The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Age-guessing mirror back home after V&A success
SelfReflector device described as one of Dundee’s ‘best kept secrets’
An age-guessing mirror which took the V&A London design festival by storm is back in its Dundee home and ready to thrill audiences again.
The SelfReflector is a mirror developed by a team of product designers at Dundee and Northumbria Universities.
The mirror has been on display at Dundee store Spex Pistols over the last year, and is described by shop-owner Richard Cook as one of the city’s “best kept secrets”.
The mirror captures the image of the person looking into it and, using a specially designed algorithm, tries to determine what year that person was 14.
Speakers attached to the mirror then go on to play a popular song from the year the SelfReflector has guessed.
Richard decided to have the mirror guess what year the person looking into it was 14 because it is the age most people first experience their musical awakening.
He said: “People using the mirror seem to really like the nostalgia it brings them, remembering songs from when they were younger.
“It is really interesting for people of all ages, and especially those like me who are a little bit older.
“Even if it plays a song you hated at the time, it resurfaces memories from when you were that age.
“It can bring back tastes, smells – who you spent time with when you were 14 – and that’s the age you were most likely responsive to pop music.
“People absolutely love the SelfReflector, even when it gets it wrong.”
Members of the public lined up on Wednesday to try out the mirror, and were altogether pleased with how much enjoyment the SelfReflector brought them.
Pam Lawrence, 32, said despite the mirror thinking she was a lot older than she was, she enjoyed the overall experience.
Pete Hewitt, 29, said the SelfReflector picked a Spice Girls song, and was out by a “good five or six years”.
Ramanee Peiris, 51, said she was “flattered” the mirror had picked a song that shaved several years off her actual age.
Steven Hunter, 52, was very happy the mirror had decided he was only 14 two years ago, after picking a song by Clean Bandits.
The SelfReflector has been on display at Spex Pistols for more than a year, and was displayed in London during the V&A Digital Design weekend, as part of the V&A London Design Festival.
Martin Skelly, a lecturer in product design at Dundee University, was part of the team that took the SelfReflector down to the V& A Digital Design weekend as part of the London Design Festival.
He said: “The event provided a fantastic opportunity to exhibit the SelfReflector, and a great opportunity to display the research prototype to members of the public.
“The SelfReflector proved very popular at the V&A, and we had hundreds of people queuing to have a chance to try out the prototype over the course of the digital design weekend.”