Michael McDermott

I Look Like Everyone Else


This project uses Google’s search by image function to create a book of work that the algorithm thinks looks like my work. The initial images I input were all my own projects and the results Google returns are varied. Some projects return results that are similar color palettes, some return similar type of photography and others actually return results that match the content of the image.

Inspiration for the project came from the idea of influence and originality. All of the projects I picked were not consciously influenced by specific things but inevitably they had traces of influence in them. I wanted to see what Google thought I might have used to design these projects.

The result is a 484 page book that runs ten images of my projects through search by image and displays the first fifty results one next to the other after my image. At the end of each project there is a screenshot that shows my work next to the Google results page to see multiple images at the same time.

The book is designed using Google’s Material Design guide which is actually used for designing apps and interfaces. The typeface, type sizes, and colors all come from that guide. Each new section has a title for the project, image of the project and a brief description for the project written in the first person to reinforce that I created each project.

  • Book
  • Thesis

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