Want to become a SuperHero? Forget Radiation try Interaction Design!
In the year 2017, exposure to a radioactive explosion would most likely kill you, if you’d like to join the Avengers (or the justice league) you have a better shot at a well designed interactive experience…. Let me explain,
Creating your inner hero
For most children growing up, we all had an inner superhero who we somehow hid as we became adults.
A few decades ago, in China, there was no Marvel or DC super heroes movies or comics. Alternatively, the cartoons which followed Chinese traditional culture were the talk of the town for any child back then. Most of the comics had the typical Chinese ink painting or paper cutting style and the stories illustrated the myths of our ancient culture. A popular superpower kids loved to imitate was the “72 transformations of Sun Wukong (the Monkey King)
The stories were brought to life using the shadow puppetry technique to create cartoons, in fact it is one of the oldest cartoons dating back to more than 2000 years! The original version as seen in the Chinese Opera during the Han Dynasty (206 B.C. — 220 A.D) used paper or buffalo/donkey leather to create the shadows. The projection of the shadows were vivid on a translucent screen and by controlling the puppets it brought this cartoon to life making them more than just myths.
In my childhood, many stories were displayed using the shadow puppetry technique which were later translated into a cartoons. The most influential cartoon was called “Gourd Brothers”. (1987)
The story was of seven brothers who were each born from different colour gourds with unique superpowers. They have to fight with a “sneak goblin” in order to save their Grandfather who raised them.
The animation in this cartoon was pretty similar to the shadow puppetry technique, all the characters motions were controlled by their joints alone, the illustration mimicked a paper cut of the characters, straight lines were used to draw the body, this made them look tough and highly contrasted with the soft Disney animation of the same time.
Every kid in my community thought he had one of the seven brothers super power, controlling fire, water or an infinite force, becoming invisible, super sight or even enhanced hearing.
Interaction Design is my dream job for it has a lot of design methods that can help people achieve a desired narrative. It could be to move through an app, play a video game, or in my experience, control fire or water, control technology by waving your hand or even driving a car with just your mind! Interaction Design is more than just how we use websites or mobile apps, but rather it is a clear language of how we humans can better communicate and interact with different objects and technology. Bringing objects to life and making them talk is my design mission.
Revealing your inner hero
A reflection is a powerful thing, it shows you who you truly are and even how others see you. One approach I would take to turning an audience into a superhero they love is by first using my super power. I was born in China and have lived there for majority of my life, I came to London to pursue an Arts Masters Degree and expose myself to the different culture of the west. During my time here I have been able to pick what is good from both cultures and stand at the intersection of the two to create new ideas on how to achieve project outcomes.
The High Streets in London have huge display windows and most of the time by my observation of the by passers of these stores are mainly looking at their reflections in the window as opposed to the displays inside.
So i thought to myself, What if I took the shadow puppetry technique, some western cartoon characters and made use of people’s reflections?
This is just a prototype, imagine if I put a little more work in and the next time you walked down oxford street, your reflection was a super hero?
