Scent Suite

Overview

The open-ended prompt for this 12-week project was to design for the future of hotel experience.

The Scent Suite is an experience room that partners with hotel brands to enhance guest experiences and create memorable stays through crafting personalized fragrances.

Credits

Noah Posner (Professor), Cognizant (Sponsor), Cynthia Li, Suzie Kwan, Shao Kaye Chan

Time

February 2024 - May 2024

Skills

Fusion 360, KeyShot 2023, Figma, Procreate

Meet the Team

Cynthia Li

USER RESEARCH CO-LEAD
Suzie Kwan

USER RESEARCH CO-LEAD
Shao Kaye Chan

UI/GRAPHICS LEAD
Brian Tran

CAD/RENDER LEAD

How many hotels do you remember?

Hotels are an essential part of any trip, but few are memorable and they tend to blend together.

What makes a memory?

Unlike our other sensory systems, scent information moves directly to the limbic system. This is the region of the brain that controls memory and emotions and this bypass makes scent and memory deeply connected

Scent Marketing

Scent marketing is the theory that scent can create immediate and memorable connections between brands and consumers.

But, the current state of scent marketing is often subconscious. And within hotels, the scent is almost only showcased in the bathroom through bath products.

Design Criteria

Creates shared stories

Fosters authentic connections

Molds tailored experiences

Scent Suite

Enhancing hotel guest experiences through custom fragrances

Layout

Discovery Lab

The Discovery Lab is the initial experience level that allows guests to freely explore on their own time and learn about the scents of the brand and region while crafting their own scent cards.

Each station has a table for guests to explore as well as a screen that helps to guide the experience and educate about each note and fragrance combination.

Experimental Table

On the Experimental Table, Scent Capsules are organized by the Signature Base that is selected by the hotel brand, Regional scents that vary by location, and a collection of popular perfume notes for guests to add their own personality and preference into the fragrance.

Information Screen

When a Scent Capsule is placed into the perfume mix slot, the screen will show information about the note such as note details, pairing recommendations and scent profile.

Scent Capsules

The design of the scent capsule was refined through user testing to enhance simplicity. Capsules gain more ridges with each step, aiding users in slotting the sample notes correctly when mixing and streamlining the process.

Scent Card

Once guests are happy with their blend, they can print a Scent Card that mixes the notes together so that they can experience the combined fragrance.

Similar to scratch and sniff samples, the ink is sealed in a thin coating and releases more scent when rubbed.

User Validation

From our user testing, we found that Scent Cards were well loved by guests and served as a souvenir that connected the two halves of the Scent Suite experience.

Perfume Bottle

The overall silhouette of the bottle is based on our Card Sort findings which highlighted the importance of shapes with cohesive variations to give users a sense of elegance and refinement.

Flower Diffuser

The paper diffuser is designed to resemble the regional flower of the location allowing guests to collect various regional notes and paper flowers as they visit different hotels that have partnered with the Scent Suite.

The flower is made from an absorbent paper and has a foldable design to make it collapsible for packaging and for easy assembly when you want to use it as a diffuser.

THE PROCESS

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THE PROCESS /

Observations & Interviews

In order to survey the current state of hotels and hospitality, our team went out to observe 7 hotels (all within a 4 to 5 star class) and conducted 20 interviews with hotel staff and guests.

Affinity Map

Insights

Following our observations and interviews with 11 hotel staff, 3 business travelers, and 6 leisure travelers, we affinity mapped to group our findings and pull out 3 primary insights into what hotel guests are looking for: shared stories, authentic connections, and tailored experiences.

Insight 1 / Shared Stories

Insight 2 / Authentic Connection

Insight 3 / Tailored Experiences

Concept Exploration

Our team ideated and created thumbnail sketches for different sectors we identified within hotels such as the lobby, guest rooms, and amenities. We flagged our strongest ideas to develop 8 concepts. Given our feedback, we decided that the most compelling concept to move forward with was “Aromatherapy Personalization”.

Initial Concept

Our concept, Scent Suite, imagines the future of hospitality where scent marketing goes beyond bath products and, instead, journeys from check-in, to the scent bar, to the guest’s room, and ends at the guest’s home.

User Testing

To test our concept, our team created full scale artifacts within an enclosed area from users to walkthrough. We utilized print outs, digital screens, and essential oils to fully emulate the experience of the Scent Suite.