OK, y’all know I’m all about xenoergonomics around here. Let’s point out everything wrong with what Fox James is wearing in this picture and what I would do instead.
Minor caveat: I’m extrapolating some of this from what I know of dog anatomy and behavior, so I could be wrong.
First, his helmet. What is it covering? I’ve already ranted about exposed ears on animal characters, namely that they themselves would never design a piece of protective headgear that leaves the ears unprotected. However, there’s another tidbit to consider. The bones of a fox’s skull do not protect the tops of the eyeballs, so he’s extra vulnerable.
It’s also not clear if that mic boom brushes against his whiskers. Whiskers are very sensitive, and touching them typically results in a reflexive movement away from the stimulus. It’s also not clear how he’s getting sound output from the headset. There may be an earpiece in his left ear, but I doubt the interior of an arwing is quiet enough to just have a loudspeaker on the helmet or integrated into the cockpit.
Next, those aviator glasses. Setting aside the crappy helmet design, it was smart to depict the glasses attached to the helmet. Yinrih HUD specs have a broad bridge that friction fits against the muzzle, though they wouldn’t wear them in a situation like this where they could get easily knocked off. Instead a doggles-like visor is worn.
The last thing I’ll complain about is the zipper on his jacket. I have to wonder if the teeth get caught in his neck fur. Yinrih go nekkid where possible, but clothing fasteners, such as on rain gear or cold weather gear would probably use snaps, magnets, laces, or velcro St. Starlight’s Fabric[1].
named for its inventor, Saint Starlight, a research monk, botanist, and healer who lived during the yinrih’s age of aviation. She was inspired by the plant burs that would stick to her fur. ↩︎
Yeah, it would probably have to fit very tightly and/or the fur should be really short. I guess they could shave the area - but that goes deeply into cultural stuff around it, which clearly has not been thought by the designers of that thing. I doubt they actually thought about bone conduction either, really. Looks more like “ehh cool enough” -type of designing that’s pretty typical for games and movies (and which rightly deserves critique).
Anyway I like the ear hoops! That allows a lot of designs that wouldn’t work with human-like shapes. I guess a species with inhuman hearing wouldn’t necessary even need to have the speakers near their ears, though that’s inconvenient in different way because background noise etc. could interfere. It would allow interesting versions of how a speaker could be, something like in a necklace, or glasses - maybe even in ear piercings with small enough tech…