NIKE FREE FACE
Give your facial muscles a workout and pull your best (or not) photo face on Nike’s new web app by Wieden + Kennedy, Tokyo.
Image: Nike "Free Face" uses facial recognition to mimic your expressions.
You’ve probably already pulled some weird facial expressions in your time whilst stumbling upon strange things on the internet, so why not put your abilities to good use by trying out the new app for Nike by Wieden + Kennedy, Tokyo.
The concept behind the web application was to illustrate the “unrivalled flexibility” of the new Nike Free footwear range, W+K have found a novel and engaging way for users with a webcam to do this on the recently launched website.
The app allows you to bend, twist and control the Nike Free shoe using the power of your face. “Free Face” lets you get all up in your webcam's face so the more you contort your face, the more you can control the Nike Free's sole. The stronger your expression the harder the shoe works (not to mention – the weirder you look).
The site is built entirely in Flash and uses both facial recognition and expression recognition technologies. First, it will photograph your relaxed, regular expression, then use that as a base to calculate how flexible your face is - from the eyebrow to chin.
It will use this to define the diagonal movement of the shoe. The way the shoe moves will then depend on various things - the horizontal line will be defined using your mouth's symmetry, for example.
The interactive element of this application stretches even further as it recognises the colour of the user’s clothing and the background to automatically coordinate the colour of the Nike Free shoe, using the Nike ID customisation system.
Each week users can submit their best contorted faces and Nike will select one person in Japan based on the number of votes received from other users to win a NikeiD giftcard.
Here's another part of the campaign, showcasing the shoe’s "super natural strength".
If you’re tired of posing for serious photos and fancy going a bit wild with your features then have a go on the “Free Face” app here.
