FACE IT

FACE IT was my thesis project for the final year of my MA in Design and Visual Culture at IADE-U in Lisbon. I’ve always been very fascinated with people and I wanted to do something that celebrated our own individuality. It’s very easy to judge others based on they look, but we are all so much more than what our appearance dictates. Because there are many aspects of who we are that are not visible in the real world, my goal was to try and portray some of them using symbolic images. I was then able to present sixteen individuals as they are on the outside by taking their photo and, with the help of a personality test and a year’s work of research on symbolism and psychology, I made my own visual interpretation of some of their most significant traits. My goal was to showcase two things: the face you show the world and the one that only those who really know you can “see”. Regarding the photographs taken, I used my camera with a 50mm lens. The portraits were not heavily edited so that everyone could essentially get to see how the participants looked. The images made afterwards are compositions of the portraits with other photographed/illustrated elements. Since the project is obviously centered around people’s faces, the idea was to insert these elements within or around the outline of their heads, all with the help of Photoshop.
As this was not meant to be just a digital project, I also made a book and posters with all the results. To keep them from being ordinary, I used lenticular printing. This type of printing allows you to see two images (the portrait and the composition) when you move the sheet of paper they’re on.