From smells to stories

From smells to stories: The design and evaluation of the smell memory kit

Leret, Susana Camara (Though Collider)
Visch, V.T. (TU Delft Design Aesthetics)

2017

The study presented is a research through design of the motivational, story sharing effects of smell, within the context of addiction care. This investigation led to the co-design of the Smell Memory Kit: a kit using eight selected smells as motivational elements to evoke and share autobiographical episodic stories among addiction care clients. A pilot evaluation study with clients (N = 14) of the Kit showed the potential of its effect in evoking and sharing episodic autobiographical stories. Moreover, qualitative analysis of the data links the distinct smells to four qualities of the autobiographical stories (i.e., emotion, clarity, specificity, and age). The research outcomes are promising in depicting the use of smells as sense data to effectively encode practices and experiences which can later be retrieved as simulations through an encounter/exposure to an odour. With regard to design, the present study shows that smells can perfectly function as a design material for storytelling, and more specifically as promising game elements in persuasive game design, motivating clients to elicit and share rich episodic memories.

Addiction Care Therapy
Embodied Knowledge
Memory
Persuasive Game Design
Research Through Design
Smell

http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:9d5a443b-8ca8-4c87-bf0b-e50df76953b9

1991-3761

International Journal of Design, 11 (1), 65-77

Institutional Repository

journal article

© 2017 Susana Camara Leret, V.T. Visch