Multisensory Experiences

Introduction

This is a summer course for summer 2022.
Maximum 100 students.

Most of our everyday life experiences are multisensory in nature. They involve many, if not all, of our senses, that is, sight, hearing, touch, taste, and smell, just to mention the ‘traditional’ ones. In this course, we take a journey through the world of multisensory experiences, that is, impressions formed by specific events, whose sensory elements have been carefully crafted by someone. This journey has an international focus that builds on initiatives from researchers and practitioners from around the world.

We begin by exploring the basis of human sensation and perception. Here, we go through a general introduction about how we sense and perceive the world around us. Then, we explore in depth how experiences form and the role of our senses in them. After that, we introduce multisensory experiences in marketing. We interface with brands through many, if not all, of our senses. As such, customer experience brands through the different sensory elements of their touchpoints. In this context, the senses are placed at the centre of the consumer experience design processes.

We also introduce the field of multisensory human-computer interaction, which deals with the role of the human senses in the understanding and creation of the interactions that we have with technology. We discuss how multisensory experiences meet technology, in particular, key digital transformations such as mixed reality, internet of things, and AI-powered technologies. We further explore how multisensory experiences are being studied and utilized throughout the reality-virtuality continuum (for example, with augmented and virtual reality technologies) in marketing and beyond. We also explore how researchers and practitioners from around the world are now capitalizing on novel sensory-enabling technologies in order to deliver new experiences in digital environments. After that, we discuss about multisensory experiences in the arts and finalize the course with reflection on their ethical implications for individuals and society.

Course content

• Multisensory experiences: An overview
  • Understanding experiences
  • The role of the senses in our experiences
  • Defining multisensory experiences
• Sensation and perception and consumer behaviour
  • Principles of sensation and perception
  • Principles of multisensory perception
• Multisensory experiences in the reality-virtuality continuum
  • Brand touchpoints as multisensory devices
  • Brand names, logos, and symbols
  • Packaging, store, and atmospherics
  • Multisensory food experience design
  • Digital multisensory marketing
• Multisensory human-computer interaction
  • Introduction to human-computer interaction
  • User experience and experience design
  • Augmented and virtual reality
  • Multisensory technologies
• The senses and the arts
• Frameworks for multisensory experience design
• Ethics of multisensory experiences