Designing with Smell: Practices, Techniques and Challenges

Designing with Smell aims to inspire readers to actively consider smell in their work through the inclusion of case studies from around the world, highlighting the current use of smell in different cutting-edge design and artistic practices. This book provides practical guidance regarding different equipment, techniques, stages and challenges which might be encountered as part of this process.

Throughout the text there is an emphasis on spatial design in numerous forms and interpretations – in the street, the studio, the theatre or exhibition space, as well as the representation of spatial relationships with smell. Contributions, originate across different geographical areas, academic disciplines and professions. This is crucial reading for students, academics and practitioners working in olfactory design.

The late Victoria Henshaw’s last post was as a Lecturer in Urban Design and Planning at the University of Sheffield, UK. Her research focused upon experiences and design of cities and buildings according to the senses, and smell in particular. Victoria led smellwalks in cities around the world, wrote the blog Smell and the City, and was author of Urban Smellscapes: Understanding and Designing City Smell Environments (2013). Victoria’s work featured in broadcast, print and electronic media including BBC Radio 4, The New York Times, New Scientist, The Guardian, The Times, The Independent and Wired magazine amongst others.

Kate McLean is a Programme Director for Graphic Design at Canterbury Christ Church University, UK, and a part-time PhD candidate in Information Experience Design at the RCA, London. Her research through design investigates possibilities for rendering 'eye-visible' and communicating the space between a smell's source and the human nose through practices of smellwalking and smellscape mapping in cities around the world. She has published in Leornardo and Communication Design and her smellmap research has received international coverage, most recently in the New Yorker, BBC Radio 4 and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

Dominic Medway is a Professor of Marketing in the Institute of Place Management at Manchester Metropolitan University, UK. Dominic’s work is primarily concerned with the complex interactions between places, spaces, and those who manage and consume them, reflecting his academic training as a geographer. He has published extensively in a variety of leading academic journals, including: Environment & Planning A, Tourism Management, Journal of Environmental Psychology, Cities, European Journal of Marketing and Marketing Theory.

Chris Perkins is Reader in Geography at the University of Manchester, UK, where he has taught since 1998, having previously run the university’s map libraries. His research interests lie at the interface between mapping technologies and social and cultural practices, with ongoing research into performative aspects of contemporary mapping behaviour, an interest in sensory mapping, and an emerging interest in play. Chris was Chair of the International Cartographic Association Maps and Society Research Commission and is the author of numerous books and academic articles.

Gary Warnaby is Professor of Retailing and Marketing in the Institute of Place Management at Manchester Metropolitan University, UK. His research interests focus on the marketing of places and retailing. Results of this research have been published in various academic journals in both the management and geography disciplines, including Environment and Planning A, Journal of Business Research, Journal of Marketing Management and European Journal of Marketing. He was co-author of Relationship Marketing: A Consumer Experience Approach, co-editor of Rethinking Place Branding, and has contributed to numerous edited books.