If you were described as average-looking, you probably wouldn't see it as a compliment. But perhaps you would be happy if you looked like any of these computer-generated depictions of the 'average woman'. With flawless skin, youthful faces and bright eyes - these average faces of women from around the world are nothing short of beautiful. They were created from hundreds of pictures of women from all over the world. Using a face-averaging tool hosted online by experimental psychologists at University of Glasgow, women from 41 different nationalities and ethnicities were used for the experiment. The tool is a modern version of the technique that anthropologist Sir Francis Galton pioneered in the late 19th century, multiple images were carefully laid over one another using a computer technology. Using the eyes of the women as a focus, it then worked out the average look of each woman from every region but analysing their faces. The method - called 'composite portraiture' - and was first used in the 1880s by Sir Francis Galton. The social scientist and cousin of Charles Darwin first created the image of the average face by superimposing multiple portraits of individuals. The technique has been used ever since, particularly in the study of 'attractiveness' - which studies people's perception of beauty. However, the results have attracted some controversy - with many saying the results do not reflect reality especially as the 'common' faces are all beautiful. While many agree that it does make sense the women are all pretty - because averages rule out blemishes - many are perplexed that the women all seem to be in her early twenties - not the average age of any nationality. Those behind the project say that many of the criticisms are explained by the process. Instead of having a lot of blurry images with undefined features, they say the method averages the shape of the features before blending the images together. Some anomalies can be explained by how the pictures were compiled. The prevalence of mousy hair is a result of blondeness being easily 'diluted'. Other results also suggest that the study has a few imperfections. The average South African, for example, should not be pale-skinned as only 9.2 per cent of the population define themselves as white. The project was inspired by the work of South African photographer Mike Mike - who created a web project several years ago called The Face of Tomorrow. The project saw the photographer compile a collection of people's faces from various cities for a final project while he was studying at Goldsmith's University in London. He said: 'Sitting on the underground train, I was intrigued by the sheer diversity of the place – Somalis, Indians, Americans, Zimbabweans, Scandinavians and a hundred other nationalities vying for their place in the metropolis. 'I thought: “What is this place, what is a Londoner?” 'I thought if one could merge all the people in a place like London one would be looking at the future of that place – one would have some notion of what a Londoner is or will become.' Source
