Identity cards?

While researching for something earlier, I got a phone call from my friend who's an immigration officer at an airport and in talking about various things, I was reminded about identity cards and it gave me an idea. As a civili servant, he was given one and uses it frequently, but it was more the inspiration that came from talking about this that got me thinking. Would it be worth making a digital mock-up of such a thing and using the passport style portraits I originally planned to take, and use them, putting the text of their own perceptions of themselves (limit subjects to 3 words describing themselves).

The idea is quite interesting. There was a lot of debate about whether they were necessary or not and how it would make it easier to travel. Some saw it as another 'big brother' concept and an invasion of privacy, but I'm not sure I agree when you look at how impersonal they are. They're meant to be used as ID and the whole idea of identity to me seems so personal yet these cards are so generic and as much as you learn basic facts about the people on them, you learn so little about their actual identity. What makes them tick, what they like, what they don't like.

By experimenting digitally with the format and creating my own, I could put a twist on it and make them much more personal to the individual on the card. It's definitely an idea I should think about and make at least one experiment of. For now, I've just collected various ideas for mock-ups I could make. The biggest challenge is finding a large version or being able to make an authentic looking one.





Looking at these different formats of identity or citizen cards, led to me finding this website. Here, for a small price, you can create your own identity. You can have whatever details you want on the card and subsequently create your own person so long as you have a photo. It's that idea of changing things and wanting a new identity. I found this fascinating if not slightly disturbing. The idea that people will do anything to doctor their age or last name says a lot.