01 / The question
What needed
exploring?
If an artwork is mainly presented visually, what other sensory routes could support interpretation and emotional connection?
← Selected work
03 / 04 Inclusive experience / MSc major project
The Scents of Art
Using scent, sound and touch to open new ways into abstract art.
Project
overview.
An independent research and prototyping project exploring how scent might help people with vision impairments engage with abstract artwork.
Research · Multisensory prototyping · Accessibility
Rhi independently designed and completed this project. Open the image for a larger view.
What needed
02 / The approach
How Rhi
worked.
Rhi developed five abstract artworks and comparison conditions: audio description alone; audio with one scent; audio with three scents; audio plus tactile features with one scent; and audio plus tactile features with three scents. She gathered qualitative responses and used NVivo to examine patterns in emotional engagement and interpretation. This structure let her compare experiences as the sensory inputs changed.
03 / The outcome
What she
designed.
The study contributed a design exploration of scent, audio and touch as a combined art experience. Its findings speak to the project’s study context and do not establish a universal accessibility solution.
A design decision, in context
Changing the sensory inputs.
What informed it
The original overview specifies five prototypes with audio, four with scent and two with touch, across 14 participants in testing. Each project page shows the actual artwork and sensory combination.
What the work shows
Comparing the prototype pages makes the changes in sensory input clear. The available material does not establish that one combination works best for everyone.
More from this project.
Select an image to inspect the original project page at full size.
