bunnyfish adventures

smells good

International Flavors & Fragrance Inc. (IFF) held a “smell workshop” in my Multisensory Design class a couple weeks ago. It was rather nostril-opening, since I didn’t know much about designing smells. For others who don’t either, there’s several categories (citrus, woods, etc.) that can be orchestrated sort of like music – top notes (what you smell first), heart (after top note fades), and base (what stays long after, ex: detergent).  Smells also trigger color associations rather consistently, so having a blue smell for an orange product could be confusing.

We received about a dozen small jars of smell pellets to experiment with, to come up with a smell for a design brief with a partner.  Mine was to be lavender, suitable for Malaysian bar soap, feminine, relaxing, and contemporary.  We submitted under numbers and then rated the other smells.  The smells that are closest to the design brief and liked the most win.

And guess what?  My partner and I won for our brief!  I received Happy from Clinique that smells more cheerful than I am on a usual basis, so I’ll try to be happier to make use of it.  They gave it to us in the IFF bottles, because they make the scents while the company makes the bottles.  Funny how much appearance changes the perception of something like perfume.

And now, more Dutch for the soul:
“gratis monsters” = free samples
NOT “free monsters”

(I was a little disappointed.)