Touch is the first sense developed in the womb, and sight the last. But it’s primarily our eyes through which we interpret the world. So where were the sensual interfaces at Milan Design Week? We want to explore design through all our senses, not just at half capacity. Music is a mood shifter and scent a mood enhancer but rarely were these senses fully capitalised in any of the exhibitions. There were so many ways to touch people . . . but they were mostly left to sight. Total experience design is not about treating the senses as independent of each other, but as a collective. Greater sense interaction was lacking in most of the installations. [Though an exception was the Lavazza Design Paradiso that had old-time music playing, the scent and taste of coffee, 70's inspired espresso machines in fuchsia and acid colours, video displays and angel-winged swings that gave the space some interactivity.]
 
But most importantly, where was the music? The atmospheric sound design? You were greeted by dead silence the majority of spaces you walked in to, or even worse, the equivalent of elevator muzak (or Nuevo Lounge) that had nothing to do with the slick image the brand was trying to present. Cavernous spaces were treated like an afterthought – all the focus was on filling the space with product, not atmosphere. The only stand out music was at Established & Sons – a very 09 mix tape featuring M.I.A’s Paper Planes, some electroclash, the Killers, and anything else that was au courant. And this wasn’t true sound design, just an iPod programmed to shuffle. So much more can be done.
 
Because our senses deliver emotional messages, we form deeper connections when all of the senses are fully engaged. We process information differently when we receive it from a non obvious sense, and here was a captive audience – in the thousands – trawling around hundreds of confined spaces in downtown Milan with only their own mental chatter to keep them company. The contrast in sense delivery is what makes us more conscious, but all we got this design week was blandness blending into blandness.
 
It is the relationship between ‘things’ that is so interesting – not the ‘thing’ on its own. How does the love chair relate to the cocktail to the dress to the soundtrack to the first date? Or the office chair to the portfolio career to the living between three countries? Rather than isolated pieces, where was the sense of peace that the overall gives you? The whole is more than the sum of its parts, and music is conceptually integral to these installations. Advice to designers and manufacturers for next year: commission bespoke music to portray the emotional mood of your collection and satisfy the visitor’s quest for a total sensory experience. And find the right smells too – whether it’s incense, fragranced candles, cut grass or teen spirit.
 
Walls are also forms of communication and bars and hotels effectively used this blank space, but what are other alternative ways for walls to talk? There needs to be more than the usual, that’s what a design week is for – from the sublime to the ridiculous. On display were interactive digital video walls that responded and interacted to people in their environment, a wall of plates at Taste Lounge, and a walk-in kaleidoscope at Superstudio Piu. One of the most ingenious designs on the streets was a cylinder, which as it was rolled along the ground, left an elaborate chalk design behind creating a beautiful fringe to the entrance of buildings.
 
In our busyness we sometimes forget how key first and last impressions are. The entrance and exit are the main memories visitors take away from any experience so the makeover Aqua Creations gave the lobby of Nhow Hotel with their handmade felt, clay and angora one-off pieces and limited editions was perfectly other worldly. Both the greeting and the goodbye hit the spot. As did the service.
 
Speaking of which, someone taking the time to explain something to you enhances any experience. It is a luxury. Guided storytelling is a key part of the premium experience as it’s about being as close to the knowledge source as possible. So, er, where were the staff? It’s the bartender that makes a bar experience memorable so where were the creatives behind the designs? There was barely anybody on hand at the exhibitions other than a press/information desk – and all they wanted to do was shove a bunch of marketing brochures at you – or a beefy security guy making sure you didn’t touch/steal/break anything. The intimacy of the exchange, the time taken to connect, and the character and care of linking with the consumer is an incredibly important part of the overall brand experience. Just as you can tell a lot about a person by the complex mixture of non-verbal signals they give out, you can tell a lot about a brand by the way it non-verbally interacts with you. Design is human and you don’t want to feel like you’re interacting with a robot. Design is to be shared, and here’s another thing that was missing during design week – dialogue between the consumer and company.
 
The marketing message is no longer me ‘to’ you, but you ‘and’ me so where was the collaboration, the discussion, the debate? Open source technology is now a life philosophy – knowledge of one person and wisdom of another creating a third mind of knowledge. It goes beyond the separate participants to form a collective knowledge. Consumers today expect collaboration, but in Milan it felt like the designers were giving us orders on how our sofas will always look, with no room for our own personal interpretation. Very us and them. Not only one view of the future can exist. And that really is the future.