Online Dating Goes 3D: Match.com tries out 3D printed, life-sized models of two eligible bachelors

November 12, 2014 by Sarah Goehrke 3D Design 3D Printing

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“It’s okay to look,” they tell you. “Finding love has never been so easy!”

“They,” of course, would be Match.com in this case, the website that touts itself as being “#1 in dates, relationships, and marriages.” As anyone who’s been single this millennium knows, finding a date (much less love) doesn’t always seem so easy. And then of course there are the perils of online dating: does he look like that today? is that just her friend? am I being catfished? why are all her photos cropped so weirdly? is he really that tall? is this person a serial killer? looking for love or just a hookup?

Well, some of those questions still can’t be answered until you get to know a person, but now in London, Match.com is answering at least a few of those questions through a handy display. They’re taking their “It’s okay to look” philosophy one step further this week, turning virtual window shopping into actually putting two men into a window display. Sounds exhausting for the guys, right? Good thing it’s just their 3D printed doppelgängers in the window!

Through this Friday, life-size mannequins of Keron Knight and Michael Catuogno are on display on Bethnal Green Road, in London’s Brick Lane, in the window of “Guy Candy.” Interested women who pass by are invited to check out the men’s dating profiles (though both men’s profile links came up as errors when I tried to click them just now — perhaps already too popular to handle all the traffic?) on Match.com.

Keron Knight (L) and Michael Catuogno (R) dress their 3D printed lookalikes to best showcase their likenesses

It takes a village to raise a child… and also, seemingly, to get a date.

More than 40 DLSR cameras scanned each man’s head in a booth setup to provide the 3D images. The final products were designed via iMakr software.

Once the heads were printed and perfected, a team of five people worked to create the final products. Bodies were put together using typical mannequins in the men’s builds, and the 3D printed heads and the bodies were painted to match the men’s skin tones. Knight and Catuogno selected their dummies’ outfits, clothing them in what they thought would be the most accurate representations. From start to finish, the creation process took over three weeks.

26-year-old Knight describes himself as a “tall confident guy, with an impulsive streak,” and while it can be difficult to showcase his impulsive nature, the model definitely shows his height.

“Seeing my doppelganger was bizarre, but brilliant. I feel extremely positive about this experience and hopefully the perfect date is just a few mouse clicks away,” Knight said.

Knight is “looking for an intelligent and genuine woman, who is ready for an adventurous and meaningful new beginning.”

His figure’s window neighbor, Catuogno (33), on the other hand, hopes to draw the attention of a woman who is “creative, intelligent and who likes to relax and enjoy life.”

Match.com will surely be keeping close tabs on the results of the Guy Candy displays. If the pair’s currently inaccessible profile links are any indication of high traffic and interest, the site may just have found a new way to showcase its clients.

What do you think? Will these life-sized ‘Guy Candy’ models increase these men’s chances of finding love? Would you want to be 3D printed and put up in a window for display? Let us know your thoughts in the 3D Printed Men on Match.com forum thread over at 3DPB.com!