Project #6 COLORLESS

Project Description

Inspired by everyday zoom meeting, getting first impression from new friends through little squares, I think it will be interesting learn about a person first from his/her talking and expression. People like to judge people from their appearance, especially through online meeting. We can only know about a person by looks and stereotypes. People can look at somebody with an Asian look and say he/she cannot speak English well or do not have internet freedom, which can impact the tendency to talk with that person.
Through this camera filter I designed, figures are pixelized and skin color cannot be told with three color (black, white, yellow) blinking in cycle. Therefore, when people see others with this camera, they can be fairly judged in the first place and get the same chance to get to know somebody.

Pixelized "white figure" through camera

Pixelized "black figure" through camera

Pixelized "yellow(Asian) figure" through camera

Design Process

When I was brainstorming my ideas, I had ideas of making all people look like a female or other way to change people appearances so that we could not be judged through camera. I think these ideas all come from my zoom experiences which I was judged as an Asian female before I had a chance to talk. Finally, I decided to make figure pixelized and change color to hide one’s appearance through camera. About the way to create this effect, I got my inspiration from Coding Train’s video on Youtube. I learned to make bigger pixels (16*16) so that the appearance of figures can be more obscure. Then I define the brightness with the average of the sum value of R, G, B, and use this brightness to map the scale of pixels and also the dynamic or colors.

Reflection

Through this assignment, I want to blur the idea of “seeing figures” other than emphasize human faces through camera. I think “seeing” during this pandemic becomes the most important factor that decide our first impression of others. Especially during zoom classes, I can be distracted by people’s faces or outfits, making my judgement before I have a chance to listen their talking. Therefore, I want to start with the goal to blur the concept of “seeing”, and I think I am happy with the results which works well by pixelizing and changing color.