Project

The Perception Census

Problem

Collective Act and Sussex and Glasgow Universities needed a platform capable of running a large-scale, public-facing study of human perception. The tests had to work across a wide range of devices and network conditions, include both standard questionnaires and interactive multimedia evaluations, and handle tens of thousands of participants simultaneously.

Approach

I built a custom test platform in PHP and JavaScript capable of presenting optical illusions, questionnaires, and interactive multimedia-based perceptual tasks. WebGL was used for precise visual stimulus rendering. The platform was designed for reliability under high load and was made accessible to participants globally without requiring any software installation.

Outcome

33,780 people from 133 countries participated, making it the largest study of perceptual differences of its kind. The platform ran without significant issues throughout the study period and produced a huge and valuable dataset used for ongoing academic research. The project won an award in the ‘Creative effectiveness’ category in the CR Annual Awards 2024!