Reflection Objects
2022
Speculative Project
Adobe Illustrator
This summer, I saw a robot guiding people’s way and helping them in a department store near my home. I witnessed many people treating the robot as if it were a human baby. They kept saying ‘This robot is so cute!’ and one of them even gave a candy to the robot. Some children pet them and people who got help from the robot said ‘thank you!’ to the robot.
While watching how people treat robots, I thought that it’s interesting how people regard machines as human beings. When I was young, I believed that plush toys could hear what I say and think.
Also, I gave them names and called them every night, and said good night to them. Like this, people tend to give their heart to nonhumans.
In this project, I wanted to see how people view other objects and analyze what factors make them think nonhumans as human beings. I thought that this would let us know what aspect of a person people think is most important when he or she sees a person.
Design Process
01 List of Objects
First, I asked people to choose one object that seems most similar to human beings or the object that reflects themselves the most with reason. The list of objects are:
Fan
Chair
Perfume
Bag
Water Bottle
Brush
Mirror
Cup
Camera
Wallet
Book
Tissue
Hat
Clock
Vacuum Body Lotion
Air Conditioner
Knife
Headphones
Scissors
Watch
Toys
Umbrella
Cell phone
Glasses
Table
Bench
Shoes
02 Why?
Then, I gathered their opinions about these objects and took memos of them.
Bench: I enjoy watching people walking along the street when I’m in a cafe. I usually observe what they do and what they wear. That’s the reason why I think a bench looks like me the most among these. It doesn’t do anything but see people passing the street or kids playing at the park.
Perfume: I usually buy perfume when I go on a trip. I buy a perfume that smells like what I felt about the city or the country that I visited. Last month I went to France and I bought this perfume with sweet notes. I enjoyed the desserts in France so I bought this one. Perfume for me reflects the feelings that I experienced of the place so this would be the thing that represent me the most.
03 Labels
Based on the comments that I got from my friends, I started to develop visual assets to show these in a poster. So, I picked keywords for each object.
Keywords
Bench: Watch
Perfume: Smell, Memory
Mirror: Reflect, Facial Expression
Water Bottle: Container
Then I created icons for the keyword. With these icons, I took a photo of a room and placed these icons in it in the context of what objects can do, or look like what it’s doing.
04 Photo Analyzation
05 Design Sketches
06 Design Outcome
Mirror: I would say mirror. Since I’m majoring in Acting, I usually practice facial expression acting with a mirror in front of me. I observe what facial muscles I’m using when I cry, laugh, and concentrate. Mirrors are the thing that shows my feelings that I can see without them. I sometimes don’t realize whether I’m happy or sad, but when I see myself reflected in the mirror or windows, I can see if I’m smiling or grimacing. It’s just me! It shows what you can’t see about yourself.
Water Bottles: I think water bottles would be the thing that has an important similarity with people. The color of the bottle can be changed by the liquid in it. Same for humans. We all have the same bottle but what we experience and think changes how we look and how people look who we are. Also, we can change if we put other things in ourselves. It depends on what we see and what we know.
Container
Memory
Reflect/Facial Expression
Watch
Smell
