Harnessing the Inclusive Power of Sensory Design

Brand experiences are all around us, bringing brands to life in ways that drive talkability and deepen consumers’ engagement, loyalty and positive sentiment.

These experiences are often visually stunning, with the more bold and brave the better - however beyond looking good for the ‘gram’, how can brands make more meaningful connections with a broader audience, by impacting every visitor’s experience?

One answer lies in creating accessible designs and experiences, which can be achieved by harnessing sensory design’s inclusive potential.

​Sarah Fairhurst, creative director at  Dalziel & Pow

Sensory engagement: why it matters

The best immersive brand experiences are welcoming, memorable and dynamic for all, by ensuring effective ‘sensory engagement’ for everyone, which comes from accessibility being a key consideration from the early stages of concepting. All too often, attention is on just one or two, not all, of the senses, and if accessibility is considered it is addressed too late – as an afterthought - or in the later stages of design development where impact is limited.

Effective sensory engagement takes into account the diverse needs of those with invisible disabilities and with varying sensory needs, to better support those with heightened, reduced, or complete loss of one of their senses.

To achieve this, it is important to understand that a space is much more than just its appearance. Textures, smells, and sounds can strongly affect the user's experience, emotions and takeaways, so all these things should be carefully considered.

Executed correctly, however, a carefully curated ‘sensory architecture’ can be crafted that will transform the interaction between consumers and the built environment into something much, much deeper.

The sensory spectrum

The process where the brain and nervous system receives information from all the senses, interprets them and creates an appropriate motor or behavioural response – known as ‘sensory processing’ – happens seamlessly for many people, but not all.

In fact, everyone processes sensory input differently, and the array of differences that exist from person to person is known as ‘the sensory spectrum’.

Understanding where a consumer might sit on this spectrum – from sensory seekers to sensory avoiders, and everyone in between – should be an essential starting point for any brand when approaching spatial and sensory architecture design.

Three steps brand owners and designers can and should take to ensure accessibility is at the forefront of environment design practice and not an afterthought are:

1. Empower consumers with advance information

For many the visitor journey starts long before they step through the doors. Providing consumers with information about a space and what to expect ahead of their arrival will minimise surprises and enable them to make decisions about what is best for them, ensuring a better overall experience.

The KultureCity App has been developed by KultureCity, a US-based non-profit focused on sensory accessibility and acceptance, to help people with autism and other sensory processing disorders find sensory-friendly locations. It includes important sensory considerations allowing them to familiarise with the facility’s layout, staff uniforms (for ease of identification), and available accommodations ahead of time.

Sensory maps are powerful tools now commonly used in museums worldwide, overlaid with icons indicating a myriad of different sensory stimuli such as sound, light, or heat. Zurich UK is paving the way by adopting a sensory map for their workplace environment, empowering employees and providing a whole new level of information to better equip them to make the decisions that best suit them during their workday.

Our client, the Guinness Storehouse in Dublin is accredited by Ireland’s national autism charity, AsIAm, as a certified autism-friendly attraction. The staff are trained on how to best cater to visitors with autism or other neurodivergence, and they offer sensory kits including earplugs, along with Sensory Maps and a visual guide to the building.

2. Ensure spaces are adaptive and can flex for different needs

An adaptive space can flex to accommodate the different needs of different users - sensory seeking and sensory sensitivity are two different ways that people process sensory information - and both can be better catered for when approaching spatial and experiential design.

Many leading retailers now operate ‘quiet hours’, for example, to make shopping a more comfortable environment for people with autism, with reduced music and store floor noise levels.

It’s really positive that there is recognition that some neurodivergent people cope better in low-stimuli environments, but for some people, experiences that heighten the senses can be equally as comfortable, engaging and rewarding, if sensory regulation is carefully considered.

​The Airship Orchestra is an immersive, touring art experience comprising inflatable sculptures supported by a network of sensors that offers passers by the choice of engaging with them in a variety of ways using whatever sense or senses they choose. Touching the sculptures offers an opportunity for self-regulation.

3. Translate one sense through a different sensual output

Accessibility and inclusion can also be boosted by offering people a way to translate one sense experience through a different sense output; an audio description of something a sight-impaired person cannot see is an obvious example of this.

At London Fashion Week in 2024, Sinead O’Dwyer’s collaboration with non-profit Hair & Care resulted in the first ever audio described runway show and took fashion show accessibility to a new level.

​Vision Pad, meanwhile – a tactile tablet designed to add another layer of interaction for the visually impaired by enabling them to track the movements of the ball on the field in real time, via a magnetic board – was a standout innovation at last summer’s Paris Olympics.

Imbuing sensory considerations into the design process leads to a richer outcome and creates brand experiences that are welcoming, memorable, and dynamic for everyone. This can be best achieved through experiences that engage with the complete spectrum of the senses, transforming the interaction between visitor and space to become something truly welcoming for all.