BaseNote

Inspiration

Our inspiration for choosing smell as our sensory experience stemmed from a walk we went on as a team. When a group of motorbikes passed by, the smell of gasoline wafted by. One at a time, we each subconsciously spoke about what the smell reminded us of, bonding together over our shared experiences. Fast forward to the creation of BaseNote. Our mobile app and hardware attachment allow users to store the scents of their most meaningful moments, because scents fade, but memories don't have to.

What it does

BaseNote is a digital scent journal that allows users to interact with scents from the past. With the physical attachment, what users smell throughout the day will be tracked and logged for spikes in brain waves associated with olfactory memory. On the app, you can view trends associated with what you've smelled, log journal entries, share a whiff with a friend when a smell reminds you of them, and sniff past scents. We even have AI-guided recall prompts because sometimes you just can't put a finger on what a scent reminds you of.

How we built it

We dedicated a good portion of our time to conducting research so our solution really met the needs and addressed the pain points of our users. From there, we did some good old-fashioned prototyping to set our mood for the interfaces, then plugged it into Figma Make (ty Figma for the credits!).

Challenges we ran into

Time was truly our worst enemy. We were really excited to conduct different research methods, such as interviews and observational studies, but methods like that were high effort. Although we were able to successfully do so, we were down to the wire to finalize our solution. Another challenge we ran into was handling our edge cases. Accessibility is one of our team's top priorities, so we wanted to be very intentional with our design to be inclusive of all scent reminiscent-ers.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

Looking back, we all feel like we've come so far from when we started this project 3 days ago. For most of us, this is the first time we've built something 0 to 1, so we're super proud of exploring unknown territories! Above all, we're really proud of each other and how we collaborated as a strong team :D

What we learned

Technology has come a loooong way. Our team always took for granted all these wellness apps and their capabilities, but after having to build our own, we realized this is some tough work. We also deepened our understanding of human-centered design, making sure that every feature was intentional and delightful to use.

What's next for BaseNote

Hopefully, we can see the technology for BaseNote come to life one day! While we were crafting our MVP, some cool ideas came to mind. Specifically, the ability to see past scents on a map so you can immerse yourself in where you initially smelled the scent, and the ability to connect to photos so pictures aren't just static; they almost take you back to that exact moment.