Heartman

True North

Toy and Photography

When I saw the prompt "True North," the first things that came to mind were the two interests that have guided my life: toys and photography.

Toys introduced me to industrial design and gave me the dream of becoming a toy designer. Photography taught me to look at the world from different angles and gave me the energy to keep exploring it.

Project System

Heartman

Heartman is my EDI Camp project. The name comes from a character in Death Stranding.

Main Body

Body as a Connector

The main body represents myself, with two interchangeable sets of heads and hearts: one for toys and one for photography. By installing different parts, the player can change the character's identity.

The body works like an interchangeable connector system, allowing the toy and photography narratives to be installed, removed, and recombined.

Toy Module

Toy Head

The toy head is based on the first toy I designed. When the head is pressed, its eyes light up.

Reference

Joe

This module carries forward the personality and proportions of my earlier toy design, connecting Heartman with a previous stage of my work.

Toy Module

Toy Heart

When the toy heart is removed, it can be placed inside the heart frame and displayed as an individual component.

Camera Module

Camera Head

The camera head takes basic camera features and adds small differences so it feels distinct from an ordinary camera.

This part focuses on the relationship between the lens, framing, and toy-like proportions, bringing the language of photography into the character itself.

Camera Module

Camera Heart

The camera heart is inspired by the Mamiya RB67, a film camera I have always liked but never bought.

Build

Making Process

During the making process, I tried adding a circuit inside a toy head for the first time so it could light up when pressed.

The resources of the EDI project, together with the influence of the people around me, encouraged me to build and solder the circuit myself. In the end, I was able to make Heartman's head light up.

Final

Final Object

The final object brings toys, photography, character design, and interchangeable structure into one system, becoming an interactive sculpture.

Because every module uses a brick-like connection system, the parts can be freely combined to create different character states.

Tools

Tripo3D, Rhino, UV Resin

I used Tripo3D to generate a 3D model from a photograph, then simplified it in Rhino with QuadRemesh and modeled the remaining parts there.

To create the clear quality of the camera lens, I used UV resin.