SYNESTHESIA

AND OUR SENSORY ASSOCIATIONS

 MEET THE TEAM

Olivia Doland Sarah Kocher Rachel Schofield Averi Wolf

Communication Lead Documentation Lead Methods Lead Data Manager
 WHAT IS SYNESTHESIA?

Synesthesia is a perceptual phenomenon in which stimulation of

one sensory or cognitive pathway leads to involuntary experiences
in a second sensory or cognitive pathway.

…It’s when your senses and perceptions get mixed up.

Ex: seeing colors in letters, seeing sounds
We’re not studying synesthesia.

We’re studying our

synesthesia-like associations!
INSIGHTS

The shapes of letters or numbers impact how we perceive them.

Our relationships with letters or numbers are closely tied with how
prominent they are in our lives.

We rely on our personal experiences when making associations.

GOALS

PRIMARY:
- To explore our synesthesia-like associations

SECONDARY:
- To visualize different experiences of synesthesia
- To discover how common certain associations are/aren’t
CODESIGN

We will be working with our codesigners to help visualize their

synesthesia-like associations between senses, giving us a better
understanding of how our associations differ.

We will aim to understand past and current experiences

with synesthesia-like associations with our codesigners.
FOCUS & SCOPE

FOCUS: Our common/uncommon synesthesia-like associations

SCOPE:
- Different types of synesthesia
- Comparing with those who have synesthesia
- Studying the senses and connections between senses
- Visualizing the synesthesia experience
ASSUMPTIONS

1 2 3
We are aware that there
We are aware of a pool We were first interested
are several forms of
of people self-diagnosed in developing a spectrum
synesthesia, but have
with synesthesia, but of synesthesia levels, but
chosen to focus on those
have decided to have decided to explore
that result in a visual
co-design with people the types of associations
experience for the scope
who are undiagnosed. people have instead.
of this project.
PRECONCEPTIONS

1 2 3
Some codesigners will become
Some people will have no clue Everyone will have a different
frustrated because they don’t
what we are talking about experience with synesthesia
understand the topic

4 5 6
It will be challenging for Some people will not have any Some people will learn that
people to visualize the senses trace of synesthesia they have synesthesia
STAKEHOLDER MAP
PROFESSORS
AND
TEACHERS

PARENTS,
GUARDIANS,
PEERS
PEOPLE WITH
SYNESTHESIA

OSU
STUDENTS

MUSICIANS
DESIGNERS &
ARCHITECTS

ADMINISTRATORS
 CO-DESIGN

- CO-DESIGNERS: OSU Students of various majors

- RECRUITING PRIMARY STAKEHOLDERS:
Personal connections, student organizations, and social media
- RECRUITING OTHER STAKEHOLDERS:
People with synesthesia
Recruit through personal connections
SECONDARY RESEARCH TOPICS

Understanding synesthesia
Definitions of synesthesia
Synesthesia tests
Synesthesia types & variations
SECONDARY RESEARCH TOOLS

Articles
Books
TikTok
Instagram
Facebook
 WHAT WE’VE LEARNED

- Synesthesia happens automatically in response to a discrete stimulus

- Our brain is what ultimately creates our own sense of reality
- Fun Facts:
- People who apply personas to numbers are able to memorize more digits of pi, because
they can create a story using their characters
- The letter 0 is almost always white or transparent (hole in the middle)
TIMELINE
METHODS
METHODS OVERVIEW
CODESIGN SESSION #1 (up to 1 hour)
- Would You Rather
- Letter and Number Personas

CODESIGN SESSION #2 (up to 1 hour)

- Would You Rather
- Letter and Number Color Spectrum

FOUR INDIVIDUAL SESSIONS (30 min)

- Scent (cinnamon), Taste (grapes), Touch (soft), Sound (music)
- Visualizations on paper
DEBRIEF FOR EACH SESSION (10 MIN)

AFTER COMPLETING EACH SESSION, WE’LL DEBRIEF:

- Explaining what synesthesia is
- Giving examples of different types of synesthesia
- Explaining how the activities they completed were not exactly screening
for synesthesia, but rather testing our own associations
- Explaining that having synesthesia is neither a good nor a bad thing
PILOT TESTING
PILOT - LETTER PERSONAS
PILOT - NUMBER PERSONAS
PILOT - COLOR SPECTRUMS
PILOT - WOULD YOU RATHER
PILOT - INDIVIDUAL TESTING
PILOT - INDIVIDUAL TESTING (TASTE)
PILOT - INDIVIDUAL TESTING (TOUCH)
PILOT - INDIVIDUAL TESTING (SMELL)
PILOT - INDIVIDUAL TESTING (SOUND)
PILOT TESTING REVISIONS
Based on feedback from our pilot tests, we:
- Rearranged the order of our methods for each session
- Would You Rather went first as a warm up instead of a time filler at the end

- Switched from taping and gluing letters down to using stickers

- Pilot testers had a hard time picking up small paper letters

- Decided to no longer use Play-Doh for the visualization activity

- Makes a mess, hard to photoscan and clean up

- Decided to use the same letter and number for the persona activity
- This gives us something to compare
SESSION #1
SESSION #1 | 11/3 @ 4pm, Hayes 122
WOULD YOU RATHER (~20 min to complete, discussion in between)
- Starting as a warm-up for our codesigners, using whiteboards
- “Would you rather hang out with 8 or 5?”

LETTER PERSONAS (up to 10 min to complete, 5 min to discuss)

- Making personas for a letter of the alphabet (same letter for all: C)
- Explaining associations and reasons for specific decisions

NUMBER PERSONAS (up to 10 min to complete, 5 min to discuss)

- Making personas for a number (same number for all: 5)
- Explaining associations and reasons for specific decisions

10 MIN DEBRIEF
SESSION PHOTOS
WOULD YOU RATHER
LETTER PERSONAS
NUMBER PERSONAS
RANDOM PERSONAS
SESSION #2
SESSION #2 | 11/8 @ 4:30pm, Hayes 122
WOULD YOU RATHER (~20 min to complete, discussion in between)
- Starting as a warm-up for our codesigners, using whiteboards
- “Would you rather have 1 as blue, red, or neither?”

COLOR SPECTRUM W/ LETTERS (up to 10 min to complete, 5 min to discuss)

- Assigning each letter of the alphabet to a color on a physical
color spectrum (white stickers on paper) and explain reasoning

COLOR SPECTRUM W/ NUMBERS (up to 10 min to complete, 5 min to discuss)

- Assigning each number to a color on a physical spectrum (white stickers on
paper) and explain reasoning

10 MIN DEBRIEF
SESSION PHOTOS
WOULD YOU RATHER
LETTER SPECTRUMS
NUMBER SPECTRUMS
INDIVIDUAL
SESSIONS
INDIVIDUAL SESSIONS
VISUALIZING OUR SENSES (up to 5 min each)
- Given a pack of markers and paper
- Sound (A Happy Song)
- Scent (Cinnamon)
- Touch (Soft Fabric)
- Taste (Grapes)

COMPARING RESULTS
- To be completed by both synesthetes and non-synesthetes
SESSION PHOTOS
TOUCH - SOFT FABRIC
TASTE - GRAPES
SOUND - HAPPY MUSIC
SMELL - CINNAMON
 SYNESTHETE TESTS

SOUND TASTE TOUCH SMELL

ANALYSIS
INSIGHTS

The shapes of letters or numbers impact how we perceive them.

Our relationships with letters or numbers is closely tied with how

prominent they are in our lives.

We rely on our personal experiences when making associations.

The shapes of letters or numbers
impact how we perceive them.
NUMBER SPECTRUM
The shapes of letters or numbers impact how we perceive them.

"When you write 0 on paper,

you need the positive space to
be seen in order to see the 0
so its black."

^0 is black because of the

hole in the center.

0 is solid, bold, simple

PERSONA WOULD YOU RATHER:
 The shapes of letters or numbers impact how we perceive them.

"I based my decisions kind of

on their shape."

J has curves, X does not

X is the shape for

NO/WRONG
Our relationships with specific
letters or numbers are closely
tied with how prominent they
are in our lives.
Our relationships with specific letters or numbers are closely tied with how prominent they are in our lives.

"The letters made me

try to think of someone
I know and thinking of
having a conversation
with them."

Personal experience
(very few X names)

More words start with J

LETTER SPECTRUM
Our relationships with specific letters or numbers are closely tied with how prominent they are in our lives.

"Red is the most basic

color so I put A there"

The start of the alphabet,

we see it the most.

Red is the start of the

rainbow.
Our relationships with specific letters or numbers are closely tied with how prominent they are in our lives.

0 and 1 were the only two “1 is the same as A,

numbers to be assigned so it’s red”
black or white.
1 comes first,
Most commonly seen in A comes first,
binary or starts of lists? Red comes first
 (This is the big one)

We rely on personal experiences

when making associations.
 We rely on personal experiences when making associations.

A = Apple B = Boy, Blue

X = Wrong, NO G = Grass, Green

F = Fall
COLOR WOULD YOU RATHER:
We rely on personal experiences when making associations.

"C is the same as ‘sea’

and C is for cookie
monster so its blue."

“C is a red/orange
for caliente.”

Stream of thought that

associates a letter with
things in reality.
 PERSONAS

How many friendly, athletic males How many bubbly, bright, and happy
in their 20s do we know? kids do you have in your lives?
 VISUALIZING SOUND
< Mario and Luigi tune

Beach vibes >

Actual Synesthete^^

< Similar to Youtube DIY music

 VISUALIZING SMELL
< Literally a cinnamon shaker

Associating it with Christmas >

Actual Synesthete^^
< The only abstract one we got!
CODESIGN REFLECTION
- People are able to communicate in ways they normally don’t
- Allows for diversity of thought, exposure to different perspectives
- Participants are able to inspire each other
- Participants found themselves agreeing with each other despite not
knowing each other and their backgrounds
- People had a good time being together, doing the activities
physically
HOW MIGHT WE APPLY THESE INSIGHTS?
- Branding and graphics
- How companies design their logos and products could be based on common
associations in either good or bad ways
- Purposefully prompting associations

- CMF (color, material, finish) Jobs

- The choices designers make can have an impact on users based on associations

- Artists, Musicians, Designers, etc. can use these insights when

making creative decisions (how they want their art to be perceived)
- What vibe companies want to market determines what
colors/letters/senses they make use of
 CONCLUSION

We hope you were able to learn

a little about the crazy, chaotic,
complicated way our brains work!
THANK YOU!