A Pilot Study on the Correlation Between Product Color and Olfactory Experience

The fragrance market is gradually igniting in the market due to the epidemic, the global economic depression and the changing consumer habits. Consumers were unable to go out shopping due to the epidemic and moved from offline to online shopping, while the five senses products can only be shown to consumers through visuals. How to trigger the senses of consumers, so that the product visually trigger consumer association, and influence consumer behavior, has become a common business and designer need to think about the problem. Sensory association breaks the boundaries of the senses and can give users a richer and better experience. This study analyzes color elements in the design of scented candles, aiming to understand the relationship between visual and olfactory experience through color imagery and mutual transformation and cooperation. Color, as the first representation of product appearance, is often widely noticed because it influences behavioral choices by affecting consumer psychology. In this study, we will discuss how consumers shop online when they cannot smell the odor and explore the correlation between product color and olfactory experience through the literature, and conceptualize the research plan. It is expected that the results of the follow-up study will be used to understand whether different colors of products affect consumers’ judgment of olfactory experience and thus influence purchasing decisions. This will provide product designers with a design concept of visual and olfactory synaesthesia, which will allow them to emphasis more on synaesthetic design in future products.