Beyond the Five Senses

Designing for the Full Human Experience

Jumping back to the time we were all at school, we were taught that human beings have five, maybe six senses. Those basic senses we know are sight, sound, smell, taste, and touch. In retail, that idea has also fundamentally been the same and the overall focus. If our store looks crisp and sharp, the playlist is right, and the air carries a signature scent, then surely the experience will work. For years, this shorthand has been defined or known as “sensory retail.”

But the five senses we often focus on are really just a children’s version of reality. The human body doesn’t stop at five inputs and depending on how you define them, there are anywhere from twelve to nearly forty distinct senses at play, all humming in the background every time someone shops. Most of them don’t ever make it into brand decks or store blueprints and yet they explain why a luxury boutique feels like a sanctuary, why a supermarket feels abundant, and why one website feels effortless while another feels like work or painful.

As retailers we often obsess over these headline senses. We talk about lighting and visuals, about playlists and fragrance machines, about the softness of fabric or the taste of a free sample. Don’t get me wrong, these things all matter, but the truth is customers are not just looking or listening their way through an experience. They are feeling it through their entire nervous system.

When the Body Reads the Brand

In this next section we are going to take a look at some of those amazing senses that should be considered by brands and retailers and included in every conversation that includes experience, design, memory and presence. 

Let's start with proprioception, the body’s sense of where it is in space. Walk into an Apple store and you always notice the generosity of the layout. Tables are sparse, aisles are wide, and everything just breathes. That sense of spaciousness signals premium, not through signage, but through the body’s instinctive read of the room. If we compare that to a supermarket for example, where racks run tighter, pace is quicker, the message is about freshness and urgency. Online, that same principle applies. A clean, minimal page feels like luxury. A cluttered menu can feel more like a discount bin.

Equilibrioception, this about balance and flow and is another hidden force. IKEA famously bends this sense to its advantage, they guide customers through a maze that extends exposure and deepens the time you spend with them. It frustrates some, I get it, but the numbers don’t lie. People see more and as a result they stop and touch more products because of it. A lot of retailers, however, lose sales because navigation is confusing and the same is true online. A seamless checkout is actually about balance and a six-step form is imbalanced, and that is what causes baskets to be abandoned as a result.

Temperature matters, too. Thermoception is what governs whether people stay or go, linger or leave. Luxury boutiques will often run slightly warm so it helps wrap the shopper in comfort. Supermarkets intentionally keep produce sections cool so it reinforces freshness and pace in our brain. Online, temperature becomes metaphorical. What that means is a cold, sterile design will feel more transactional and functional whilst a warm, human tone of voice feels more like hospitality.

And then there is Nociception, this is otherwise known as pain and discomfort. We have all experienced this and no one likes to think about it, but with customers they rarely “decide” to leave a store. It's normally their body that tells them it has had enough. It's those experiences like harsh lighting, sore feet on hard flooring, echoing acoustics etc, all subtle signals that ultimately have an impact on customers and shorten dwell time. Flip them with natural light, softer flooring, or comfortable seating, and suddenly people relax, browse longer, and spend more. And when it comes to Online, nociception shows up as experiences like slow load times, relentless pop-ups, broken links etc. Digital pain is no different from physical pain.

Interoception is our awareness of hunger, thirst, and fatigue, which is equally decisive. A tired shopper is not often a loyal shopper and that's why brands like Selfridges strategically place cafés in their shopping experience and why luxury malls design entire dining precincts purely to keep energy levels topped up. Supermarkets on the other hand love it. There is nothing better than a customer hungry whilst doing their weekly shopping. It will always guarantee more spending. When we think about Online, this becomes more about timing. Brands that land in your inbox at the right moment, payday, lunchtime, evening wind-down, they catch you in a state where buying feels natural and right. Brands that ignore this simple truth simply end up talking to the wrong body at the wrong time.

Even Chronoception, the sense of time, this too is quietly at work. Casinos have long mastered it by removing clocks and windows and in retail, some do the same but in much subtler ways. In a luxury store, the music and lighting they often use helps to slow time, trying to make minutes feel expansive. In a convenience store it's the opposite, its pace is sharp, lighting bright, and the goal is all about speed. Online, a one-click checkout makes time vanish, while a clunky path stretches it and if it's too stretched it can become unbearable.

And let’s not forget the subtleties of touch. Touch has tactical nuances that can be broken down into texture, pressure, vibration, and weight. Pick up a bottle of perfume at Chanel, and the weight tells you it is valuable long before you look at the price. Cheap packaging on the other hand signals a cheap product, no matter what the label says. Online, the hands can’t test, so it's over to the words and imagery to carry that load. “Woven,” “weighty,” “soft against the skin” these are all things that allow the copy to do sensory work and lifting.

Finally there's olfaction, the power of smell, this is still in my opinion one of retail’s most underestimated tools. “Westin Hotels for example, pump a subtle white tea scent through every lobby worldwide, what this does is builds a feeling of calmness and consistency that customers carry with them long after they checkout. Starbucks went so far as to even redesign its menu to protect the aroma of coffee, removing breakfast items that interfered with the brand’s sensory core. The bottom line is that smell works, it works well because the body reacts before the brain even has a chance to rationalise.” Online is obviously different, smell has to be imagined and evoked through storytelling and imagery. This is something Aesop has mastered and executed better than most. 

What Happens When You Design for Them and When You Don’t

When we design with these senses in mind, the experience quickly feels more natural, comfortable, and human. Time can almost disappear. Trust builds and people remember. not just for what they bought, but for how it felt. That memory then becomes loyalty.

When you ignore them, you guessed it, the opposite happens. The body rebels. Discomfort builds. Impatience sets in. Online, friction becomes abandonment. In-store, irritation becomes a shorter visit. We can't be foolish enough to misinterpret this as disinterest or price sensitivity and realise more often than not it’s the sensory system saying no.

Why This Matters Now

As customers we don't separate the physical from the digital anymore. Our senses are engaged whether they are stepping into a flagship store, scrolling a feed on the train, or opening an email late at night. Presence, comfort, flow, timing are not buzzwords but crucial sensory realities.

The challenge for brands, retailers and businesses is really simple. Are you designing with the full human sensory system, or are you still working off the children’s version of five senses? Because like I always say, products are everywhere and attention is scarce, the real edge isn’t in what you sell, but in how it feels to engage with you.

By Nick Gray

Founder | IGU Global