Thursday 20 October 2011

Good is...? A different approach

One idea I had been focusing on since my idea generation and the research I collated was to package 'nostalgia' as a medicine using typical conventions of medicinal packaging such as dosage instructions, warnings and so on. Although this was received well in the packaging workshop (here), the group crit a couple of days ago changed my direction slightly.

Through my research, I have briefly looked at how we process senses into emotions (nostalga) found here. The following is a quote from an article I found:

"The olfactory system, the apparatus responsible for our sense of smell, has a pathway in the brain closely associated with the limbic system. The limbic system contains the amygdala and the hippocampus parts of the brain which are closely associated with emotion and memory respectively."

In the group crit, it was brought up that certain smells evoke certain nostalgic memories which is in reference to the quote above. This gave me the idea of creating various test strips (much like perfume test strips) of certain smells. When discussing this idea with Steph, she suggested looking at all of the other senses, too, which focused my idea onto a 'nostalgia pack'.

I therefore want to again, brand 'nostalgia' into an identity which I could apply to a range of promotional materials but focusing moreso on a 'nostalgia pack' containing various items relating to each sense which would stimulate nostalgia in different ways. This could be sold a novelty gift either independently online or as Kirsty suggested in the group crit, a shop such as Urban Outfitters as these tend to sell unusual gifts.

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