ID MASK

Year: 2021

Location: Mobile

Team: Guvenc Ozel

Developed and designed during the height of the COVID pandemic and Black Lives Matter protests, ID Mask aims to address the extreme politicization of masking through design. Functioning as a washable mask with replaceable filters, the mask includes a mechanism to mount a mobile phone on it with the screen facing outwards. With the complimentary app developed by Ozel Office, the user can create a digital avatar of themselves through a selfie. By using Oculus Avatar API along with google Voice API, the speech of the user is translated into facial expressions and motions of the avatar, creating a see-through effect- allowing the user to communicate more comfortably with other people while still being masked. The user can also take on additional identities through available avatars.

In addition to the see-through feature, the words of the user can directly be translated to text and be displayed on the screen. During protests, the user can be hands free and still communicate slogans through this voice to text functionality. The front facing camera can be activated and a live video broadcast can be streamed to the social media platform of the user’s choosing, increasing safety and holding law enforcement accountable.