Representation in Skins for Avatars
For my first project in digital fashion, I focused on the lack of representation in gaming skins and clothing. I created an interface showcasing the use of hyper-personalization to address representation in skins for avatars in the gaming industry and the metaverse. Two of the main aspects I factored in were culture and disability.
I designed two sets of outfits for personas John and Sanaya, with varying cultural backgrounds and disabilities.
I created the outfits using Clo3D and Marvelous Designer, and textured them in Adobe 3D Substance Painter. Then, I brought the designs into Unreal Engine, where I created a game-like background to serve as an interface for gamers to choose their character outfits. The avatars for John and Sanaya were created using Metahuman Creator. Additionally, I incorporated plus-size digital fashion for John's character to enhance representation.
John is Chinese and has missing fingers on one hand, while Sanaya is Indian and, after an unfortunate surgery, lost her right leg and requires a back brace.
For John, I created a glove prosthetic personalized to his needs and style in carbon fibre. For Sanaya, I designed a back brace in carbon fibre and a prosthetic leg in brass material. These are digital fashion pieces that could also potentially serve as prototypes for physical counterparts.
Here is the interface I crafted using Figma for John's journey in creating his hyper-personalized gaming skins.
© 2024 by Ananya Ramesh.