Shiseido and R/GA bring people face-to-face with ageing

R/GA Tokyo and Shiseido have built a booth that allows two people to see each other, and themselves, as they might look years in the future, or how they might have looked in the past.

Located in the brand's Global Innovation Centre in Yokohama, Japan, 'Beyond Time', according to the companies, allows users to "break the boundaries of time to experience aging—instantaneously and non-linearly".

“We wondered what would happen if people experienced the spectrum of aging with a loved one, in an instant—if a parent became younger than their child, lovers glimpsed each other before they met, and friends grew old together in the blink of an eye," R/GA Tokyo ECD Niklas Lilja said in a release. "Being able to explore different sides of one another outside the boundaries of time is an emotional experience that gives people a new appreciation of each other in the present.”

The companies said that the setup makes use of decades of Shiseido skin research, along with facial data capture and processing technology. The 3D Facial Age Simulation Engine, developed by R/GA, looks at 1,300 facial data points, and compares them to a database of face models, also built by R/GA, to enable a "scientifically accurate aging simulation in real-time".

The agency embedded a team with the client for the project. "We were able to create a world-first, three dimensional and real-time age simulation engine in a relatively short period by working side-by-side with our clients, prototyping in physical and digital spaces, and constantly testing ideas," said R/GA Tokyo executive technology director Anthony Baker.