Crafting Multisensory Experiences in Tech Products: Tactics for Product and Technology Innovators

In the realm of product development, the significance of engaging multiple senses to craft memorable user interactions should not be overlooked. Let's explore tactics to elevate product experiences by thoughtfully integrating sight, sound, touch, taste, and smell, supported by AI-driven examples.

Seeing

The visual aspect of a product is often our first encounter with it. It helps us recognize what the product is for, stimulates action, and evokes emotional responses. Research shows that people assess the visual appeal of a website within 50 milliseconds and perceive visually appealing designs as more intuitive. AI image generators can now quickly turn your ideas into visuals. Tools like Galileo AI and Codia AI generate UI designs in Figma based on user prompts, tremendously speeding up the ideation and design process.

AI can bring images to life for the visually impaired. Be My Eyes connects people who are blind or have low vision with volunteers for help with hundreds of daily life tasks like identifying a product or navigating an airport. They now developed a GPT-4 powered Virtual Volunteer™ within the Be My Eyes app that can generate the same level of context and understanding as a human volunteer. With the release of GPT-4o, it can even describe the world in motion.

Be My Eyes Accessibility with GPT-4o.

Hearing

Sound is a powerful tool in user experience, it can be used to convey the functionality of a product, but can also go further to evoke emotions and memories. Digital products require the intentional and thoughtful addition of sounds. 

For instance, video game creators are using AI to create immersive and dynamic sound effects that react to players’ every move. These could be sounds like the satisfying crunch of footsteps depending on the surface the character walks on, or realistic reverberations of a gunshot in an echoey room. Specifically, AI is used in the production and experience of the audio and to create real-time sound effects. ElevenLabs, besides offering one of the best AI text-to-speech engines, has created an AI Sound Effects tool that enables video game developers to describe a sound and then use AI to generate it.

Google Deepmind recently took audio generation to the next level by announcing their video-to-audio (V2A) technology, making synchronized audiovisual generation possible. V2A combines video pixels with natural language text prompts to generate rich soundscapes for the on-screen action.

Google Deepmind’s video-to-audio (V2A) technology.

Touching

Whereas previously designing for touch was only applicable to physical products, the explosion of digital products has forced us to get more creative about touch. For VR to take off, we need to be able to "feel" things in the virtual world. Think about high fiving a virtual colleague, feeling an object when picking it up, or experiencing how hard you should push a part into place when learning how to assemble a product. SenseGlove has developed a “wearable robot hand” that gives digital objects a tactile presence. Its use in VR training removes the need for expensive physical assets and makes digital prototyping more realistic.

Tasting

Generative AI will accelerate the development of plant-based foods that appeal to a mass audience. NotCo is a food-tech company that developed an AI chef called Giuseppe, which can understand taste on a molecular level. Giuseppe is used to create plant-based alternatives that mimic the flavors of animal-based products like NotMilk, NotCHicken, and NotBurger.

Smelling

Generative AI will revolutionize our knowledge of smells, as well as our ability to (re)create them. Osmo is developing AI technology to digitize and create new scents. Their Primary Odor Map is the world’s first scent map and enables discovery of never-before-smelled fragrance ingredients. Their long-term vision includes creating a system that can capture, save, and transmit scents digitally.

Dos and Don’ts for Delight the Senses:

🎶 Harmonize Sensory Elements: Ensure that visual, auditory, tactile, gustatory, and olfactory components complement each other, contributing to a cohesive brand identity.

🌍 Consider Context and Culture: Sensory preferences can vary widely across different cultures and contexts. Tailor sensory experiences to your target audience to ensure relevance and appeal.

⚠️ Embrace with Caution: While exploring new sensory technologies, maintain a balance between innovation and user comfort. Not every product needs to engage all senses; choose what best enhances your product's value and user experience.

In crafting technology products, engaging multiple senses can transform ordinary interactions into memorable experiences. By innovatively applying these principles, product and innovation developers can create more intuitive, enjoyable, and effective user experiences, setting new standards in the digital era.

This article is is part of a series of 24 articles sharing practical, actionable tips on how to design tech products that people don't just use, but love. The articles build on the world’s leading design methods for designing successful tech products, as described in the book “Design Things that Make Sense”. Visit www.designthingsthatmakesense.com to learn more or download the free toolkit.