The Legend of Zelda, Breath of the Wild Sells Games. Ocarina of Time Sells Movies.

A live-action Zelda film is in production, and the internet has strong opinions about what it should look like. We put 72 images in front of 30 participants and let them react on instinct instead of argue. The result was clear, commercially inconvenient, and surprisingly specific: the game people love to play is not the game they want to watch.

How to Get the Zelda Movie Right According To The Audience

We tested six dimensions of the film’s visual direction using Constellations, from character design to villain treatment to overall style, spanning every era of the franchise. Despite Breath of the Wild being the bestselling Zelda game by a wide margin, its characters, enemies, and aesthetics consistently split the audience. What participants converged on was Ocarina of Time, not as a vague nostalgia preference but as a near-complete storyboard: young Link at the Deku Tree, adult Zelda in royal armor, a human Ganondorf you cast a physical actor to play, Saria as the emotional anchor, and Majora’s Mask teased for a sequel. The only image to receive 100% positive response was a quiet, melancholic painting of young Link standing before a dark forest. The only character to receive 100% rejection was pig-form Ganon. Between those two perfect scores lives the audience’s real instruction to the production team: start small, stay human, and earn the epic.

Previous Studies and Results

When Client’s Say “Make It Pop”

Every designer has heard it: “Can you make it pop?” It’s one of the most common pieces of creative feedback, and one of the hardest to act on, because it points to a feeling more than a specific fix. So we decided to find out what “pop” actually means. Using Constellations, we asked creative professionals to sort images by which ones pop and which ones don’t—and the results were surprisingly consistent.

When We Look at Robots, What Are We Really Seeing?

When We Look at Robots, What Are We Really Seeing? Understanding the Tools-Versus-Beings Divide in Robot Perception What makes a robot seem helpful versus creepy? Using our platform Constellations, designed to capture perception through visual interaction, we asked...

Will the Most Authentic Santa Please Stand Up

The images people embraced all shared one thing: they caught Santa in the middle of doing something. Reading his list by candlelight. Kneeling to feed a reindeer in falling snow. The images they rejected? Cute graphics, staged photos, and counterintuitively, some of the most beautifully rendered Santas in the set.

What Does “Visual Data” Look Like

Fifty designers rated visual data, revealing that structure—not style—is the key driver of visual trust and credibility.

Everyone’s Favorite Halloween Candy

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Spooky Or Scary?

Is it "Spooky" or "Scary"? A visual study of how people separate spooky from scary — and what that says about our modern relationship with fear. Halloween sits at the strange crossroads of delight and dread. Every October, our visual culture fills with ghosts,...

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For July 4th, we explored what “American” looks like in 2025—revealing shared civic values through visual perception mapping.

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