Polite Type

Beth Fileti (she/her), a multidisciplinary designer exploring art and technology. I specialize in systems thinking, communication strategies, and design solutions.

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Thoughts & Prayers

p5JS + BlazePose

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2022

Thoughts and prayers don't change headlines.

Demo the work here
A screenshot of code and notes and a person testing out getting a computer to read distance metrics from a live video.

Concept

Thoughts and prayers are not an effective policy strategy. This is an interactive piece in response to the ongoing mass shootings that are prevalent in America.

How it works

The user sees scrolling text and their own video. A news report pops up and the user is encouraged to pray for change. If your hands are in the prayer position then the news about mass shootings continue to populate.

Process documentation: https://www.politetype.com/blog/thoughts-and-prayers

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Beth, a white woman, is wearing a mask and moving her hands apart and back and forth into a prayer pose. There is a note next to the video that says, "Want to be able to stabilize it so that if most of the previous time it was registering praying, don't change it unless the person clearly stopped praying."
Beth, a white woman, is wearing a face mask and putting her hands into a prayer pose. When her hands are pressed together, the headline at the bottom of the screen flashes between different breaking news headlines about school shootings.
Beth, a white woman, is putting her hands into a prayer pose. When her hands are pressed together, the headline at the bottom of the screen flashes between different breaking news headlines about school shootings.

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Image Gallery

Screenshot of testing and getting numbers from various hand poses
Screenshot of testing and getting numbers from various hand poses
Screenshot of testing and getting numbers from various hand poses
Screenshot of testing and getting numbers from various hand poses
Screenshot of testing and getting numbers from various hand poses
An excited recording bragging about discovering a good resource on frame averaging.
Testing if it registers as praying or not praying
starting to layer on the news headlines
Another attempt at adding in the news headlines with positioning
Getting the prayer hands to trigger the news headline in position
Getting the prayer hands to trigger the news headline in position
Adding in a randomizer to get the headlines to swap through multiple options
Exploring the pacing and speed of the news headlines in the bottom
Testing the nuances of the prayer pose to add in a bit more stability
Testing the nuances of the prayer pose to add in a bit more stability
Testing the nuances of the prayer pose to add in a bit more stability
Testing the nuances of the prayer pose to add in a bit more stability
Testing the nuances of the prayer pose to add in a bit more stability
Demoing the final output
No items found.

other Projects

Insmed History Wall

2020

Museum-Style Installation

Bad Type Tool

2015

Interactive Tool, p5js

Font Promo's

2019

Promotional Assets

Read about my experiences in
NYU’s IMA/ITP Program
and
Type@Cooper.
ART
DESIGN
Writing
About
Polite Type
© 2025, Polite Type
beth@politetype.com
@politetype