"Uncanny" refers to an eerie, unsettled sense that something isn't quite right.

The concept was first popularized by Freud in 1919 and has been explored in countless works of art, literature, and film. As the premise of this project, Boston's Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA) is hosting an exhibition exploring artistic expressions of the uncanny and needs a way to introduce this complex topic to potential visitors.

The solution is a microsite and quiz called "Uncovering the Uncanny," which helps the user answer the tantalizing question: What does your uncanny look like? Users can explore an introduction to the uncanny, take the image-comparison quiz, and review their results to see which categories of the uncanny resonated with them the most.

Completed at MassArt

 A note about this project:

"Uncovering the Uncanny" began as a personal research project, in which I read about different theoretical constructs of the uncanny and developed a unique system of six categories for classifying uncanny images. I then assembled a collection of 44 uncanny images, classified them by category, and created a survey comparing the relative uncanniness of these images. The survey was completed by over 100 participants.

In the current phase of this project, I chose to focus on the user's experience of learning about the uncanny and taking the survey. I wanted to use design to help complex, abstract ideas feel accessible.