What is the reason why Microsoft created a character 'Feeling Monster' that can easily express emotions?



When communicating online, it is difficult to express one's emotions with text alone, and many people use pictograms and stamps to express their emotions. Microsoft's educational application '

Microsoft Reflect ' can express emotions using colorful monsters 'feeling monsters', but Microsoft explains the background behind the creation of this feeling monster.

The Feelings Monster, building a character with all the feels | by Microsoft Design | Microsoft Design | Medium
https://medium.com/microsoft-design/the-feelings-monster-building-a-character-with-all-the-feels-331b5b871fd1

Feeling Monster is a character that can be used for communication within the “Microsoft Reflect” communication app between teachers and children. It will be communicated to the teacher through the monster to show.



Feeling Monsters, as mentioned above, help children communicate their feelings to their teachers. Years of research have shown that there is a correlation between children's emotions and academic performance, and it is very important for children to recognize their own emotions and communicate them to their teachers. However, it is difficult for children to choose the best words to express their feelings, and many children hesitate to share their feelings. There is also a means of using pictograms to express emotions, but according to Microsoft, the emotions that can be expressed with existing pictograms are limited. In order to solve this problem, the development of a feeling monster that can express various emotions has begun.

In the early stages of development of Feeling Monsters, humanoid and robot-type characters were also devised instead of monsters. However, in the case of humanoids, there is a discrepancy in emotional expression due to cultural differences, such as ``If you have only four fingers, you will be suspicious of the relationship with the yakuza society in Japan.'' In the case of robots, ``The robot has no sense of touch. , I don't even feel like I'm 'blurred'.'



Ultimately, the development team decided to use monster-type characters. According to Microsoft, Feeling Monster has gained popularity not only among elementary and junior high school students, but also among college students and young people. Yonatan Tarkin, a member of the development team, said, ``People who grew up watching Pixar's works seemed to have no resistance to embracing hairy characters even as adults.'' He points out that it has become a design that can be accepted regardless of generation.



in Design, Posted by log1o_hf