The One Show
The One Show is the world's most prestigious award show in advertising and design. For over 50 years, the Gold Pencil has been regarded as one of the top prizes in the creative industry. The One Show has a rich legacy of honoring some of the most groundbreaking ideas, created by some of the most remarkable minds in creativity.
Kami
Agency Forsman & Bodenfors / Singapore + Fuse / Singapore + The Diigitals / Dorset + Harpi Sim / Singapore
Category
Digital Design
Annual ID
OS23_DE048B
About the Work
Virtual influencers are fast dominating the face of the digital world. With pixel-perfect faces and bodies, sadly much of what society considers to be “flaws” are removed. Of the 200+ virtual influencers on Instagram in early 2022, not a single one represented the disability community. So, we set out to prove that diversity is possible in the virtual world, partnering with Down Syndrome International to change the digital landscape to make it more inclusive for the next generation.
The solution was Kami - the world's first virtual influencer with Down Syndrome. Kami was created to represent the Down Syndrome community in the virtual world and reflect the typical characteristics and behaviours of young women with the condition.
It was important that Kami was authentic to the group of people she represents, so every part of her design and story was co-created by a group of 100 young women with Down Syndrome from 16 different countries. Machine learning combined their faces to create Kami's, Kami’s body was made accurate to a real woman's proportions, her voice and captions are written from real women's quotes. As a virtual influencer, Kami was able to be a voice for not just one woman, but many women. Since the majority of women in Kami’s collective feel unsafe using social platforms on their own as they are often targeted with cyber bullying, abuse and scams, Kami is a tool for them to interact safely in the online space as her account is monitored and any hurtful comments are removed.
Since Kami's birth, she has appeared in virtual fashion shows, podcasts, created a pocket-metaverse, and launched a line of 3D wearables designed by people with Down Syndrome. Kami is the case study for Meta’s “Ethics of Virtual Influencers” guidebook, and created over $20k in paid work for real young women with Down Syndrome. Kami is the start of a new era of digital diversity, and continues her mission to make the virtual world more inclusive.
2023 Awards
Total Points: 9
Bronze Pencil
Credits
Agency
Forsman & Bodenfors / Singapore
Production Company
The Diigitals / Dorset
Harpi Sim / Singapore
Music / Sound Production Company
Fuse / Singapore
Creative Director
Rachel Kennedy
Firrdaus Yusoff
Gary Lim
Designer
Moses Wu
Editor
Jason Feng
Executive Producer
Ali Loveday-Herzinger
Producer
Amanda Zhang
Account Director
Jade Cheng
Director of PR Strategy & Communications
Deborah Abraham
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