global photoshop study shows 'perceptions of perfection' across the world

global photoshop study shows ‘perceptions of perfection’ across the world
all images courtesy of superdrug onlinedoctor

following in the footsteps of journalist esther honig’s viral project ‘before & after’, featured by designboom last year, a website offering online medical services questioned how perceptions of body images vary across the globe. superdrug onlinedoctor asked 18 female graphic designers from around the world to photoshop an unedited image of a female form by making her — in their own opinion — more conventionally attractive to other citizens of their country. the brief sparked a thought-provoking and varied selection of results, which form an interesting study of the many different paradigms of beauty. ‘widely held perceptions of beauty and perfection can have a deep and lasting cultural impact on both women and men. the goal of this project is to better understand potentially unrealistic standards of beauty and to see how such pressures vary around the world.’

the study went a step further by calculating the estimated weight and BMI of each submission. while some designers in north, south, and central american countries produced an exaggerated hourglass figure, others in european and asian nations chose to render her dangerously thin.

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