TouchDesigner
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Arduino
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projection mapping
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generative animation
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spatial interaction
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Scope
Interactive Installation
Role
Interaction Designer / Researcher / Experience Prototyper (Solo)
Duration
7 weeks
Year
2025
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Background
(01)
Scent is one of the strongest links to memory and emotion, yet it remains an underexplored material in design. While most digital experiences engage sight and sound, scent offers a more intimate way to connect through emotion, atmosphere, and memory.
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Research Question
(02)
How might we design interactions that people not only see and hear, but truly remember through scent?
To explore this, I translated the feeling of my memories of Los Angeles into an experience that others could perceive through air, light, and sound.
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Research & Insights
(03)
I conducted sensory studies and material experiments on how different scent notes evoke emotional responses.
User insight: Participants associated certain scents with warmth, comfort, and nostalgia more strongly than images or music.
Design insight: Scent can act as an invisible interface, triggering memories and emotions instantly.
These insights shaped the system design: a portal-like form that reacts to human presence, turning smell into a shared atmospheric experience..
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Ideation & Design Process
(04)
Through iterative prototyping, I explored how proximity, diffusion, and projection could visualize scent. I sketched multiple interaction flows from hand-activated triggers to ambient sensing systems to capture the moment scent enters space. Each design decision balanced technical logic (sensor response timing, projection mapping precision) with emotional rhythm (soft gradients, slow animation, ambient tone).
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Making Process
(05)
Hardware: Arduino Uno R4, ultrasonic sensor, capacitive touch sensor
Software: TouchDesigner for real-time projection mapping and light diffusion
Fragrance: Custom five-note blend representing Los Angeles (Birch Tar, Benzyl Salicylate, Orris, Neroli, and an ambient base note)
Physical Form & Fabrication: Hand-shaped 20 lb foam sculpted into a circular frame, coated and painted to create a smooth, light-reflective surface. Layered translucent fabric wraps the structure, integrated with a scent-diffusion module.
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Outcome
(06)
This video captures the full experience of Olfactory Passage, from approach to immersion. As viewers move closer, the ultrasonic sensor beside the portal detects their presence, triggering waves of light and sound that respond in real time. Each moment unfolds through shifting color, motion, and fragrance, visualizing how memory fades, transforms, and lingers in the air like scent itself.
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Impact & Reflection
(07)
During the final presentation day in class, visitors described Olfactory Passage as “calming, nostalgic, and intimate.” Several shared that the scent reminded them of their own memories of place and time, showing how olfactory cues can evoke emotion more immediately than sight or sound.
The project initiated meaningful discussions within the Transmedia Lab about how multisensory systems, especially those combining scent, light, and touch can deepen emotional engagement in spatial interaction design. Through this process, I learned how fragrance can function as a design interface, shaping collective atmosphere and emotional presence.
Looking ahead, I plan to continue exploring adaptive, multisensory environments integrating scent, haptics, and spatial computing to create spaces that respond emotionally to human presence and memory.
(08)
A curated selection of projects that tell stories through the balance of digital and physical design.
