SENSE NODES

SPECULATIVE PRODUCT DESIGN

Craving pizza but stuck with salad? SenseNodes is a speculative design project exploring the future of nutrition and sensory experience.

This neuro-gustatory interface imagines a world where technology can hack perception itself—delivering subtle pulses that tap into the brain’s sensory pathways to simulate the taste, smell, and texture of any food, regardless of what's actually being consumed. By rethinking how we nourish ourselves in an age of dietary constraints and environmental challenges, SenseNodes provokes new questions about the boundaries between desire, health, and reality.

  • Speculative Designer

  • A physical wearable prototype with a mobile app

CONTEXT

As health technologies evolve and longevity becomes a cultural priority, people are shifting toward highly personalized, optimized diets. But with this shift comes a trade-off: indulgence, comfort, and pleasure are often sacrificed in the pursuit of better health. In a world where food is increasingly functional, how might we preserve the joy of eating without compromising our well-being?

PROBLEM SPACE

People want to eat better—for their bodies, for the planet, for the long term. But taste remains a deeply emotional and social part of life. Restrictive diets, nutritional optimization, and functional food replacements (like pills, powders, and lab-grown meals) often fail to satisfy our sensory cravings. This opens up a new design space:

can we separate the experience of food from its physical form?

THE CONCEPT

SenseNodes is a speculative digital product that imagines a neuro-gustatory interface for the near future. The system uses non-invasive neural stimulation to alter the perception of taste, smell, and texture—transforming any food into the experience of something else. Eating a bland protein bar? SenseNodes could make it taste like hot buttered toast or spicy ramen. The core idea: hack the sensory input, not the food.

SUSTAINABLE FOOD PRODUCTION

Our food industry would not be governed by demand and supply but by necessity and care, since SenseNodes frees people’s preferences as per taste.

HEALTH FIRST APPROACH

With taste satisfaction always being a given, society can now focus on purely the nutritional requirements of their food and adjust their meals according to that.

HIGHER LIFE EXPECTANCY

This would tremendously reduce diseases linked to poor eating habits such as diabetes, obesity, autoimmune disorders and more.

HIGHER LIFE EXPECTANCY

This would tremendously reduce diseases linked to poor eating habits such as diabetes, obesity, autoimmune disorders and more.

HIGHER LIFE EXPECTANCY

This would tremendously reduce diseases linked to poor eating habits such as diabetes, obesity, autoimmune disorders and more.

THE EXPERIENCE

MVP App Design

The digital product of SenseNodes has 4 key paths that a user might initiate:

  1. Exploring the meals and flavors that the app offers

  2. Experimenting with food groups and flavor profiles on the app to curate personalized meals

  3. Learn more about affiliations and in app offerings

  4. Ancillary activities associated with the app like adjusting settings, activating promotions, tracking health metrics and shopping for add ons/premium plans.

INFORMATION ARCHITECTURE

The usage of SenseNodes activates 2 key senses - taste being the primary one, and sight being the second. The advancements of this product would include exploring how to tap into smell and sound for a more immersive and realistic experience.

SENSORIAL EXPERIENCE

  • Home page navigation. Users can decide which path of food discovery they would like.

  • Explore available cuisines and make your choice based on vivid pictorial representation and supplementary information.

  • Once you have selected your cuisine you can browse through a list of meals curated by renowned chefs and restaurants.

  • Take your time to enjoy your food while looking at our perfectly crafted meal images and videos to help visually stimulate the experience as well. You may also alter the flavor profile of your meal here in real time!

DIGITAL EXPERIENCE

DIGITAL EXPERIENCE

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PROTOTYPE

FUTURE STATE:

The Nourish Lab is the broader entity that was created to have a series of speculative products for the future of food experiences, health and nutrition.

This neuro-gustatory interface imagines a world where technology can hack perception itself—delivering subtle pulses that tap into the brain’s sensory pathways to simulate the taste, smell, and texture of any food, regardless of what's actually being consumed. By rethinking how we nourish ourselves in an age of dietary constraints and environmental challenges, SenseNodes provokes new questions about the boundaries between desire, health, and reality.