Synesthetic Design.
Designing by questioning the mind: from how people perceive to measurable data.
Synesthetic Design
/sɪnəsˈθɛtɪk dɪˈzaɪn/
noun · design method
A design method developed by Siderius that considers human behaviour as a whole: it questions cognition and perception together with market and business data, and from there designs experiences, products, software and tools.
We don’t ask people what they prefer: we measure their responses to stimuli.
Three phases, always in the same order.
Every project goes through three phases. Each one produces a verifiable result that feeds the next.
01
Analysis
Semiotics, ethnography and data analysis to isolate what makes a brand, a product or a process unique.
Result: what should be preserved and what should change, with the evidence.
02
Sensory Mapping
For each stimulus: the sense it acts on, the symbolic and cultural associations it triggers in a person or a community, and how it is interpreted.
Result: the sensory map and the perceptual signature, with usage rules.
03
Immersive Activation
The perceptual signature takes shape at the touchpoints: product, materials, images, interfaces, digital flows.
Result: coherent touchpoints, tested with real people.
Active research areas: neuromarketing · applied synaesthesia · consciousness and perception · AI automation & HMI.
Every choice has a source.
Coherence between signals is not an aesthetic matter: it is a cognitive variable.
Predictive coding
The brain anticipates what it is about to perceive and corrects the prediction against incoming signals.
Cross-modal correspondences
Associations between different senses shared by most people, such as those between colours and flavours.
Multisensory integration
Congruent signals can produce a response greater than the sum of the individual stimuli, especially when they are weak.
Where the method comes from.
The research Synesthetic Design is built on, grouped by area. Scientific publications, with a link to the original article where available.
Perception and synaesthesia
Ramachandran, V. S., Hubbard, E. M. (2001). Synaesthesia: a window into perception, thought and language. Journal of Consciousness Studies, 8(12), 3–34.
Ward, J. (2013). Synesthesia. Annual Review of Psychology, 64, 49–75. doi ↗
Stein, B. E., Stanford, T. R. (2008). Multisensory integration: current issues from the perspective of the single neuron. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 9(4), 255–266. doi ↗
Krishna, A. (2012). An integrative review of sensory marketing. Journal of Consumer Psychology, 22(3), 332–351. doi ↗
Cross-modality and product
Spence, C. (2011). Crossmodal correspondences: a tutorial review. Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics, 73(4), 971–995. doi ↗
Velasco, C., Woods, A. T., Petit, O., Cheok, A. D., Spence, C. (2016). Crossmodal correspondences between taste and shape, and their implications for product packaging. Food Quality and Preference, 52, 17–26. doi ↗
Spence, C., Levitan, C. A., Shankar, M. U., Zampini, M. (2010). Does food color influence taste and flavor perception in humans? Chemosensory Perception, 3(1), 68–84. doi ↗
Piqueras-Fiszman, B., Spence, C. (2015). Sensory expectations based on product-extrinsic food cues. Food Quality and Preference, 40, 165–179. doi ↗
Predictive mind and choice
Clark, A. (2013). Whatever next? Predictive brains, situated agents, and the future of cognitive science. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 36(3), 181–204. doi ↗
Friston, K. (2010). The free-energy principle: a unified brain theory? Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 11(2), 127–138. doi ↗
Plassmann, H., O’Doherty, J., Shiv, B., Rangel, A. (2008). Marketing actions can modulate neural representations of experienced pleasantness. PNAS, 105(3), 1050–1054. doi ↗
North, A. C., Hargreaves, D. J., McKendrick, J. (1997). In-store music affects product choice. Nature, 390, 132. doi ↗
FlyOver.
The Original Taste line, designed with Zanin 1895.
Six liqueurs, each inspired by a means of transport and an Italian figure who crossed a border. The line was designed with Synesthetic Design and launched in the United Kingdom in three months, starting from a semantic analysis of more than 50,000 online conversations. It is our most complete case study.
Bartender Spirits Awards · Meininger’s ISW · TuttoFood Milano
North.
The platform for managing Synesthetic Design projects.
North supports a project through all three phases of the method: it gathers stimuli, responses and company data, builds the sensory map, tests variants with real people and measures the result over time.
> predict → test → calibrate
The method, in brief.
The questions we are asked most often about Synesthetic Design, with short, verifiable answers.
The method
What is Synesthetic Design?
It is a design method developed by Siderius that considers human behaviour as a whole: it questions cognition and perception together with market and business data, and from there designs experiences, products, software and tools.
Who developed Synesthetic Design?
Siderius, an innovative startup and Italian Benefit Corporation based in Trissino (Vicenza, Italy), incubated by T2I. The method is proprietary and is refined project after project.
How is it different from neuromarketing?
Neuromarketing measures reactions to stimuli that already exist. Synesthetic Design starts earlier: it uses what research knows about perception to design the stimuli, then tests them with real people and with data.
Is it the same as sensory branding?
No. Sensory branding works on the senses of a brand. Synesthetic Design considers human behaviour as a whole, cognition, perception and market data, and also applies to products, software, tools and processes.
Phases and results
What are the phases of Synesthetic Design?
Three, always in the same order: Analysis, Sensory Mapping and Immersive Activation. Each one produces a verifiable result that feeds the next.
What is a perceptual signature?
It is the coherent set of signals, colours, shapes, materials, sounds and words, through which a product or a brand is perceived. It is defined during Sensory Mapping, together with the rules for using it.
How are results measured?
With implicit tests on real people, such as reaction times and associations, by comparing variants of a stimulus, and with company data, including sales. Success criteria are written before the project starts.
Applications
Which sectors does it apply to?
Mainly food & beverage, luxury, fashion and manufacturing. The method applies wherever it matters how people perceive, remember and choose.
Does it only apply to brands?
No. It is also used to design experiences, products, software and work tools, and the way people and machines work together.
Is there a case study?
Yes. FlyOver, Zanin 1895’s Original Taste line, designed with Synesthetic Design and launched in the United Kingdom in three months. The case is described on the blog.
Start a project
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