Accepted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree ...

Accepted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements
For the Degree of Master of Fine Arts
at The Savannah College of Art and Design
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MeeGram :
A Collaborative Exploration and
Visualization System of the Personal Identity
A Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of the Graphic Design Department
in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the
Degree of Master of Fine Arts
Savannah College of Art and Design
By
Jin Young Lim
Atlanta, Georgia
July, 2010
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Abstract
This research proposes MeeGram, an original visual identity
system that captures the affective dimension of an individual and
compensates for the limitations of digitized—encoded in numbers—
IDs, such as barcodes. In an industrialized society, digitized IDs are
widely used to identify objects and persons, and IDs are typically
designed as certain compositions of computer-generated letters and
numbers to make it easy to standardize, anonymize, encode, and
decode. Identification of merchandise and personnel using barcode,
one type of digital ID, is essential to all aspects of commerce as it
facilitates speedy and accurate transactions.
However, the downside of such convenience is the limited capacity
of digitized IDs in communicating concepts that cannot be expressed
in numbers, such as emotions that all human beings are born with.
Recently, there have been a few interesting attempts to create
digitized personal/corporate identity systems that also embrace and
incorporate the affective dimension of the person/business in visual
elements, such as colors and symbols. For example, D-Barcode is an
attempt to create customized barcodes by adding images to regular
barcodes to turn them into something more fun and memorable
(figure1). Also, Color Code (figure 4) is a system that generates
customized 5 x 5 matrices painted in four colors (black, blue, green,
red). Color Code represents the characteristics of individuals and
organizations and is decoded with a cell-phone reader app.
Motivated by the idea, the researcher proposes a visual ID system
that shows a slice of its owner’s personality. The proposed system,
MeeGram, represents the owner’s personality in five dimensions:
Openness, Conscientiousness, Extroversion, Agreeableness,
Neuroticism (the five broad domains in the Five Factor Model), and
each dimension is visualized as a unique symbol. When the five
symbols are layered on top of each other, the resulting symbol—
which is more than the simple sum of five symbols, considering the
interactions between individual symbols—provides the owner with a
unique, personalized representation of his/her identity.
The MeeGram is developed based on the data collected from research

participants with a qualitative research approach. The researcher
recruited two groups of participants—graphic designers and
non-graphic designers—for this study. First, the participants were
asked to collect images that were somehow related to their identities
for four weeks. At the end the fourth week, the researcher conducted
interviews with the images, analyzed their comments with Affinity
Diagrams, and created each person’s profile in the Openness,
Conscientiousness, Extroversion, Agreeableness, Neuroticism
dimensions. The profiles were translated into visual symbols, which
will function as their IDs. The researcher presented the symbols
to the participants and collected their feedback. When presented
with the symbols, the non-graphic designer group had a hard time
understanding what their symbols meant, whereas the graphic
designer group was relatively faster in interpreting the symbols.
Most participants in both groups, however, agreed that their
personal symbols reflected their personality traits to some degree.
Throughout the research and implementation process, the researcher
found limitations of MeeGram IDs due to the concept is intangible,
broad, and vaguely defined. In addition, the number of participants
is small in this research so the findings are rather directive than
conclusive. The limitations point to the direction of future studies.
Firstly, MeeGram will be developed into an online system, a website,
or a social network site application where people already have
networks of friends and share images with them. Secondly, the
researcher would like to explore other personality models beyond the
Five Factor Model and develop another visual ID system.

Chapter 1
Introduction
This research proposes MeeGram, an original visual identity
system that captures the affective dimension of an individual and
compensates for the limitations of digitized—encoded in numbers—
IDs, such as barcodes. In an industrialized society, digitized IDs are
widely used to identify objects and persons, and IDs are typically
designed as certain compositions of computer-generated letters and
numbers to make it easy to standardize, anonymize, encode, and
decode. Identification of merchandise and personnel using barcode,
one type of digital ID, is essential to all aspects of commerce as it
facilitates speedy and accurate transactions.
However, the downside of such convenience is the limited capacity
of digitized IDs in communicating concepts that cannot be expressed
in numbers, such as emotions that all human beings are born with.
Recently, there have been a few interesting attempts to create
digitized personal/corporate identity systems that also embrace and
incorporate the affective dimension of the person/business in visual
elements, such as colors and symbols. For example, D-Barcode is an
attempt to create customized barcodes by adding images to regular
barcodes to turn them into something more fun and memorable
(figure1). Also, Color Code (figure 4) is a system that generates
customized 5 x 5 matrices painted in four colors (black, blue, green,
red). Color Code represents the characteristics of individuals and
organizations and is decoded with a cell-phone reader app.
Motivated by the idea, the researcher proposes a visual ID system
that shows a slice of its owner’s personality. The proposed system,
MeeGram, represents the owner’s personality in five dimensions:
Openness, Conscientiousness, Extroversion, Agreeableness,
Neuroticism (the five broad domains in the Five Factor Model), and
each dimension is visualized as a unique symbol. When the five
symbols are layered on top of each other, the resulting symbol—
which is more than the simple sum of five symbols, considering the
interactions between individual symbols—provides the owner with a
unique, personalized representation of his/her identity.
The MeeGram is developed based on the data collected from research
3

participants with a qualitative research approach. The researcher
recruited two groups of participants—graphic designers and
non-graphic designers—for this study. First, the participants were
asked to collect images that were somehow related to their identities
for four weeks. At the end the fourth week, the researcher conducted
interviews with the images, analyzed their comments with Affinity
Diagrams, and created each person’s profile in the Openness,
Conscientiousness, Extroversion, Agreeableness, Neuroticism
dimensions. The profiles were translated into visual symbols, which
will function as their IDs. The researcher presented the symbols
to the participants and collected their feedback. When presented
with the symbols, the non-graphic designer group had a hard time
understanding what their symbols meant, whereas the graphic
designer group was relatively faster in interpreting the symbols.
Most participants in both groups, however, agreed that their
personal symbols reflected their personality traits to some degree.
This thesis is organized in six chapters. In Chapter 1, the research
problems, questions, and motivations will be discussed with
examples of digitized and visual identity systems. Chapter 2
presents the theories of identity relevant to this study. Chapter 3
describes the research approaches, design, and methods. In Chapter
4, the findings from data analysis are presented with examples of
data collected from the participants. Chapter 5 outlines the design
rationale of a new visual identity, and Chapter 6 concludes this
thesis with the summary of findings and a future research plan.
1.1 Statement of the Design Research Problem
In his book The Savage Mind, Levis Claude argues that people can
recognize things by separating or differentiating one from another,
and IDs and identification systems were introduced to satisfy their
needs. In an industrialized society, an identification system is
typically designed in a form of standardized numeric information,
such as social security numbers or bank account numbers. These
numbers, which allow us to process tons of information at the
speed of light, are convenient vehicles of communication when a
system of encoding and decoding the numbers are in place. Digitized
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identity systems convert various types of information into (random)
compositions of numbers, which are easier to compare, sort, encrypt,
search, and store in the digital data format. Such advantages make
the numbers an efficient means of communication for identification
purposes. Virtually everything can be identified with computergenerated
numbers, and most institutions, banks, schools, and other
governmental offices rely on digitized identification systems.
Digitized identity systems, however, have their limitations. The
ID consisting of only numbers can leave out some information—
information that cannot be encoded in numbers—about the human
who is being represented with it. The numbers cannot capture
how he or she deals with reality, challenges, opportunities and
complexities of life. The numbers do not show how he or she may
react toward things, people and events. The numbers cannot tell
what he or she values or appreciates most. The numbers, in other
words, cannot capture the owner’s core values and fail to convey
who he or she is in general. These aspects of identity are considered
irrelevant in many of the digitized identification systems—an
ATM machine would not be interested in learning how sensitive
its customers are when they withdraw money from it. It merely
recognizes an individual as one of its millions of customers, identified
only with a unique bank account number. As a graphic designer,
however, the researcher argues that an identity system that (a)
captures more relevant information about the owner as a person
and (b) represents the information in visual forms that everyone can
intuitively interpret can be valuable for three reasons: Firstly, such
an identity system will bring our attention back to the matter of
humanity that is often ignored when we treat people as simply one of
the many entities to “process.” Secondly, such an identity system will
inevitably invite people to participate in the processes of reflection
and representation of self that will help them discover, negotiate,
construct and represent their identities in their own terms. Thirdly,
this research proposes designing a visual symbol for an ID that
reflects its owner’s personality and attitude as a part of the identity
system, and when the symbol is shared in the social interaction
context, it will open up a lot of conversations and contemplative
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thoughts, presenting interesting opportunities to explore to the
owner.
1.2 Research Questions
With aforementioned assumptions, this research plans to examine
the strengths and weaknesses of the new visual identity system by
asking two research questions.
First, what information about a person that has not already been
represented in other digitized IDs can this new visual identity
properly capture and represent for its owner? During this study, the
researcher constantly questions what constitutes a person’s identity
and how it is represented and perceived by the others. A person’s
identity is not manifested in a single, concrete form, but it is rather
partially reflected in material and immaterial elements around the
person, such as his/her personality, appearance, personal history,
and/or objects with which he/she interacts, e.g. The researcher
plans to find out information that is relevant to a person’s identity
but has not been represented on IDs so far by recruiting research
participants and collecting identity-related cues reflected in material/
immaterial artifacts around them.
Second, once the proposed system, MeeGram, generates a visual
symbol-ID for a person, how would the owner of the symbol and the
others respond to, interpret, and use it? What secondary meanings/
functions would they attribute to the symbols? This research
intends to design visual symbols (MeeGram IDs) based on the
research participants’ input about themselves to make this process a
personalized experience of discovering, negotiating and representing
themselves. The research activities include (1) artifact collection
and in-depth interviews with the participants prior to system
design to define the type of personal information that is relevant to
identity and also (2) in-depth interviews with the same participants
after designing visual symbol-IDs to get their feedback. Both the
visual identity as a system and the resulting MeeGram IDs will be
developed and reviewed in a participatory manner.
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1.3 Motivations
The personal motivation behind this research has grown with a
series of events the researcher experienced over time regarding
digitized IDs and identification systems. The communities,
organizations, and institutions that the researcher belongs to issued
several ID numbers. Since all of these numbers were designed to
work in different identification systems, they were completely useless
outside their systems. For instance, the seven-digit student ID that a
college issued was very useful for the four years while the researcher
attended the college, but the ID was completely forgotten after she
graduated from the school. The ID has not been used at all so far,
and it just became part of her history. The ID, come to think of it,
is not part of the researcher’s identity anymore because it was not
pertinent to her identity to begin with, and it was only meaningful
within the college’s identification system.
The idea of a new visual identity system that is (a) more intuitively
relevant to a person’s identity and (b) thus meaningful for the
lifetime to its owner was conceived from the experience. The
proposed visual identity, MeeGram, may be designed and used in
conjunction with digitized IDs and identification systems, but instead
of being just efficient, MeeGram can address the affective aspects of
the owner and make his/her social interactions richer. For instance,
if the MeeGram ID is printed with barcodes on a student ID card, the
information stored in the card will be efficiently manipulated thanks
to the barcodes, but the information is not completely detached from
the owner as a person because there is another symbol, MeeGram
ID, that tells something more about him/her as a person.
The next chapter, Literature Review, will introduce examples of
visual identity systems that represent the owner’s personality and
characteristics. This will be followed by the current definitions and
theories of identity.
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Chapter 2
Literature Review
2.1 Introduction
There are many ways of understanding in terms of Identity. In
Philosophy, identity can be referred to that which contrasts with
‘the sameness,’ the property of an entity—objects or people—that
distinguishes one from another. In the social sciences, identity
is an individual’s comprehension of a person with separate
characteristics than himself or herself as Claude Levi-Strauss
argued in his book The Savage Mind, and this is a part of the process
of how a personality is perceived. There are also many studies and
research results on identity process, formation, development, and
determination. This chapter will begin by introducing early studies
and research on identity and some of the digitized visual identity
attempts starting from barcodes to other type of codes that attempt
to capture personality aspects.
2.2 Early study on Identity by Claude Levi-Strauss
According to The Savage Mind by Claude Levi-Strauss, there is a
classification system in society in order to avoid chaos and to step
towards rational ordering. The classification works based on human
nature’s sensibility that perceives the property of entities. For
example, we sense the difference between an apple and a pear by
their properties such as color, shape, size, and taste. These traits
become the pear or the apple’s identity. When we go to a grocery
store, products are grouped by the same category so customers can
efficiently recognize and grab what they want. This is how identity
forms and works by differentiating one from another.
In The Savage Mind, the author argues that the classification system
is a co-existing binary structure called Bricolage and Science (1) .
‘Bricoleur’ comes from the old French verb bricoler that refers to
random activities in hunting, shooting, and riding. In contemporary
French, the word is equal to ‘do it yourself’ in English. Bricoleur
refers to one who works with his hands, usually in devious or “crafty”
ways, especially when compared to the professional craftsman, whom
Levi-Strauss equates with the Engineer. The Bricoleur is adept at
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many tasks and at putting pre-existing things together in random
ways. The Bricoleur can be referred to as “the savage mind” and the
Engineer can be referred to “the scientific mind” (1) .
These two aspects set the binary structure on the axis of opposition
between nature and culture. Inspired by Levi-Strauss’ theory, the
researcher concludes that Bricoleur can be represented as a physical
presence of human nature (e.g. personality traits) and the Scientific
mind can be represented as intangible presence of information (e.g.
digitized IDs). They have to co-exist in order to be balanced between
the emotional and the rational, improvised events and planned
structures, so the combination of the Bricoleur and the Engineer
aspect can work as a whole identity. The research has been grounded
in this structure, and it leans more toward capturing personality
traits.
2.3 Theories of Social Identity
Social identity is one of the dominant methods in defining a person
in terms of identity in social psychology. As developed by Tajfel, the
theory is interrelated to social psychological theories dealing with
personal identity regarding what makes difference when is viewed
by an individual versus group (5) . Social identity theory covers both
psychological and sociological dimensions. Each person has both
social and personal identities, each identity informing the individual
of whom he or she is and what the identity presents. These identities
will vary according to the social boundaries. The theory argues that
social behavior ranges from the interpersonal to the intergroup
behavior (4) . When personal identity stands out, the person will relate
to others in an interpersonal manner, and this depends on their
personality traits and any personal relationship existing between
people. However, under specific conditions, that social identity
will stand out more than personal identity if self-conception is
qualitatively different.
Four elements of composition in social identity:
• Categorization: pPeople often put others (and ourselves)
into categories. Labeling someone a Muslim, a Turk or
a baseball player is one way of categorization.
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• Identification: People also associate with certain groups
(ingroups and outgroups), which serves to bolster their
self-esteem.
• Comparison: People compare their own groups with
other groups, seeing a favorable bias toward the group to
which they belong.
• Psychological Distinctiveness: People desire their
identity to be both distinct from and positively compared
to other groups (6) .
2.4 Theories of Cultural Identity
Cultural identity is the identity of a certain culture and formed by
influencing a person’s belonging to the culture. Culture is a social
possess rather than an individuals possess in which people share and
contribute, in the boundary of changing historical conditions.
As a historic reservation, culture is an important element in forming
identity (7) .
2.5 Identity Formation, Development and Negotiation
Rummens defines identity as “the distinctive character belonging
to any given individual, or shared by all members of a particular
social category or group” (3) . The term is derived from the French
noun identité which has its linguistic origin in the Latin word
identitas, -tatis, itself a root of the Latin adjective idem, meaning
‘the same.’ The term is basically approximate in nature, as it
highlights the sharing a level of sameness with others in a specific
area or on a certain given point. ‘Identity’ can be differentiated from
‘identification.’ Identity is a classification whereas identification
refers to the classifying act itself. Identity is thus best understood as
being both relational and contextual, while the act of identification is
best viewed as essentially processual (3) .
In this research, personal identity refers to the result of an
identification of individuals. In other words, it is a self-identification
as reflexively perceived by the individual on the part of the him/
her. On the other hand, social identity refers to the result of an
identification of self by others (3) . In short, it is essential to consider
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all perceptions of identity when examining the interdisciplinary
research concerned with the social classification of individuals and
the accompanying identification processes (3) .
Identity classification can be discussed in a wide range of categories
such as national identity, regional identity, racial identity, religious
identity, etc. These are also impacted by birth places, economic
status, languages, cultural backgrounds, education, religion, and
social interaction.
The formation of an identity is an on-going process with a complexity
that can be defined as being the result of either identity formation/
development or identity negotiation/construction. Personality may
be something we are born with; however, over time and experience,
identity can be adjusted or reformed by other environmental factors
such as culture, people, history, etc. In many cases, these two
processes work closely together through overlapping or intertwining,
and, from time to time, competing. Differentiating between Self-
Identity, Personal-Identity and Social-Identity is key in figuring out
the complicated process of identity formation.
Identity Development/Formation (of self, by the individual)
Identity formation comes from the processes of thoughts and feelings
that a person experiences as he/she learns about life over time
and builds up a unique characteristics through the experiences.
Identity development or formation refers to cognitive development.
Psychology is closely related to the development of self-identity, as
well as in-group affirmation and in-group denial including identity
declarations of him/her self by others.
Identity Construction (of self by individuals and/or groups)
Identity construction refers to human identity that one is born with,
or identity that is socially-reformed regardless of life history or
experience.
Identity Negotiation
(of self/other, between/among groups, by/within groups via individuals)
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Identity negotiation refers to the social identifications within
groups through the interactive activities of individuals in terms
of relationship. Identities can be obtained both by individuals and
groups (3) .
Among the activities that form a personal identity, the research on
the development of identity explores what occurs around someone
including an examination of the variables that constitute personal
identity. From this perspective, the theoretical approach is closely
related to Identity Negotiation because there is an assumption that
how an individual engages with identity formation and construction
determines how an individual identifies.
2.6 Visual Identities
There are many types of digitized identities that deliver information
including first, second and third generations of barcodes. The
working formula of barcodes represents data in the widths of lines
and the gaps of parallel lines. In the second generation, barcodes
are built in patterns of squares, dots, hexagons and other geometric
patterns within 2D matrix codes. The second generation is similar to
a linear barcode, but has more data representation capability.
Barcodes came to use label railroad cars at first, but they were not
commercially successful until they become popular to automate
supermarket checkout systems. The usage of barcodes has expended
to many other roles, tasks referred to as Auto ID Data Capture
(AIDC) in general. In sale management, the use of barcodes can
provide very detailed up-to-date information on key aspects of the
business, enabling managers to make decisions quickly. These
decisions can be made with more confidence, less cost, and fewer
errors.
Besides the business–friendly quality, barcodes are also very useful
in shipping, receiving, and tracking, and that is why barcodes are
widely used in postal services.
As the use of barcodes become more popular in the market, there
have been a few attempts to create customized barcodes by adding
images that represent personalities. This can be seen as an
additional feature on the top of the barcodes’ functionality.
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In Japan, a Barcode design company, D-Barcode, has been creating
custom barcodes that turn regular rigid barcodes into something fun
and memorable by creating graphic elements based on the business
owner’s identities(figure 1). These graphics are visually intriguing
and communicative in terms of uniqueness. In Korea, there is a
new data representational system which is called The Color Code
(figure 2). The Color Code is a form of matrix that uses four different
colors—red, green, blue, and black—to represent data that can be
read by camera phones from TV screens and off-line media. In The
Color Code system, users can create their own codes by adding some
simple and basic graphic elements such as a heart shape, a diamond
shape and shapes of letters (figure 3). The company also offers a
custom-made color code, and they are more communicative in terms
of identity within the limitation of the four colors (figure 4).
Chapter 3
Research Approach/Method/Design
3.1 Introduction
This research was conducted in three phases: In Phase 1, the
researcher recruited five participants for artifact collection and
in-depth interviews. The participants were instructed to collect
20 or more items representing or resembling their personalities
from their acquaintances. Activities in this phase were exploratory
in that the researcher approached participants with open-ended
questions to observe their personalities reflected on perceptible
artifacts. In Phase 2, the researcher analyzed the collected data
with the Affinity Diagram method and created each participant’s
profile in five dimensions in the Five Factor Model, i.e. Openness,
Conscientiousness, Extroversion, Agreeableness and Neuroticism.
Based on the information collected, a personalized MeeGram ID was
designed for each participant.
In Phase 3, the researcher conducted in-depth interviews with
the same participants with the already-generated MeeGram IDs
present for feedback purposes. The participants discussed their
interpretations of MeeGam IDs and shared their thoughts on the
design of visual symbols. The participants described how they would
13

use the MeeGram IDs as well as any foreseeable concerns and issues
that could emerge when using IDs with their personalities revealed.
3.2 Phase 1: Artifact Collection and Participant Interviews
Five participants were recruited for this research: three graphic
designers and two other individuals with non-design-related
professions. The researcher recruited graphic designer participants
to collect their feedback on the visual design of MeeGram IDs.
Participants were instructed to collect 20 to 25 items showing some
aspect of their personality. Next, they shared the collected items with
the researcher by posting the images of items on a bulletin board
(figure 5). Participants were also asked to articulate the relationships
between themselves and the items.
The artifacts, collected in various mediums/formats—quotes, poems,
or pictures, e.g.—were informative in many regards. The images
provided rich information on the participants’ physical, social and
cultural environments where a person’s identity is generally formed/
transformed. For instance, Participant #3 posted many sports and
game-related artifacts such as baseball, darts, and carnival games.
This selection shows a dynamic and active side of her personality.
She posted the Yankees’ logo because of her love of baseball and New
York birthplace.
“LOVES baseball and the yankees. probably cause she was born in ny. but i got her
yankee spring training tickets for her bday”.
(Excerpt from the e-mail communication with participant #3)
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“canival game: crystal’s friend just gave this to crystal a few days ago since crystal
loves WII and thought she would like this game since it pertains to different carnival
games like pop the balloon, horse racing, shooting duck and so much more. her friend
said she would love it! since the more you win, the more tickets you receive and then
you exchange them for a prize! Lol.”
(Excerpt from the e-mail communication with participant #3)
The images provided the participants’ self-images mirrored on
perceptible artifacts around them. The perceptible artifacts are
representations of how the participants view themselves (then and
now), which often differ from how their acquaintances view them.
Without the perceptible artifacts, it would have been very difficult
to communicate the participants’ self-images because the selfimages
may have been obvious to the participants but not visible at
all to the researcher. The perceptible artifacts, however, are signs
that have to be interpreted by the researcher, and the researcher’s
subjectivity will always be projected onto the meanings of the signs.
A person’s represented identity, as a result, is not a clearly defined
and established image by the person, but always a negotiated image
between the person and the interpreters of the image. For example,
participant #5 used an image of a circle to represent her personality,
a personality she described as not sensitive or easygoing. The circle
was used as a metaphor for her invisible personality traits that
are not pointed or sharp. Even though the personality traits are
not visible or tangible, it was communicated clearly between the
researcher and the participant with the metaphor thanks to the
15

shared perception of the circle.
“One of my friend said she thinks of circle when she imagines me cause everything I
have is circle shape like my eyes, my face, my easygoing personality.”
(Excerpt from the e-mail communication with participant #5)
The images also include some artifacts that relate to the participant’s
identity by association, such as seashell that is associated to
seashore. Concepts arise from a person’s experience and more
concepts are associated with them, and altogether, they become
part of the person’s identity. The associated concepts revealed the
participant’s memories/relations to ideas, objects, activities, and
people during the research. Some concepts associated with some of
the participant’s characteristics by similarity helped the researcher
see the participant’s personality.
For instance, participant #2 posted a photo of red flat shoes because
she frequently wears flat shoes in various colors (especially in red),
and it has become a characteristic part of her fashion style. During
the interview, the flat shoes reminded participant #2 of the activities
that she was involved in while she was wearing the shoes. Also, she
posted a blue VW Beetle image because she has been driving VW
Beetle for a long time and people who are close to her think the car
goes well with her. As a result, the car, or any car that is similar to
the VW Beetle, reminds them of participant #2.
“My brother-in-law said whenever he sees VW beetle, it reminds him of me. because I
16

drive Beetle and I hear a lot from people that my car is just like me.“
(Excerpt from the e-mail communication with participant #3)
“One on my close friend says a red flat shoes always reminds of me. because I love
shoes :) and especially I have a lot of flat shoes. since I am a graphic designer, she
thinks my red flat shoes match with my personality.”
(Excerpt from the e-mail communication with Participant #3)
3.3 Phase 2: Five Factor Model – The Design Rationale of MeeGram
The data collected from the Phase 1 activities were analyzed with
the Affinity Diagram method where clusters of related data emerge
as themes. For each participant, clusters of collected data were
summarized as an Affinity Diagram (Figure 6). Later, the researcher
concluded that (1) similar themes can be found in most participants,
and (2) the themes virtually coincide with the five dimensions of
identity as they are defined in the Five Factor Model: Openness,
Conscientiousness, Extroversion, Agreeableness and Neuroticism.
The design of MeeGram ID as a visual symbol with five layered
images, therefore, can be derived from the five dimensions.
Big Five Factors or the Five Factor Model is one of the contemporary
17

psychology theories that describe human personality. Originally
developed by Tupes and Cristal for the U.S. Air Force Personnel
Laboratory in the late 1950s, this model is considered the most
comprehensive, empirical, and data-driven research finding in
personality psychology as it effectively identifies the basic traits
and structure of human personality. It is, however, a very broad,
rather conceptual framework, and also it is a strictly descriptive
model. Each of the Big Five Factors—Openness, Conscientiousness,
Extroversion, Agreeableness, and Neuroticism (Emotional
Stability)—includes several related qualities: for instance,
sociability, excitement seeking, and impulsiveness belong to the
Extroversion factor. The Big Five Factors and their constituent traits
can be summarized as follows:
Openness
Openness refers to appreciation for art, unusual or unexpected
ideas, curiosity, and variety of other cultural experience. This trait
separates innovative and imaginative people from realistic and
material people. People with high openness scores are open-minded
to unusual experience and show a lot of intellectual curiosity. They
are very sensitive to creativity, and honest about their own feelings.
They can deal with complex and subtle ideas pretty well.
Conscientiousness
Conscientiousness describes a person’s level of discipline and
responsibility. People with high conscientiousness scores tend to be
responsible in action and highly motivated in achievement. They
act with planned, controlled, and regulated behaviors rather than
impulsive or spontaneous ones.
Extroversion
Extroversion trait shows a person’s tendency to pursue excitement
in social relationships. People with high extroversion scores enjoy
being with other people and are often called “party people.” They are
likely to be energetic and enthusiastic, action-driven individuals who
are likely to lead and say “Yes!” or “Let’s go!” to opportunities for
18

stimulation. When they meet other people in groups, they like to talk
in front of people and draw attention to themselves.
Agreeableness
The agreeableness trait shows how much a person would like to
cooperate in relationships with others. This trait also represents
individual differences in how much each person is concerned about
social harmony, so people with high agreeableness scores are
attentive, amiable, generous, friendly, and wiling to compromise.
They also have a very positive view on human nature: a human being
has an honest, decent, and trustworthy existence.
Neuroticism
People with high neuroticism scores have the tendency to feel
negative emotions such as depression, anxiety, or anger more often
than the others. This trait spells out one’s emotional instability, so
people with high neuroticism scores are likely to take their problems
very seriously even when the problems are minor. People with high
scores are vulnerable to stress in general. They are easily disturbed
or irritated by small matters or experience mood swings.
Chapter 4
Analysis of Data
The data collected in Phase 1, the participants’ image collections
and interview comments, were analyzed with the Affinity Diagram
method. The Affinity Diagram, often used to make clusters of ideas
generated by Brainstorming, is a tool that gathers large amounts
of data and organizes them into groupings based on natural
relationships. In this research, a broad range of images were
collected by each participant, but the interview comments revealed
that some images were related to the participant’s identity for a
similar reason. For instance, participant #5’s LA fitness image shows
a slice of her life style that she regularly exercises and enjoys it.
The image shows the participant’s active and dynamic aspect that is
mainly related to Extroversion. Also, participant #3’s cocktail book
image represents that she loves to party and she is called a party
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person by her close friends. This shows her Extroversion aspect in
terms of personality traits in the Big Five Factor.
For data analysis, the researcher printed images collected by
each participant and created sticky notes of key ideas about each
image that the participant expressed during the interviews.
Then, the images and notes were arranged in several groups—the
researcher paid close attention to how each image is relevant to
the participant’s personality, and made groups of images that have
similar relationships to the participant. The resulting Affinity
Diagram includes all images organized in several groups. At the end,
each group was labeled with a keyword capturing the essential link
among the ideas contained in the group of images.
While going through this analysis process several times with five
sets of data, the researcher began to see some recurring themes
common to all participants’ data, which is very similar to the Big
Five Factors. There is a possibility that the Big Five Factors actually
affected the way data were analyzed as prescribed clusters because
it is such a strong framework that makes a lot of sense to the
researcher. After repeating the Affinity Diagram analysis several
times, the researcher decided to organize images according to their
relevance to the Big Five Factors. In the following paragraphs, how
the five dimensions of personality were materialized and reflected in
perceptible artifacts will be described with examples.
4.1 Openness
Openness was shown in some of artifacts related to travel and art.
Having learned that one of the personality traits in Openness is
appreciation of other cultures and art, the researcher placed travel
and German coke of the participant #4. In the description of the
objects, the participant explained his love of traveling to other
countries and love for German Coke. That was how he came up with
traveling and German coke as part of his identity, and these artifacts
represent (then and now) the participant’s Openness aspect.
Participant #2 brought a light bulb that represents the participant’s
flexibility aspect in terms of sparkling ideas. In the description,
the person brought a light bulb for her identity and mentioned her
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unusual mind set compared to other ordinary people. This quality
of her personality makes her brilliant. The researcher thought the
object should be categorized under Openness.
4.2 Conscientiousness Represented in the Collected Images
Conscientiousness is represented in some of artifacts that the
participants have a tendency to plan or control things rather than be
spontaneous. For instance, the participant #1 submitted an image of
a notepad that shows a tendency to write down items such as things
to do or things related to schedule and time. The participant stated
that she feels more comfortable when she organizes to do lists on her
note pad. This image clearly shows her conscientiousness quality in
her character.
As another example of showing conscientiousness, participant #2
came up with an image of Starbucks Americano because that is
everyday activity for her. She sticks to a certain type of coffee and
brand rather than choose and drink one at random. This image
shows the participant’s conscientiousness aspect since the trait of
the personality is closely related to carefully planned or controlled
behaviors.
4.3 Extroversion Reflected on the Collected Images
Among the participants, participants #3 and #5 have many artifacts
showing the Extroversion quality of their personalities. For example,
participant #3’s party person image strongly represents her outgoing
quality of personality since the image came to her because she loves
parties and people.
Participant #5’s LA fitness image shows her dynamic aspect of
personality because she likes exercising everyday.
4.4 Agreeableness Exemplified with the Collected Images
The example of Agreeableness is represented in participant #5’s
image titled smiling face. The participant obtained this image
from her customer because she is always smiling at work. The
participant’s customer may think that being sweet to others is part of
the participant’s personality or identity.
21

Also, participant #2 obtained a quote “Life is how to dance in the
rain” from her close friend. The person brought this quote to tell
about her flexible mind set toward life’s difficulties.
4.5 Neuroticism Revealed in the Collected Images
Neuroticism is referred to emotional stability. In other words, the
quality of this personality trait is closely related to the participant’s
emotional aspect. Participant #2’s Starbucks Americano was placed
under Neuroticism because the act of wanting a certain type of coffee
is related to emotions in a sense.
Also, participant #2 has an image of a cat. The reason is that the
participant’s personality is kind of sensitive, independent, and
picky. The researcher thought the quality of those are related to
Neuroticism.
4.6 Profile of Participant #5
Participant #3 has 11 artifacts that represent the Extroversion
quality out of 23 items in total and 5 items each that can be classified
as Openness and Agreeableness (figure 6). For example, waiver for
baseball games and party person represent that she is dynamic and
outgoing, #1 teacher and sunflower represent her warm and humane
aspect in her personality. On the other hand, the participant has
few items that go under Conscientiousness and Neuroticism. As a
result, the participant’s personality is revealed as largely dominated
by Extroversion: dynamic, active and sociable. Through the process
of building the affinity diagram for the participant, the researcher
learned that the participant’s personality is mainly outgoing, vibrant
(Extroversion) and easygoing (Agreeableness). (figure 6)
Chapter 5
Implementation: The Design of the MeeGram Identity System
5.1 Visual Symbols for the Five Dimensions of Personality
The proposed identity, MeeGram, is a system that generates
customized visual symbols based on user input. The MeeGram
symbol consists of five layered images, each of which represents one
of the five personality dimensions: Openness, Conscientiousness,
22

Extroversion, Agreeableness and Neuroticism. A user can rate
him/herself in each dimension on a scale of one to five, and five
visual symbols will be designed accordingly. In total, MeeGram can
generate 3,125 of different B/W composite symbols. Considering
each layer can be painted in one of the 16.7 million RGB color
combinations, however, the number of possible composite symbols
(MeeGram ID) is virtually limitless, so MeeGram ID can generate
genuinely personalized IDs for individuals.
The biggest challenge in designing MeeGram symbols was
determining how effectively the designed symbols can communicate
individual and composite personality dimensions. The symbol for
each dimension should not be too complicated because it will be
put together with the others to create the final, composite symbol
for the user’s collective personality. On the other hand, the symbol
for each dimension should be not be too simplistic as it needs to
clearly differ from the others and capture the depth and breadth of
the five concepts, i.e. Openness, Conscientiousness, Extroversion,
Agreeableness and Neuroticism. The five steps in each dimension
need to be clearly discernible from each other so users know which
dimensions are stronger than the others in the personality. The
aesthetic interactions among five layers of images were also one of
the key considerations. The composite symbol needs to show all five
dimensions in a collective whole, with five discernible but nicely
weaved symbols.
Openness (figure 7)
Openness is defined as an ability to appreciate unusual ideas with
curiosity. The symbol for openness is designed to exhibit the sparkle
of the mind that leads to brilliant genius as well as the inquisitive
attitude that keeps a person willing to accept and explore a broad
range of possibilities. The symbol shows eight simple straight lines
with small dots at the end stretching outward from the center, and
nothing blocks the lines’ advancement or closes the open structure.
The circle of lines widens as it is open to all possibilities. This idea
of sparkling star-like structure came through during a brainstorming
session from the conventional metaphor of a light bulb for an
23

innovative idea.
Conscientiousness (figure 8)
Conscientiousness is a person’s tendency to exert self-discipline to
achieve certain goals, and it manifests itself in carefully-planned
behaviors of controlling, regulating, and directing one’s impulses.
Conscientiousness is visualized in a symbol of mathematical
precision and solidity in this research. The look and feel of this
symbol does not communicate much receptiveness, flexibility or
novelty. Rather, it shows robustness, integrity, and accuracy with
its dense, regular, and geometric pattern. This Conscientiousness
symbol is created by rotating and duplicating an oval shape by 10
degrees several times, and the overlapping ovals form a structured
pattern of interwoven lines. The density of this symbol can be
adjusted in response to the user input, from steps one through five,
to show varying degrees of Conscientiousness.
Extroversion(figure 9)
Extroversion is the energy to engage self in social interactions, and
the symbol for Extroversion is designed to show the vibrancy and
enjoyment of the interactions. The symbol consists of small waterdrop
shapes, and actually they are beads of sweat that have strong
association to excitement, enthusiasm, and deep involvement. The
water drops are arranged in a radially symmetrical structure, and
water drops look as if they are moving both inwards and outwards,
in all directions. The symbol visualizes one’s inner self that wants to
either push outward or retreat inward, depending on the situation.
For action-oriented individuals who seek for excitement, the
dominant direction of movement may be outward.
Agreeableness (figure 10)
Agreeableness is a tendency to be compassionate and cooperative
rather than suspicious and antagonistic towards others.
Agreeableness can be observed from the empathic and amicable
gestures that individuals make towards others that are used to
establish/maintain rapport. The considerate, friendly, generous, and
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altruistic behaviors reinforce an optimistic view of human nature.
The symbol for Agreeableness intends to portray the idea of a decent
and generous human being. The circular design of this symbol is
a common visual language for ‘willingness to get along with other
people’ as there is no sharp or aggressive side in it. Moreover, the
fuzzy edge of the circle symbolizes one’s inclination to compromise
in order to create harmony rather than to convince others of his/
her ideas. The fuzzy edge cushions the inevitable conflicts between
people. The overall look and feel of the circle communicates a
receptive, forgiving attitude with a great deal of warmth, and in one’s
MeeGram ID, the varying size of this symbol shows how agreeable a
person is.
Neuroticism (figure 11)
Neuroticism, the only negative trait among the five, is a tendency to
experience negative emotions such as anger, anxiety, or depression
that can lead to emotional instability. Individuals who score high in
the Neuroticism dimension may be more pessimistic, anxious and
vulnerable to stress. The symbol for Neuroticism is designed with an
inspiration from the structure of the human nervous system because
the negative emotions people experience are in fact chemical signals
exchanged in the nervous system. In the human nervous system,
numerous neurons are connected in a network and exchange signals
to govern higher mental functions and primitive emotions. When
a person is stressed, a neural stress–response network is activated
and emotional activity is increased while other cognitive functions
are degraded. The proposed Neuroticism symbol shows a network of
neuron cells and its dendrites in simplified forms.
5.2 Color Palette
The MeeGram symbols are presented in B/W in the previous section,
but they can be painted in 16.7 million colors in this system. In
this research, five participants provided information about their
personalities, and the researcher generated their MeeGram IDs
which the researcher painted in the colors extracted from the
collected images.
25

The underlying assumption is that the collected images reflect
some aspects of the participants’ personalities, and as colors in the
images may reflect their personalities to some degree. The colors in
the images are an intrinsic part of the objects and events portrayed
in the image, and when participants selected the images, they may
have been drawn to the colors in the images as well as the subjects.
Perception of a color evokes both the visceral and symbolic levels
of reaction to a viewer, and a person’s favorite color reflects the
personality traits he or she values, such as the “introspection, selfcontrol
and conservatism” that blue represents.
In this research, MeeGram IDs were painted in one of the collected
images’ color palette. For instance, a participant brought an image
including light red, pale light blue, navy and a little bit of jade
green. His MeeGram ID was painted with this color combination
because, this research argues, it better reflects his personality. The
researcher selected the images for the color palette for this study,
but a MeeGram ID can be more personalized if users can submit
their choices of images from which color palettes are extracted. Even
though colors are signs whose meanings are open to the individual
viewers’ subjective interpretations thanks to their cultural/personal
background, colors can provide a wide selection of vocabulary
for human emotions and experiences that cannot be described in
linguistic symbols.
5.3 Design of the Composite Symbol
Based on the analysis of participants’ image collection and
interviewer comments, five composite symbols for the participants
were designed. Each participant received two images: (1) one poster
with 20 composite symbols where each composite symbol was
designed based on one of the participant’s acquaintances’ perceptions
(the scores he or she gave on the five personality dimensions along
with the image) of the participant; and (2) a composite MeeGram ID
designed with the average of all scores.
Firstly, the 24-by-32-inch poster shows 20 B/W symbols generated
based on each image and one set of five dimension scores. For
example, on the poster 03_1, participant #3 brought the Yankees
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image that she got from her friend since she is a huge fan of
Yankees. Her friend also gave participant #3 5 points for the
Extroversion dimension but no points for the other categories (figure
13). Here, the researcher learned that participant #3 is perceived as
a very active and outgoing team player.
The symbols in the poster are B/W to help the viewers pay attention
to the shapes and their meanings without getting distracted by
colors, and some individual dimension symbols are inverted to make
them visible against the dark background. For example, on the
poster 02_1, “Life is how to dance in the rain” is designed based on
the 5 points in Agreeableness and Openness dimensions, but the thin
black lines in the Openness symbol were not visible when they were
superimposed on the dark Agreeableness symbol. Therefore, the
Agreeableness symbol is inverted in white to make Openness symbol
visible (figure 15).
Secondly, the final composite symbol, a MeeGram ID, was generated
based on the average of all 20 sets of scores that each participant
earned from his/her acquaintance, and the beauty of this symbol
comes from the interesting visual harmony of five layered images.
The MeeGram ID appears in the colors extracted from one of the
collected images. Actually, participant #3 earned many social activity
related items such as carnival games, darts, and party person
images. Her high average scores in the Extroversion and Openness
dimensions are reflected on the final composite MeeGram ID in
Figure 14-1.
Participant #1 obtained items related to open-mindedness, e.g.
the quote “Everything happens for a reason” and empty bottles
representing for her recycling habits. As a result, her personality
scored high in the Agreeableness and Openness categories. The final
composite MeeGram ID is represented in Figure 14-2.
In poster 2-1, the participant’s artifacts are interpreted in a big
portion of Openness and Conscientiousness. Many items represent
her pickiness and tendency to stick to her favorite life patterns, e.g.
her photos of Starbucks Americano and red flat shoes. On the other
hand, she is open to unusual ideas and arts as she has a light bulb
to convey this quality of her personality. This is how she earned
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high scores in Openness and Conscientiousness. Her final composite
MeeGram ID is in Figure 14-3.
Participant #4’s final composite MeeGram ID has a similar portion
in 3 personality traits: Extroversion, Openness and Agreeableness
(Figure 14-4). The participant obtained travel- related items such as
public transportation, a German coke advertisment, and city photos
from places that he traveled to in the past. The artifacts convey that
he is free minded, vibrant and opened to other cultures.
Participant #5’s final MeeGram ID turned out to largely favor
Agreeableness since she has many items related to her easygoing
personality, such as a circle and bunch of things in the bag. As the
next big portion of her personality, she scored high in Extroversion
because she also earned items showing her dynamic and vibrant life
pattern. The final composite MeeGram ID is in Figure 14-5.
5.4 Post-Interviews with the MeeGram Composite Symbol
E-mail post-interviews were conducted after the researcher shared
the resulting MeeGram IDs with them, with six open-ended
questions in Appendix (16).
Participants commented that people’s identities consist of memories,
the environments they live in, the people they spend their time
with, their social statuses, and how others view and interpret their
personalities. It is interesting that they thought of personality not
as something that resides within a person, but as a composite image
of the person that is created based on the person’s self-perception
and other people’s perception on him/her. In the same vein, the
participants agreed that MeeGram IDs represent their personalities
pretty well because the IDs were designed based on both how they
see themselves and how the people around them know/think of
them. All participants agreed that the collected items reflect their
personalities and interests. Also, they learned something new about
how they are perceived/thought of by their acquaintances during
this research. Participant #2 learned that she is perceived as a
person who “eat sweets” and “collect random objects from trips and
to have random items.” Some participants also learned what they
would like to accept as part of the public self-image and what they
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would like to hide. Participant #1 received many images of soju
(Korean alcoholic drink which she enjoys) from her friends, and even
though she admits she enjoys drinking, she would not mention or
publicly display this image as part of her identity, especially at work.
Participant #3 received an image of her favorite figure skater, and
she is willing to share the image with any one, as the figure skater
is her country’s national pride. Participant #4 said the images are
“extremely accurate depicting my personality… someone who loves
sports, sweets and to have a good time.” She also continued that she
“wouldn’t have a problem sharing these items on a job interview”
because the items “could become good conversational pieces”.
Regarding their MeeGram IDs, Participant #2 commented that she
was “very pleased with” and she plans on “displaying this in my
office-this will be a great conversational piece once clients and coworkers
visit my space.” The MeeGram ID was “very confusing” to
Participant #4 at first, but after reading the researcher’s description
on the poster, the Five Factor model, and the MeeGram ID,
Participant #4 said MeeGram ID as a system was “an abstract-blood
like DNA formula that makes up my personality,” and it would be
safe as an ID because “It would be hard for one to replicate this exact
identity.” Participant #3 mentioned that she appears to be “simple”
in her MeeGram ID, but actually she is “complicated a little as
people get to know [her] more and more.”
The researcher concluded that MeeGram ID was very well-received
in general because (1) participants enjoyed the process of collecting
images and were happy about their self-images reflected on the
collected images, (2) their MeeGram IDs designed based on the
image collection and their acquaintance’s input made a lot of sense
to them, (3) participants appreciated the MeeGram ID as a uniquely
personalized objects that is hard to replicate, and (4) participants
saw the MeeGram ID’s value in facilitating their social interactions.
Chapter 6
Conclusions
6.1 Summary and Contributions of the Research
This research proposed a system of a personalized visual ID,
29

MeeGram, that is generated based on the user’s personality
traits. MeeGram ID is designed to compensate for the limitations
of digitized IDs such as barcodes, and to show the owner’s core
and enduring characteristics because it reflects both the owner’s
self-perception and his/her acquaintances’ perception on the
owner. In this research, five participants were recruited and were
instructed to collect (1) images relevant to their identities from
their acquaintances for four weeks; and (2) their acquaintances’ the
Five Factor Model scores on the participants, on the dimensions of
Openness, Conscientiousness, Extroversion, Agreeableness, and
Neuroticism.
The five participants’ MeeGram IDs were very different from one
another, and their aesthetic and practical values were very well
received by the participants. Most participants agreed that MeeGram
IDs reflect who they are in general, and would like to share the
IDs with other people because the IDs will open up interesting
conversations. To one participant, the meaning of her MeeGram ID
was not intuitive, but after listening to the researcher’s explanation,
she began to see how to read the ID. She also commented that
MeeGram symbols would be practically useful as an ID because it
is feasible to issue unique MeeGram IDs to each person and make it
difficult to decode for other people. Participants with Graphic Design
education appreciated the aesthetic quality the ID design and the
originality of the idea.
The contributions from this research are two-fold. As mentioned
earlier in Chapter 1, MeeGram captures more relevant information
about the owner as a person than digitized IDs, thus making the
MeeGram ID meaningful for the lifetime to its owner because it
was conceived from an experience. Instead of being just efficient
like other digitized IDs, MeeGram can address the affective aspects
of the owner and make his/her social interaction richer. MeeGram
also represents the information in visual forms that everyone can
intuitively interpret, and this can be valuable for three reasons:
Firstly, such an identity system will bring our attention back to
the matter of humanity that is often ignored when we treat people
as simply one of the many entities to “process.” Secondly, such an
30

identity system will inevitably invite people to participate in the
processes of reflection and representation of self that will help them
discover, negotiate, construct, and represent their identities in
their own terms. Thirdly, this research proposes designing a visual
symbol for an ID that reflects its owner’s personality and attitude
as a part of the identity system, and when the symbol is shared in
the social interaction context, it will open up a lot of conversations
and contemplative thoughts, presenting interesting opportunities to
explore to the owner.
6.2 Limitations of the Research
Throughout the research and implementation process, the researcher
struggled with this question: What exactly constitutes a person’s
identity? The concept is intangible, broad, and vaguely defined.
Even though the researcher based her research on the Five Factor
Model, she is certain that there are other aspects of self that are
not sufficiently addressed with the Five Factor Model, and thus not
represented with MeeGram IDs.
Also the number of participants is small in this research so the
findings are rather directive than conclusive. The findings in this
research are more useful as sources of inspiration for graphic
designers instead of as robust research results that suggest everyone
will accept and approve the MeeGram symbols. The findings in this
study should be developed as an online system where users set up
accounts, invite their networks of friends, exchange images that
are relevant to their personalities and Five Factor scores, create a
MeeGram ID, and send their qualitative and quantitative feedback
to the researcher. The findings in this study can be validated in a
large scale study before MeeGram can be implemented as a practical
application.
6.3 Future Studies
The limitations point to the direction of future studies. Firstly,
MeeGram will be developed into an online system, a website, or a
social network site application where people already have networks
of friends and share images with them. Secondly, the researcher
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would like to explore other personality models beyond the Five
Factor Model and develop another visual ID system. For example,
there is DISC theory that is developed based on quadrant behavioral
models by William Moulton Marston, PhD. The theory examines
the behavior of people within a certain situation or environment.
The classification of four categories in the method is Dominance,
Influence, Steadiness, Conscientiousness, the first letter of each
aspect an acronym for DISC. These four dimensions can be simplified
in a 2x2 matrix representing extroverted quality of the personality
at the top low with Dominance and Influence, and Steadiness
and Conscientiousness below representing introverted qualities.
Dominance and Conscientiousness share the left side and represent
task-focused qualities and Influence and Steadiness at the right
column represent people-focused qualities. A visual identity system
can be designed based on this theory since those four dimensions
represent key aspects of the personality.
Also, there is another theory that the personality can be represented
through a color test. Invented by Dr. Max Luscher in Switzerland,
supporters of the Luscher color test maintain that conducting
the color test in an unconscious manner can show a person’s real
color (29) . Since color preferences are one of the key elements in terms
of identity formation, the researcher would like the opportunity to
explore how this color testing theory could be visualized in a certain
system.
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Appendix
figure 1
figure 2
figure 3
figure 4
33

34
figure 5

figure 6
OPENNESS CONSCIENTIOUSNESS EXTROVERSION AGREEABLENESS NEUROTICISM
darts
olive garden
scratch off ticket
#1 teacher
batman
fishing
darts
lady bug
#1 teacher
colorade rackies
sunflower
catholic bracelet
waiver
softball philosophy
eco frogs
party person
chocolate popcorns
dice
large drinking cup with
bell
carnival games
softball philosophy
the yankees
number 12
figure 7 figure 8
figure 9 figure 10
figure 11
35

figure 12
figure 13
figure 14-1
figure 14-2
36

figure 14-3
figure 14-4
figure 14-5
figure 15
37

Appendix 16 Participant #1
How do you feel about the collected items? Do they reflect your identity?
Why and why not?
The items that people gave me, overall, do reflect my personality. Each item
displays my interest, the things I like to collect or the things that I like to
eat.
Which items are you willing to share as part of your identity with anyone,
even in job interviews?
I wouldn’t have a problem showing anyone the items that were given to
me. These items would be items one could see on my desk or in my pile of
collectibles.
Which items would you rather not mention as part of your identity to your
colleagues? Why?
I wouldn’t have a problem showing any of these items to my colleagues.
I think each item that was given to me-describes my personality and my
interest very well.
How do you feel about the finished image? Does it reflect your identity?
Why and why not?
I am very pleased with my identity. I plan on displaying this in my officethis
will be a great conversational piece once clients and co-workers visit my
space. This identity relates well with my personality as I am very complexed
and hard to understand at first, but once you get to know me and peel back
my layers, you will find the true/caring person.
What would you conclude from the collected items and the finished image?
What can you say about yourself, based on the collected item? Is there any thing
new that you learned about yourself from this experiment?
Looking at the collected images, I can tell that people see me to eat sweets,
to collect random objects from trips and to have random items since I like to
keep everything.
What do you think a person’s identity is constituted with?
A person’s identity can be used in-place of words or letters. It can be a simple
or complex shape that depicts a person’s personality. Depending on the
viewer’s personality, experiences, etc. may influence their depiction of the
importance of another’s identity.
38

Participant #2
How do you feel about the collected items? Do they reflect your identity?
Why and why not?
I think most of them reflect my personality. During the process, I was kind
of expecting what kind of items they will bring because they spent long time
with me as friends and family. So I think they know me and my personality
well.
Which items are you willing to share as part of your identity with anyone,
even in job interviews?
Among the collected items, I liked starbucks Americano to represent my
character and red flat shoes. Because they show my identity well.
Which items would you rather not mention as part of your identity to your
colleagues? Why?
I wouldn’t mention “soju” to others (specially in my job interview) when
I have to show them because I don’t want others to think I am a heavy
drinking person. But the funny thing was one third of my people came up
with soju when I asked them to bring something for me.
How do you feel about the finished image? Does it reflect your identity?
Why and why not?
I think it is communicating about me in some way. Since the icon/symbol
was created off of the big five factors icons, it is not too different from others.
However, the color scheme definitely shows my personality and the portion
of each symbol shows it too.
What would you conclude from the collected items and the finished image?
What can you say about yourself, based on the collected item? Is there any thing
new that you learned about yourself from this experiment?
I would tell about my self as a quiet, tendency to stick to certain thing that I
like, and a little bit shy.
What do you think a person’s identity is constituted with?
I think a person’s identity is constituted with memories that the person
experience things overtime. Also environments such as friends and objects
contribute to develop or form a personality. Sometimes the identity is made
up for a social status and relationships so we won’t be able to tell someone’s
real color.
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Participant #3
How do you feel about the collected items? Do they reflect your identity?
Why and why not?
The items that were collected are items that reflect who I am and my
personality. They are items that I like, that I have an interest in and that
make people think of me.
Which items are you willing to share as part of your identity with anyone,
even in job interviews?
I wouldn’t have a problem sharing these items on a job interview. These
items could become good conversational pieces on describing what I like to do
on the weekends or my hobbies.
Which items would you rather not mention as part of your identity to your
colleagues? Why?
I wouldn’t have a problem showing any of these items to my colleagues. I
think my friends, family and co-workers did a great job collecting items that
they think best describes me.
How do you feel about the finished image? Does it reflect your identity?
Why and why not?
At first, it is very confusing and I don’t really understand it. But once I
read the poster and learn about the five personality traits, it semi-comes
together. Its almost like an abstract-blood like DNA formula that makes
up my personality. It would be hard for one to replicate this exact identity
therefore, it would be safe to use this in place of an identification code.
What would you conclude from the collected items and the finished image?
What can you say about yourself, based on the collected item? Is there any thing
new that you learned about yourself from this experiment?
After looking at the collected images-it is extremely accurate depicting my
personality…someone who loves sports, sweets and to have a good time.
What do you think a person’s identity is constituted with?
An identity can sum up who a person is within one shape or letter. A great
identity is one that viewer’s will not easily forget.
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Participant #5
How do you feel about the collected items? Do they reflect your identity?
Why and why not?
Yes, I was surprised that people noticed my characteristics so closely.
Which items are you willing to share as part of your identity with anyone,
even in job interviews?
I am willing to share Kim Youn A part because I really like her and when I
heard that, I was so proud of my self and my country.
Which items would you rather not mention as part of your identity to your
colleagues? Why?
I wouldn’t mind to share or mention any of those because I think the items
are so reflecting my personality.
How do you feel about the finished image? Does it reflect your identity?
Why and why not?
Yes. when I saw it at first, I could realize what those show right away and
that is matched with my personality. Especially I liked the colors on the
symbol created.
What would you conclude from the collected items and the finished image?
What can you say about yourself, based on the collected item? Is there any thing
new that you learned about yourself from this experiment?
I am kind of simple seemingly, but so complicated a little as people I get to
know more and more.
What do you think a person’s identity is constituted with?
The way I think about my self, or the way I want to be looked by others. the
way others interpret my personality in their own way.
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