Anthropomorphism is defined as the tendency to attribute human characteristic and emotions to a non-human entity. Its often used to get the audience or viewer to connect more with whatever is being anthropomorphized.
This technique is used in many areas of life, such as:
- Children stories: Anthropomorphism is commonly used in children’s stories to help kids connect with the characters, think frog and toad. The frogs are given clothing an the ability to speak, so that children can better relate to them.
- Film: Toy Story, The lion King, Finding Nemo, Ratatouille, these are all amazing examples of anthropomorphism in film. Most of your favorite childhood Disney characters, Micky mouse, Donald Duck, Snoopy, or Winnie the Pooh are all examples of anthropomorphized characters.
- AI: You can find anthropomorphism used intentionally in AI assistants such as Alexa or online chatbots to make them feel more human, and make the process more user friendly.
- News: Even in the news Storms and Hurricanes are given human names to facilitate clear communication and public awareness. The fact that these names are familiar and recognizable will often draw more attention to the storms and prompt people to take action in their own lives.
- Advertising: Anthropomorphism is used a lot in advertising think of the Geico gecko ads, or Frosted Flakes’ Tony the tiger. These anthropomorphized animals are meant to personify corporations, sports teams, and events.
Overall anthropomorphism is an incredibly useful tool for communication and increasing engagement in your piece. I’ve always valued communicative aspect of design. So learning about anthropomorphism’s impact on the communication of design was really interesting.
So for this weeks piece my task was create an anthropomorphized character. I ended up taking inspiration from spotted lantern fly’s, which is an invasive species that can be spotted a lot around this area. They have negative impacts on hardwood trees and a variety of plants. The best way that we can help with controlling them is by stomping or squishing them on sight.
So to help bring more awareness to this subject, I’ve created an assassin frog who has been tasked with finding and killing these bugs.
Overall I really loved this project, and it was really interesting to realize how much anthropomorphism is used in our lives.
If you see any Spotted Lantern Flies while you are out please help this little frog out and squish them!
Thank you for reading!
Emma : )