sight, though to replace their default sense they were given headphones for audio description to give them a basic connection to the art through their sense of hearing. To ensure safety, all participants were guided between each prototype where they could choose how long they spent with each piece, but it was noted that engagement was more favourable with the more interactive prototypes. Besides the influence of interaction, participants were also found to have some bias on pieces based on scent preferences. This was a curious observation since it highlighted that just as art is subjective, so too it seems, is scent.
All prototypes, with the exception of Prototype One, were given scent identities. These were selected from a combination of primary research and scent/colour/emotion wheels, and used both as emotional and literal representations.
PROTOTYPE TWO: SCENT 2 Lavendar was the chosen scent for this prototype and offered a literal colour representation of the artwork. A literal link was decided for the first scent-based piece to ease participants into the testing, while lavender was selected since it would be a familiar aroma for most participants and would not be too overwhelming.
PROTOTYPE THREE: SCENT 3A, 3B & 3C The three scents used for Prototype Three were intended to provide a harmonious flow between the transition of each scent, with all being more natural scents. The representation was a mix of literal and emotional, as all the scents picked out key colours used within the artwork, but also supported the meaning of the painting as detailed in the audio used.
PROTOTYPE FOUR: SCENT 4 For Prototype Four, the selected scent was to convey a purely emotional representation, looking to convey the mood of the artwork whilst influencing the atmosphere around it. As the piece was the first to offer tactile elements the sense of fun was a key part of why a warm and vibrant scent was chosen to portray it. The use of the audio in guiding participants around the different features of the artwork built upon this also.
PROTOTYPE FIVE: SCENT 5A, 5B & 5C Unlike Prototype Three, Prototype Five utilised a contrasting transition for the three scents used, as to allow for each scent to be emphasised more. The representation was a mixture of emotional and literal however, the focus of the literal was centred around the tones and hues of the colours being used, rather than a direct reference.
AUDIO DESCRIPTIONS
