Ever caught a face staring back from somewhere? It could be a dried leaf on the ground riddled with holes resembling a smile, or two convex traffic mirrors above a street light looking like the eyes and mouth of a cricket – sometimes we see unique things in the most random of places.
That’s pareidolia: the psychological phenomenon of perceiving familiar shapes, faces, or patterns in response to ambiguous or random stimuli.
It’s a completely normal cognitive function, stemming from how our brain is wired to quickly recognise patterns, trying to make sense of what presents itself in front of us by matching it with familiar templates from our memory.
For this National Day, The Straits Times Picture Desk created a font set made up of pareidolia letters. Over six months, our team of photojournalists went on an alphabet hunt in everyday places and everyday objects.
They did this in between assignments, on bus and train rides, and on days off, and found the entire set of letters, emojis and punctuation marks in various parts of Singapore, some in the unlikeliest of places. This project was designed in collaboration with ST’s interactive graphics team.
Have fun creating text messages with our pareidolia alphabet and stand a chance to win one of eight pairs of tickets to the National Day Parade at the National Stadium on Aug 9.
Just save your message and join the lucky draw before it closes on July 30 at 11.59pm. Follow the guide at the end of the interactive to try your luck!
