I See Faces - thoughts on the best (I think) non human character in the galaxy

While overlooking the last few pages in my sketchbook and writing that last post about going more for totally non human designs when thinking about character, I realised one of the best examples and inspirations for this way of thinking about character comes in (in my opinion) one of the best pieces of character design in film.

(drumroll)

(drumroll obsolete when the image can be seen straightaway)

R2-D2 came to my mind because he is as far from human as a character could possibly be, yet his appeal comes from our innate ability to take visual cues like rectangles and circles and imagine in our mind that whatever we are looking at has a recognisable personality. If someone was raised in solitude without ever seeing another human face but could see every other object we use in our day to day lives, they would probably think this blog post was about a futuristic wheelie bin. The genius of this character is that its humanity is only present when reflected in our own.

The official (Wookieepedia) classification for this character is an "Industrial Automaton R2 Series Astromech Droid", confirming that technically, he is a literal piece of equipment like a keyboard or a wrench. But the simple inclusion of two circles of differing size and colour on his head allow us to suddenly see this piece of fictional equipment as a little person. I think that the circular shape for his 'mouth' is representative of the character, as it makes him look like he's in a constant state of curiosity or wonder. And all the way through this post I've been unthinkingly calling him a "he", when he doesn't have any of the features I'd normally attribute to something with gender, i.e. arms, hands, a head with a neck underneath it etc. Outside of just his physical design he doesn't even sound anything like a person, he communicates entirely using electrical beeps, whirrs and whistles, and even then we are able to perceive him as a little person rather than a computer on wheels. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BdEu3MRTWG0 This clip of sounds illustrates a breadth of human emotion without using any sort of recognised human language. There are sounds that suggest everything from fear, to laughing, to caution, to confusion, to excitement, all using whistles and electronic beeping. R2-D2 was designed by Ralph McQuarrie and his sound design was done by Ben Burtt, both of whom I think are great inspirations for character designers through their ability to give life to an object that usually would have none, and through this remind us of our inbuilt human passion for and ability to identify with something and feel emotion towards it, just because of a few cleverly placed circles and lines.