Helsingin Sanomat: Emotion Cube

Scandanavia’s largest newspaper, Helsingin Sanomat, heralds its format change from broadsheet to tabloid, with the ‘Emotion Cube,’ an interactive experience that pulsates with readers’ emotions generated by its news stories.Created by hasan & partners Helsinki and produced by Perfect Fools, the ‘Emotion Cube’ responds to reactions to selected Helsingin Sanomat news stories.
The Cube is part of a campaign designed to remind readers about the power of journalism to generate an emotional response.

The emotions caused by Helsingin Sanomat stories will light up Kamppi Square, Helsinki, where up to two-million people are expected to experience the installation during its three-week tenure.

The 4m x 3m Cube is constructed from milky plexiglass, and powered by 200,000 lumens worth of light – the type of power usually found lighting up car parks and shopping centres.

Each of the six emotions: Hope, Sorrow, Joy, Worry, Interest, Rage, Compassion and Surprise are illuminated by a series of coloured LED bulbs, ranging from green for Hope to red for Rage.

By sharing their feelings via a smartphone, tablet or PC, the combined mood of readers will pulsate in a specific colour, while the emotion’s written word glows eerily from within the Cube.

The ‘Emotion Cube’ is social media for journalism and takes the idea of Facebook’s ‘Like’ button to a new level. It is a visual representation of readers’ comments that appear under an online story. Only a small proportion of readers leave a comment, but thanks to the Cube, all readers can share how they feel about a story.

Every day the emotional impact of news will be analysed so Helsingin Sanomat can review how stories affect the nation. Editors and journalists will see exactly what people really feel about their work. Readers can express their emotions collectively, while passersby will have their lives momentarily illuminated by the power of real journalism.