Anima Code: A Personal Seal for Digital Inheritance

Preserving Digital Legacies in the Physical World

Anima Code is a unique take on the traditional Japanese personal seal, known as Hanko. It features an engraved QR code that contains a key to a person's online digital data. By scanning the code stamped beforehand, the bereaved ones can access the deceased individual's digital archives. This physical interaction of stamping a seal provides a tangible and emotional connection to the digital world, offering a new approach to inheritance in the digital era.

The design of Anima Code revolves around the use of acrylic, a highly weather-resistant and processable material. The transparent nature of acrylic serves as a metaphor for the intangibility and ambiguity of digital data. The seal is laser-engraved with precision, and the engraved surface is hydrophilic coated for sharp-edge printing, allowing a camera to read the 10mm square QR code.

Measuring 10mm square and 62mm long, the dimensions of the stamp complement the delicacy and precision of the QR code engraving. The packaging, made of paulownia wood, ensures proper storage and maintenance of the seal, maintaining the internal humidity. Paulownia wood has been used in Japan since ancient times for preserving art objects and signifies the concept of inheritance.

Users register their social media accounts with Anima Code through a dedicated service before their passing. The stamp is then produced with the imprinted QR code, which serves as an access key to the online services. People who are given the seal can read it with a camera and access the archived data of the deceased, providing a bridge between the physical and digital worlds.

Anima Code not only addresses the issue of forgotten digital legacies but also tackles the shortage of land for cemeteries and their management. By miniaturizing graves and harmonizing data and physicality, this design offers an alternative solution to these societal challenges.

Throughout the development of Anima Code, Takuma Yamazaki faced the challenge of designing ambiguity without compromising the function of the stamp. This unique project exists between the real and unreal worlds, requiring careful consideration and respect for various cultures and religions. By reconciling diverse views on life and death, Anima Code aims to provide a universal solution for the event of passing away.

Anima Code is a testament to the evolving relationship between technology and human existence. By combining the physical act of stamping with the digital realm, it offers a secure and intimate approach to preserving our digital legacies. With its innovative design and meaningful purpose, Anima Code has been recognized with the Bronze A' Design Award in the Idea and Conceptual Design category in 2021.