2013 was the year of selfie reflection, and everyone from President Obama to this mischievous sea eagle indulged. There’s only one place left to go from here: space.
The Interstellar Selfie Station isn't really in space, but it wants to make you look like you stepped out of a video game. It's currently in a preview stage, and Toronto creator Christine Love says the more “polished” mobile version will be out before spring 2014, for Android and iOS. The original idea was to make a full motion video game in the ISS style, “but then I realized that I was having way more fun just playing with the dev tools and taking pictures of myself with it,” Love says.
The look is pixelated, lo-fi, from another era, which puts the Instagram-filtered composition of modern selfies in a different context. Love explains that’s on purpose:
“It's based on a few bits of old '90s technology: the Game Boy Camera, which actually fit into your giant brick 4-colour old Game Boy and took super-pixelated pictures, and the Super Game Boy, which did funky colourization to original Game Boy games. Of course, there's no way you could get pictures off that old hardware easily, and really... it's the sharing that's the most important part, isn't it?
“Mine also makes animated GIFs, 'cause I think animated GIFs are hella cool. I think that's the future of selfie technology, right there.”
HELLO IN MY OPINION Y’ALL CUTIES SHOULD USE #ISSLOVE FOR YOUR INTERSTELLAR SELFIE STATION PICTURES KTHNX <3 pic.twitter.com/ekOO7xEZ1o
— Christine Love (@christinelove) December 11, 2013“I really absolutely fucking love selfies,” she adds. “I post a lot and I like seeing them from my friends even more. You know, there's just so many forces trying to make people (and women especially) feel bad about how they look, and I'm really happy that selfies have become such a huge phenomenon, because it's serious blowback to that.
The #ISSLOVE hashtag offers a nice preview of what Twitter selfies might look like in 2014. You can demo your own photo by going to the site:
Ingrid and I greet you from space. This is so amazing, @christinelove. #ISSLOVE Make yours: http://t.co/HBKt4AUD8Wpic.twitter.com/ewlUNVljns
— Samantha Allen (@CousinDangereux) December 12, 2013
Chocobo aboard the USS #ISSLOVEpic.twitter.com/kZWKp9z7Ut
— Renaud Bédard (@renaudbedard) December 12, 2013
selfie history in the making via http://t.co/ZHGNESWhzJ@christinelovepic.twitter.com/vWLNQiFgo9
— sexual donut (@hentaiphd) December 11, 2013
Man, @christinelove's http://t.co/YLFoMDNxOi is cute and fun. pic.twitter.com/QvkRQ0Tk1L— Steve Wolfhard (@wolfhard) December 12, 2013
Beyond giving selfies a different look, Love adds that this app has the bonus of filtering in some self-confidence:
“What I like about the Interstellar Selfie Station is that it gives you just a little bit more control over how you look, and I've noticed this blowing up on my Twitter feed: Suddenly that makes people who are otherwise terrified to post pictures of themselves seem a lot more confident. With my phone's super-high resolution, high-colour 8-megapixel camera, it's got enough detail to show all my pores and how uneven my complexion is and how messed up my hair is and whatever else. Four colours isn't enough for that. In four colours, every picture looks super flattering, and the weird outer-space colour schemes just add a little bit more distance, so there's far less to worry about.
“And geeze, you know—seeing all the pictures being posted in the #ISSLOVE hashtag, every[one] is just so damn cute.”
Image via Interstellar Selfie Station