Experiencing different products can sometimes involve our sense of smell. Perfume, coffee, wine and spices come to mind. Diagrams, like the one shown here, use colour to help organize and categorize a range of aromas. Although charts differ from product to product, certain colour groupings are emerging. Greens tend to indicate earthy & herbal tones, purples/blues - medicinal tones, browns - nutty & woody tones, and pinks/oranges: floral tones.
The development of these guides has enabled the relatively new phenomenon of sensory mapping to emerge. The Sensory Trust at the U.K.’s Carluddon Technology Park defines sensory mapping as “a simple, flexible technique that identifies sensory highlights – with a view to creating inclusive and engaging visitor experiences.” Individuals can use different stimuli, such as sights, sounds, smells, textures and tastes, to guide them through a particular exploration.
In 2017, a group of artists and tea sommeliers created the following sensory map of their visit to a light manufacturing district in Toronto, Canada. This area is home to a mixture of businesses and industries – a commissary kitchen, a brewery, a chocolate factory and numerous offices and manufacturing sites. This “Olfactory Map” used a “scent profile” (see inset on map) to plot the aromas they encountered while walking through the Sterling Road neighbourhood. The gathering of this type of data helps improve visitor experience in the area and informs future development.
Design: JP King