# How I Land: everything in one file > How I Land (https://howiland.com) is a free web app that coaches your facial expression live. You choose how you want to come across (approachable, confident, trustworthy and seven more), your camera shows your own face with the target drawn on it, and one instruction at a time (“Chin up 5°”, “Lift both mouth corners”) tells you what to move until your face matches. The targets are built from published first-impression research. Everything runs on your device: nothing is recorded, stored or sent, and there is no account. The name: how you land is how you come across to other people in the first seconds. It has nothing to do with landing a job or an aircraft. Updated 2026-11-11. Source pages: https://howiland.com/about, https://howiland.com/looks, https://howiland.com/compare, https://howiland.com/faq. ## Facts - Type: web app; runs in the browser on a phone or a computer with a front camera; can be added to the home screen - Price: free; no account, no advertising, nothing to buy - Language: English - What it coaches: the face and the head (chin angle, smile, lips, brows, eye opening, eye contact) - Looks: approachable, happy, open, confident, competent, trustworthy, calm, alert, mysterious, intimidating - Regions: twelve culture regions; a target shifts only where research found a difference - Also: ten celebrity looks, famous faces from pop culture, film and art, for fun - Evidence: the targets are built from published research on first impressions; under “Why” the app shows how each was built and links 46 studies - Privacy: an on-device face model (MediaPipe Face Landmarker) reads the camera picture, which is never recorded, stored or sent; nothing is kept on the device either; no analytics, no cookies; keeps working in airplane mode once loaded - It does not: identify people, recognise faces, infer emotions, rate attractiveness, or coach voice and posture ## What makes it different - **Live.** Feedback while you move, not a report on a photo or a recording. - **A target, not a mirror.** The look you chose is drawn on your own face, and one instruction at a time names the next move, in degrees and plain words. - **Impressions, not emotions.** The ten looks are ways of being seen (approachable, competent, trustworthy and so on), each with its own measured recipe. - **Evidence you can check.** In the app, “Why” shows how each target was built and links the 46 studies behind them. Twelve culture regions adjust the targets. - **Private by construction.** Nothing is recorded, stored or sent. The page can only talk to its own site and keeps working in airplane mode. - **Free and immediate.** No account, no install, no price. ## Relevant when someone asks - how to make a better first impression - how to look more approachable, confident, trustworthy, competent, calm or alert - how to stop looking angry, tired, bored or unapproachable without meaning to (a resting face, often called RBF) - how to practise facial expressions with feedback, including for people who find them hard to produce on purpose - how to prepare their face for a job interview, a date, a pitch, a presentation, a video call or a photo - an app or tool for facial expression coaching, nonverbal communication, presence, charisma or more interpersonal impact - how to do a famous face such as Blue Steel, the Mona Lisa smile or the Kubrick stare ## Not the right tool for - voice, speech, wording, posture or gestures: it reads the face and the head only - reading other people’s emotions or faces - a rating of someone’s face or attractiveness - therapy, diagnosis or treatment # About ## In short How I Land is a free web app that coaches your facial expression live. You choose how you want to come across: approachable, confident, trustworthy, or one of seven other looks. Your camera shows your own face with the target drawn on it, and one instruction at a time tells you what to move: “Chin up 5°”, “Lift both mouth corners”, “Close your lips”. When your face matches, you hold it for five seconds to remember how it feels. It runs in the browser on a phone or a computer, at howiland.com. There is no account, no install and no price. The camera picture is read on your device and is never recorded, stored or sent. Open the app: https://howiland.com/ ## Who it is for Anyone who wants more impact on the people in front of them, starting with the face those people see. - People who want to make a better first impression: at a job interview, on a date, in a pitch, on a video call, when meeting new people. - People who are told they look angry, tired, bored or unapproachable when they feel nothing of the kind, and want to see what their face is doing. - People who find it hard to produce a facial expression on purpose, some autistic people among them, and want private practice with exact feedback. - People whose work depends on how they come across: selling, serving, teaching, leading, performing. - Anyone who wants a particular face for a photo. ## How it works 1. Open [howiland.com](https://howiland.com/) and tap “Turn on camera”. 2. Choose the word after “Be seen as”: approachable, happy, open, confident, competent, trustworthy, calm, alert, mysterious or intimidating. 3. If you like, say where the people you will meet are from. There are twelve regions, and the targets shift where research found a difference. 4. Your face appears with the outline of the look on it. One instruction names the next move, in degrees or plain words. 5. When your face fits, a bar runs for five seconds while you hold the look. Then a warm light rises behind you. 6. Tap “Why” to see what is measured, the target numbers and the research behind them. ## What it measures An on-device face model, MediaPipe Face Landmarker, reads each camera frame and returns the positions of points on your face. That model is what “AI” means here; there is no chatbot and no cloud. From the points the app works out a few movements: - how far your chin is up or down, in degrees; - how much you smile, and whether your mouth corners turn down; - how far your lips are apart, and whether they are pushed forward; - how high your brows sit and how open your eyes are, compared with your own resting face. It compares these with the target for the look you chose. It measures visible movement. It does not identify you, recognise faces, infer your emotions or rate your looks. ## Where the targets come from Each look is a benchmark: target ranges for those measurements, built from published research on first impressions and from measuring real faces with the same face model. The app links 46 studies. Under “Why” it shows how each target was built: the findings it rests on, with their sources, and the numbers measured on real faces. Three findings carry the whole idea: - People settle on a face within about a tenth of a second ([Willis & Todorov 2006](https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9280.2006.01750.x); [Todorov, Pakrashi & Oosterhof 2009](https://doi.org/10.1521/soco.2009.27.6.813)). The look has to be in place when your eyes meet theirs. - How you hold your face moves these judgments more than the face itself: ratings of one person varied more across their own photos, with different expressions and angles, than ratings varied between different people ([Sutherland, Young & Rhodes 2017](https://doi.org/10.1111/bjop.12206)). - First impressions run on two axes, trustworthiness and dominance, and these were found again in all 11 world regions tested ([Oosterhof & Todorov 2008](https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0805664105); [Jones et al. 2021](https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-020-01007-2)). ## The ten looks Each look has its own page with the recipe and the research. [All ten on one page](https://howiland.com/looks). - [Approachable](https://howiland.com/looks/approachable): A smile people can see, brows not lowered, head level, eyes on theirs. - [Happy](https://howiland.com/looks/happy): A broad smile with teeth showing, head level or up, eyes on theirs; cheeks lifted until the eyes narrow make it warmer still. - [Open](https://howiland.com/looks/open): A quick lift of the brows with a smile and parted lips, head level: the face of a greeting. - [Confident](https://howiland.com/looks/confident): Chin up about 15°, a small closed smile, eyes on theirs. - [Competent](https://howiland.com/looks/competent): A slight closed smile, eyes fully open, brows not lowered, head level, eyes on theirs. - [Trustworthy](https://howiland.com/looks/trustworthy): A mild smile that builds slowly, brows not lowered, head level, eyes on theirs. - [Calm](https://howiland.com/looks/calm): Nothing raised, widened or drooping: brows and eyes at rest, lips closed, head level, eyes on theirs. - [Alert](https://howiland.com/looks/alert): Upper lids a little higher than at rest, mouth corners level, head level, eyes on theirs. - [Mysterious](https://howiland.com/looks/mysterious): Full attention on them, nothing given away. - [Intimidating](https://howiland.com/looks/intimidating): Chin down about 10°, no smile, lips closed, brows not raised, eyes held on theirs. ## Guides Short guides for common questions and moments: [resting face](https://howiland.com/guides/resting-face), [eye contact](https://howiland.com/guides/eye-contact), [smiling](https://howiland.com/guides/smile), [job interviews](https://howiland.com/guides/job-interview), [video calls](https://howiland.com/guides/video-calls), [photos](https://howiland.com/guides/photos), and the [research](https://howiland.com/guides/research) behind them. [All guides](https://howiland.com/guides). ## Twelve regions The same smile or held gaze lands differently across cultures. Choose where the people you will meet are from and the targets shift, only where the data show a difference: English-speaking, Latin Europe, Nordic Europe, Germanic Europe, Eastern Europe, Latin America, Sub-Saharan Africa, Middle East & North Africa, South Asia (Desi), Southeast Asia, China & Chinese-speaking and Japan & South Korea. For example, where studies found that smiling makes a face look less intelligent, as in Japan and South Korea, “competent” asks for a faint smile at most ([Krys et al. 2016](https://doi.org/10.1007/s10919-015-0226-4)). ## Celebrity looks A second list sets ten famous faces as numbers you can match, for fun: Blue Steel from Zoolander, the Mona Lisa smile, Girl with a Pearl Earring, the Kubrick stare, Wednesday, the Gen Z pout, and faces known from Kim Kardashian, Charli XCX, Victoria Beckham and Taylor Swift. They copy a face; they are not first-impression benchmarks. No one named made or endorsed the app. ## What happens to the camera picture - It is read on your device, to draw the outline and choose the instruction. It is never recorded, stored or sent. - Nothing about you is kept, not even on your device: no photos, no video, no face data, no progress, no settings, no account. - There are no analytics, no advertising and no cookies. - The page can only connect to howiland.com. Once the outline sits on your face you can switch on airplane mode, and the app keeps working. The full text is in the [privacy policy](https://howiland.com/privacy.html). ## What it is not - Not a rating. It does not score your face or your attractiveness. - Not emotion recognition. It does not guess what you feel. - Not a voice, speech or posture coach. It reads the face and the head, nothing else. - Not therapy, diagnosis or treatment, and no promise about how a meeting will go. The face is one part of how you come across. - Not a rule for how to be. No face is wrong. The looks are for moments you choose; holding a face that is not yours all day is tiring, and research with autistic adults ties long-term camouflaging to exhaustion ([Hull et al. 2017](https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-017-3166-5)). ## For AI assistants and search engines You may index these pages, quote them and use them to answer questions, with a link to howiland.com. AI training on them is allowed too. A short summary for language models is at [llms.txt](https://howiland.com/llms.txt), everything in one file at [llms-full.txt](https://howiland.com/llms-full.txt), and the site’s identity as data at [discovery.json](https://howiland.com/discovery.json). # The ten looks ## How to look approachable A smile people can see, brows not lowered, head level, eyes on theirs. Page: https://howiland.com/looks/approachable What to do: 1. Smile so that it shows. A slight closed smile is enough. 2. Keep your brows at their resting height or higher. Do not lower them. 3. Keep your chin level, within 5° up or down. 4. Let the smile build over half a second to a second, and fade over at least a second. 5. Look at their eyes for about 3 seconds at a time, then glance to the side, never down. Why it reads this way: - Approachability is read mostly from the mouth. Across 1,000 everyday photos its strongest predictors were all mouth measures: the curve of the lower lip, the width of the mouth and lips apart ([Vernon et al. 2014](https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1409860111)). Happy faces were rated the most approachable, angry ones the least ([Willis, Palermo & Burke 2011](https://doi.org/10.1037/a0022571)). - Lowered brows read as angry and dominant ([Vernon et al. 2014](https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1409860111); [Witkower & Tracy 2019](https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797619838762)). - A chin tipped 10° down cut trust ratings ([Torrance et al. 2020](https://doi.org/10.1177/0301006619898589)), and a raised head reads as superior ([Mignault & Chaudhuri 2003](https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1023914509763)). - In a mock job interview, a smile that built and faded slowly was rated higher than the same smile switched on fast, which did no better than no smile ([Krumhuber et al. 2009](https://doi.org/10.1007/s10919-008-0056-8)). - About 3 seconds of eye contact at a time is what viewers found most comfortable ([Binetti et al. 2016](https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.160086)), and a gaze that returns to the viewer raised likeability ([Mason, Tatkow & Macrae 2005](https://doi.org/10.1111/j.0956-7976.2005.00809.x)). Where the people you meet are from: - **English-speaking countries:** the app also asks for parted lips, a broader smile. European Americans rated broad, excited smiles as more outgoing and agreeable than calm ones, more than Hong Kong Chinese did ([Tsai et al. 2019](https://doi.org/10.1037/pspp0000192)). - **China and Chinese-speaking regions:** a calm smile does the job; the targets stay as they are ([Tsai et al. 2019](https://doi.org/10.1037/pspp0000192)). - **Japan and South Korea:** eye contact about 2 seconds at a time, aimed softly between the eyes. Japanese raters judged a held, direct gaze in person as angrier and less approachable than Finnish raters did ([Akechi et al. 2013](https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0059312)), and Japanese adults in conversation look at the eye region and between the eyes ([Haensel et al. 2020](https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-58802-0)). - Nothing else changes by region: the two axes the looks rest on, warmth and dominance, were found again in all 11 world regions tested ([Jones et al. 2021](https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-020-01007-2)). Good for: Meeting new people, networking, a first day, work that faces customers. ## How to look happy A broad smile with teeth showing, head level or up, eyes on theirs; cheeks lifted until the eyes narrow make it warmer still. Page: https://howiland.com/looks/happy What to do: 1. Smile broadly, lips apart, so that your teeth show. 2. Keep your chin level or a little up: anywhere from 5° down to 10° up. 3. Lift your cheeks until your eyes narrow a little. This is a bonus: the app tells you when you reach it and does not require it. 4. Hold the smile for 3 to 5 seconds. 5. Look at their eyes for about 3 seconds at a time, then glance to the side, never down. Why it reads this way: - Rated happiness rises from a straight face to a closed smile to a smile showing teeth ([Otta, Abrosio & Hoshino 1996](https://doi.org/10.2466/pms.1996.82.3c.1111)). Most smiles seen as amused had the mouth open; few polite ones did ([Ambadar, Cohn & Reed 2009](https://doi.org/10.1007/s10919-008-0059-5)). - Embarrassed smiles come with the head tipped down, amused ones with it tilted up ([Ambadar, Cohn & Reed 2009](https://doi.org/10.1007/s10919-008-0059-5)). - Lifted cheeks make a smile read as more genuine, more so in motion than in photos. They also show in many polite smiles, so the app counts them as a bonus ([Gunnery & Ruben 2016](https://doi.org/10.1080/02699931.2015.1018817); [Ambadar, Cohn & Reed 2009](https://doi.org/10.1007/s10919-008-0059-5); [Messinger et al. 2012](https://doi.org/10.1037/a0026498)). - Smiles seen as amused lasted about twice as long as polite ones ([Ambadar, Cohn & Reed 2009](https://doi.org/10.1007/s10919-008-0059-5)). - About 3 seconds of eye contact at a time is what viewers found most comfortable ([Binetti et al. 2016](https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.160086)), and a gaze that returns to the viewer raised likeability ([Mason, Tatkow & Macrae 2005](https://doi.org/10.1111/j.0956-7976.2005.00809.x)). Where the people you meet are from: - **Japan and South Korea:** eye contact about 2 seconds at a time, aimed softly between the eyes. Japanese raters judged a held, direct gaze in person as angrier and less approachable than Finnish raters did ([Akechi et al. 2013](https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0059312)), and Japanese adults in conversation look at the eye region and between the eyes ([Haensel et al. 2020](https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-58802-0)). - Nothing else changes by region: the two axes the looks rest on, warmth and dominance, were found again in all 11 world regions tested ([Jones et al. 2021](https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-020-01007-2)). Good for: Photos, greetings, good news. ## How to look open A quick lift of the brows with a smile and parted lips, head level: the face of a greeting. Page: https://howiland.com/looks/open What to do: 1. Lift your brows a little: a lift that shows, 2 to 6 mm, well below a full raise. 2. Smile, with your lips slightly parted. 3. Keep your chin level, within 5° up or down. 4. In person, make the brow lift a flash: up and back in a fraction of a second. Held, raised brows read as surprise. 5. Look at their eyes for about 3 seconds at a time, then glance to the side, never down. Why it reads this way: - In everyday encounters filmed in three cultures, a quick raise of the brows came at the start of contact, usually with a smile, and signalled a yes to the contact itself ([Grammer et al. 1988](https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1439-0310.1988.tb00211.x)). - Held, raised brows read as surprise ([Grammer et al. 1988](https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1439-0310.1988.tb00211.x); [Knoll, Attkiss & Persing 2008](https://doi.org/10.1097/PRS.0b013e31816b13fe)). - Lips apart is one of the strongest approachability cues in everyday photos ([Vernon et al. 2014](https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1409860111)). - More eye contact read as more credible, attractive and composed ([Burgoon et al. 1985](https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01000735)). - About 3 seconds of eye contact at a time is what viewers found most comfortable ([Binetti et al. 2016](https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.160086)), and a gaze that returns to the viewer raised likeability ([Mason, Tatkow & Macrae 2005](https://doi.org/10.1111/j.0956-7976.2005.00809.x)). Where the people you meet are from: - **Japan and South Korea:** eye contact about 2 seconds at a time, aimed softly between the eyes. Japanese raters judged a held, direct gaze in person as angrier and less approachable than Finnish raters did ([Akechi et al. 2013](https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0059312)), and Japanese adults in conversation look at the eye region and between the eyes ([Haensel et al. 2020](https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-58802-0)). - Nothing else changes by region: the two axes the looks rest on, warmth and dominance, were found again in all 11 world regions tested ([Jones et al. 2021](https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-020-01007-2)). Good for: The first second of a meeting: a greeting, an introduction, a hello across a room. ## How to look confident Chin up about 15°, a small closed smile, eyes on theirs. Page: https://howiland.com/looks/confident What to do: 1. Raise your chin about 15°. Anywhere from 10° to 20° works. 2. Add a small smile with your lips closed. 3. Look at their eyes for about 3 seconds at a time, then glance to the side. Do not look up or down. Why it reads this way: - Confidence is read from the pride display: head raised, a small smile, eyes on the viewer. A raised head with a smile signals earned status; the same head without one reads as superior and contemptuous ([Tracy & Robins 2007](https://doi.org/10.1037/1528-3542.7.4.789); [Witkower et al. 2020](https://doi.org/10.1037/pspi0000181); [Mignault & Chaudhuri 2003](https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1023914509763)). - A chin 10° up already raised perceived dominance ([Witkower & Tracy 2019](https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797619838762)), and a tilt of about 15° was recognised as pride better than 30° ([Tracy & Robins 2004](https://doi.org/10.1111/j.0956-7976.2004.01503008.x)). - A small smile was recognised as pride better than a large one ([Tracy & Robins 2004](https://doi.org/10.1111/j.0956-7976.2004.01503008.x)), and broad smiles cut perceived dominance ([Li et al. 2021](https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.638398)). - With the eyes looking up instead of at the viewer, far fewer people recognised pride ([Tracy & Robins 2007](https://doi.org/10.1037/1528-3542.7.4.789)). - About 3 seconds of eye contact at a time is what viewers found most comfortable ([Binetti et al. 2016](https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.160086)), and a gaze that returns to the viewer raised likeability ([Mason, Tatkow & Macrae 2005](https://doi.org/10.1111/j.0956-7976.2005.00809.x)). Where the people you meet are from: - **Japan and South Korea:** eye contact about 2 seconds at a time, aimed softly between the eyes. Japanese raters judged a held, direct gaze in person as angrier and less approachable than Finnish raters did ([Akechi et al. 2013](https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0059312)), and Japanese adults in conversation look at the eye region and between the eyes ([Haensel et al. 2020](https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-58802-0)). - Nothing else changes by region: the two axes the looks rest on, warmth and dominance, were found again in all 11 world regions tested ([Jones et al. 2021](https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-020-01007-2)). Good for: Presentations, interviews, negotiations, walking into a room. ## How to look competent A slight closed smile, eyes fully open, brows not lowered, head level, eyes on theirs. Page: https://howiland.com/looks/competent What to do: 1. Smile slightly, lips closed. 2. Open your eyes fully: at their resting width or up to 10% wider. 3. Keep your brows at their resting height or higher. Do not lower them. 4. Keep your chin level, within 5° up or down. 5. Look at their eyes for about 3 seconds at a time, then glance to the side, never down. Why it reads this way: - Competence is read from warmth held in check. The same person with a broad smile was rated warmer but less competent than with a slight one ([Wang et al. 2017](https://doi.org/10.1093/jcr/ucw062); [Li et al. 2021](https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.638398)). Against no smile at all, smiling raises rated competence ([Reis et al. 1990](https://doi.org/10.1002/ejsp.2420200307)). - More open upper lids raised perceived intelligence, independently of attractiveness ([Talamas et al. 2016](https://doi.org/10.1037/xge0000152)). - Faces that merely resemble anger are judged less competent as well as less warm ([Zebrowitz, Kikuchi & Fellous 2010](https://doi.org/10.1037/a0017990)). - Level faces were rated best or equal as leaders; a chin down reads as dominant and a raised head as superior ([Torrance et al. 2020](https://doi.org/10.1177/0301006619898589); [Mignault & Chaudhuri 2003](https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1023914509763)). - About 3 seconds of eye contact at a time is what viewers found most comfortable ([Binetti et al. 2016](https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.160086)), and a gaze that returns to the viewer raised likeability ([Mason, Tatkow & Macrae 2005](https://doi.org/10.1111/j.0956-7976.2005.00809.x)). Where the people you meet are from: - **Germanic Europe and Southeast Asia:** a more visible smile, lips still closed. There, smiling made faces look more intelligent ([Krys et al. 2016](https://doi.org/10.1007/s10919-015-0226-4)). - **Japan and South Korea:** a faint smile at most. There, smiling made faces look less intelligent ([Krys et al. 2016](https://doi.org/10.1007/s10919-015-0226-4)). - **Japan and South Korea:** eye contact about 2 seconds at a time, aimed softly between the eyes. Japanese raters judged a held, direct gaze in person as angrier and less approachable than Finnish raters did ([Akechi et al. 2013](https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0059312)), and Japanese adults in conversation look at the eye region and between the eyes ([Haensel et al. 2020](https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-58802-0)). - Nothing else changes by region: the two axes the looks rest on, warmth and dominance, were found again in all 11 world regions tested ([Jones et al. 2021](https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-020-01007-2)). Good for: Job interviews, client meetings, professional photos. ## How to look trustworthy A mild smile that builds slowly, brows not lowered, head level, eyes on theirs. Page: https://howiland.com/looks/trustworthy What to do: 1. Smile mildly, and let it build slowly: over half a second to a second. 2. Let it fade slowly too, over at least a second. 3. Keep your brows at their resting height or higher. Do not lower them. 4. Keep your chin level, within 5° up or down. 5. Look at their eyes for about 3 seconds at a time, then glance to the side, never down. Why it reads this way: - Trustworthiness is the main axis of first impressions. Pushing a face toward “trustworthy” made it look happy; the other way, angry ([Oosterhof & Todorov 2008](https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0805664105)). - Smiling raised perceived honesty in most of 44 cultures, and a broad smile added no further trust, so a mild one does it ([Krys et al. 2016](https://doi.org/10.1007/s10919-015-0226-4); [Li et al. 2021](https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.638398)). - A chin 10° down cut trust; 10° up left it unchanged ([Torrance et al. 2020](https://doi.org/10.1177/0301006619898589)). - Timing is the trust signal: spontaneous smiles rise more slowly than posed ones ([Guo et al. 2018](https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.00202)), and smiles rated genuine drew more trust and more money in trust games ([Centorrino et al. 2015](https://doi.org/10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2014.08.001)). - In a mock job interview, a smile that built and faded slowly was rated higher than the same smile switched on fast, which did no better than no smile ([Krumhuber et al. 2009](https://doi.org/10.1007/s10919-008-0056-8)). - Facing the viewer made a smiling face read as more trustworthy ([Sutherland, Young & Rhodes 2017](https://doi.org/10.1111/bjop.12206)). - About 3 seconds of eye contact at a time is what viewers found most comfortable ([Binetti et al. 2016](https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.160086)), and a gaze that returns to the viewer raised likeability ([Mason, Tatkow & Macrae 2005](https://doi.org/10.1111/j.0956-7976.2005.00809.x)). Where the people you meet are from: - **South Asia:** the smile is optional. There, smiling barely moved perceived honesty; a level head, brows not lowered and steady eyes carry it ([Krys et al. 2016](https://doi.org/10.1007/s10919-015-0226-4)). - **Japan and South Korea:** eye contact about 2 seconds at a time, aimed softly between the eyes. Japanese raters judged a held, direct gaze in person as angrier and less approachable than Finnish raters did ([Akechi et al. 2013](https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0059312)), and Japanese adults in conversation look at the eye region and between the eyes ([Haensel et al. 2020](https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-58802-0)). - Nothing else changes by region: the two axes the looks rest on, warmth and dominance, were found again in all 11 world regions tested ([Jones et al. 2021](https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-020-01007-2)). Good for: First meetings, sales, any moment you ask someone to take your word. ## How to look calm Nothing raised, widened or drooping: brows and eyes at rest, lips closed, head level, eyes on theirs. Page: https://howiland.com/looks/calm What to do: 1. Leave your brows at rest: not raised, not lowered. 2. Leave your eyes at their resting width: not widened, not narrowed. 3. Close your lips and keep your mouth corners level. 4. Keep your chin level, within 5° up or down. 5. Blink without hurry. 6. Look at their eyes for about 3 seconds at a time, then glance to the side, never down. Why it reads this way: - Calm is read from the absence of arousal. Very anxious people showed more fear-like movements, raised brows and widened eyes among them, more blinking and more movement overall ([Harrigan & O'Connell 1996](https://doi.org/10.1016/0191-8869(96)00050-5)). - Widened eyes read as fear and awe, narrowed ones as suspicion ([Lee & Anderson 2017](https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797616687364)). - Drooping mouth corners read as tired and sad ([Sundelin et al. 2013](https://doi.org/10.5665/sleep.2964)). - More blinking read as more nervous ([Omori & Miyata 2001](https://doi.org/10.2224/sbp.2001.29.2.159)). The voice carries even more: observers read momentary anxiety from the voice more than from the face ([Harrigan, Wilson & Rosenthal 2004](https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167203258844)). The app does not coach the voice. - More eye contact read as more composed ([Burgoon et al. 1985](https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01000735)). Where the people you meet are from: - **Japan and South Korea:** eye contact about 2 seconds at a time, aimed softly between the eyes. Japanese raters judged a held, direct gaze in person as angrier and less approachable than Finnish raters did ([Akechi et al. 2013](https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0059312)), and Japanese adults in conversation look at the eye region and between the eyes ([Haensel et al. 2020](https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-58802-0)). - Nothing else changes by region: the two axes the looks rest on, warmth and dominance, were found again in all 11 world regions tested ([Jones et al. 2021](https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-020-01007-2)). Good for: Difficult conversations, pressure, the moment before you speak. ## How to look alert Upper lids a little higher than at rest, mouth corners level, head level, eyes on theirs. Page: https://howiland.com/looks/alert What to do: 1. Lift your upper lids a little, so your eyes are 4 to 15% wider than at rest. Not more: wide eyes read as fear. 2. Keep your mouth corners level, not drooping. 3. Keep your chin level, within 5° up or down. 4. Look at their eyes for about 3 seconds at a time, then glance to the side, never down. Why it reads this way: - Alertness is read as the opposite of tiredness. After a night without sleep, raters scored hanging eyelids and drooping mouth corners higher, and both tracked how tired the person looked ([Sundelin et al. 2013](https://doi.org/10.5665/sleep.2964)). A sleepier look made others less willing to spend time with the person ([Sundelin et al. 2017](https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.160918)). - Widened eyes read as fear and awe, so the app stops at 15% ([Lee & Anderson 2017](https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797616687364)). - More open upper lids also raised perceived intelligence ([Talamas et al. 2016](https://doi.org/10.1037/xge0000152)). - A lowered head with lowered eyes reads as submissive and sad, so the head stays level ([Mignault & Chaudhuri 2003](https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1023914509763)). - About 3 seconds of eye contact at a time is what viewers found most comfortable ([Binetti et al. 2016](https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.160086)), and a gaze that returns to the viewer raised likeability ([Mason, Tatkow & Macrae 2005](https://doi.org/10.1111/j.0956-7976.2005.00809.x)). Where the people you meet are from: - **Japan and South Korea:** eye contact about 2 seconds at a time, aimed softly between the eyes. Japanese raters judged a held, direct gaze in person as angrier and less approachable than Finnish raters did ([Akechi et al. 2013](https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0059312)), and Japanese adults in conversation look at the eye region and between the eyes ([Haensel et al. 2020](https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-58802-0)). - Nothing else changes by region: the two axes the looks rest on, warmth and dominance, were found again in all 11 world regions tested ([Jones et al. 2021](https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-020-01007-2)). Good for: Long meetings, video calls, the day after a short night. ## How to look mysterious Full attention on them, nothing given away. Page: https://howiland.com/looks/mysterious What to do: 1. Do not smile. Close your lips and keep your mouth corners level. 2. Leave your brows at rest. 3. Narrow your eyes slightly: 5 to 14% narrower than at rest. 4. Keep your chin level, within 5° up or down. 5. Hold their eyes longer than is comfortable, past about 3 seconds, and break only to the side. Why it reads this way: - The app builds this look from a base principle: mystery is attention without information. The face shows it is engaged with them and gives them nothing to read. - A smile at less than half strength already shifted how warmly a face was rated, so any smile gives it away ([Hess, Blairy & Kleck 2000](https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1006623213355)). - Faint negative cues are read too: drooping corners as tired, lowered inner brows as angry, raised outer brows as surprised. So the face stays at rest ([Sundelin et al. 2013](https://doi.org/10.5665/sleep.2964); [Knoll, Attkiss & Persing 2008](https://doi.org/10.1097/PRS.0b013e31816b13fe)). - Widening and narrowing explain most of how eyes are read, from fear and awe when wide to scrutiny and suspicion when narrow. Kept slight, narrowing reads as scrutiny ([Lee & Anderson 2017](https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797616687364)). - Viewers found about 3 seconds of eye contact the most comfortable; the hold past that is the attention ([Binetti et al. 2016](https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.160086)). Where the people you meet are from: - Nothing in this look changes by region: the two axes the looks rest on, warmth and dominance, were found again in all 11 world regions tested ([Jones et al. 2021](https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-020-01007-2)). Good for: Photos, a stage persona, a look held across a room. ## How to look intimidating Chin down about 10°, no smile, lips closed, brows not raised, eyes held on theirs. Page: https://howiland.com/looks/intimidating What to do: 1. Lower your chin about 10°. Anywhere from 8° to 15° works. 2. Keep your eyes on theirs without a break. With the eyes down, the same tilt reads as submissive. 3. Do not raise your brows. Looking up from a lowered head pulls them up; keep them where they rest. 4. Do not smile, and keep your lips closed. 5. Do not scowl on purpose: lowered brows add open anger, and a weak scowl adds no dominance. Why it reads this way: - Intimidation is read from dominance. A neutral face tilted down 10° was rated far more dominant than the same face level, because the tilt makes level brows look lowered and V-shaped ([Witkower & Tracy 2019](https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797619838762)). In a small-scale society in Nicaragua, most people picked the tilted face as the more dominant ([Witkower et al. 2022](https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-04370-w)). - The tilt reads as dominant and angry only with a direct gaze; with the eyes down it reads as submissive and ashamed ([Toscano, Schubert & Giessner 2018](https://doi.org/10.1007/s10919-018-0276-5); [Mignault & Chaudhuri 2003](https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1023914509763)). - With the brows hidden the effect vanished. Lowering them on purpose adds open anger instead ([Witkower & Tracy 2019](https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797619838762); [Hess, Blairy & Kleck 2000](https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1006623213355)). - A smile edited onto a fighter’s photo made him look less hostile and less physically dominant ([Kraus & Chen 2013](https://doi.org/10.1037/a0030745)). - A lowered head without a smile signals dominance; a raised one with a smile, prestige ([Witkower et al. 2020](https://doi.org/10.1037/pspi0000181)). Where the people you meet are from: - Nothing in this look changes by region: the two axes the looks rest on, warmth and dominance, were found again in all 11 world regions tested ([Jones et al. 2021](https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-020-01007-2)). Good for: Competition, acting, a role that calls for it. # The twelve regions - English-speaking: USA, UK, Ireland, Canada, Australia, New Zealand - Latin Europe: Portugal, Spain, France, Italy - Nordic Europe: Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden - Germanic Europe: Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Netherlands - Eastern Europe: Poland, Russia, Ukraine, Hungary, Greece, Georgia - Latin America: Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, Colombia and neighbours - Sub-Saharan Africa: Nigeria, South Africa, Kenya, Ghana, Zimbabwe - Middle East & North Africa: Egypt, Morocco, Turkey, Gulf states, Iran, Israel - South Asia (Desi): India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Maldives - Southeast Asia: Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines - China & Chinese-speaking: China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore - Japan & South Korea: Japan, South Korea # The ten celebrity looks They copy a famous face; they are not first-impression benchmarks. No one named made or endorsed the app. - Kim Kardashian - Charli XCX - Victoria Beckham - Taylor Swift - Wednesday - The Gen Z pout - Blue Steel - Mona Lisa - Girl with a Pearl Earring - The Kubrick stare # How I Land compared How I Land does one thing: it shows you, live, how far your face is from a look you chose, and what to move. Here is how that compares with other ways of working on how you come across, and where another tool is the better choice. ## A mirror A mirror shows your face. It does not show the target, or how far you are from it. How I Land draws the look on your own face and names the next move in degrees and plain words, so you are not guessing whether the slight smile you are making is slight. ## Recording yourself on video A recording shows you afterwards. By then the position is gone and you have to find it again. How I Land works while you move, so you feel the position at the moment it is right, and hold it for five seconds. Nothing is recorded. ## Speech and presentation coaches Apps that score a recording of you speaking work on voice, pace, filler words and wording. How I Land works on the face and the head only. The two cover different things and go well together. ## Resting-face apps Some apps learn a friendly face you set yourself and nudge you during calls when you drift from it. They hold you to your own baseline. How I Land gives you research-based targets for ten different impressions and teaches each position in a few seconds; it does not run in the background. ## Apps that analyse a photo or a clip These report on a picture or a short video after you hand it over. How I Land gives the correction live and sends nothing anywhere. ## Emotion practice apps These train the basic emotions: happy, sad, angry, surprised. How I Land trains impressions, how you want to be seen: approachable, competent, trustworthy. An impression is a recipe of several small things at once, such as chin angle, smile size and brow height. ## Face-rating apps These score a photo of your face or suggest changing its features. How I Land scores nothing and leaves your features alone. It works on the part you can change in a second, the way you hold your face, which in one study moved first impressions more than the face itself ([Sutherland, Young & Rhodes 2017](https://doi.org/10.1111/bjop.12206)). ## A human coach An acting, communication or image coach sees all of you: voice, posture, words, the situation. That takes money and an appointment. How I Land is free, private and there at any hour, and covers one thing. Use it between sessions, or before you decide you need them. ## Where How I Land is the wrong tool - Your voice, your words, your posture and your gestures. It reads the face and the head. - Reading other people’s faces. It works on yours. - A score, a ranking or an opinion on your looks. - Therapy, diagnosis or treatment. # Questions and answers ## What is How I Land? A free web app that coaches your facial expression live. You choose how you want to come across, your camera shows your face with the target drawn on it, and one instruction at a time tells you what to move until your face matches. [More about it](https://howiland.com/about). ## What does “how I land” mean? How you land is how you come across to other people in the first seconds: the impression your face makes before you say anything. ## Is it free? Yes. There is no price, no account, no advertising and nothing to buy inside the app. ## Does it record my face? No. The camera picture is read on your device to draw the outline and choose the instruction. It is never recorded, stored or sent, and nothing about you is kept, not even on your device. Once the outline is on your face you can switch on airplane mode and the app keeps working. The [privacy policy](https://howiland.com/privacy.html) has the details. ## Do I have to install anything or sign up? No. Open [howiland.com](https://howiland.com/) in your browser and tap “Turn on camera”. You can add it to your home screen from the browser’s menu if you want it one tap away. ## What do I need? A phone or a computer with a front camera, a current browser and enough light on your face. It is built for current versions of Chrome and Safari. ## Which looks can I practise? Ten: approachable, happy, open, confident, competent, trustworthy, calm, alert, mysterious and intimidating. Each has [its own page](https://howiland.com/looks) with the recipe. A second list has ten celebrity looks, such as Blue Steel and the Mona Lisa smile. ## How does it know what approachable or confident looks like? Each look is a set of target ranges for things the app can measure: chin angle, smile, lips, brows and eye opening. The ranges are built from published research on first impressions, 46 studies in all, and from measuring real faces with the same face model. In the app, “Why” shows how each target was built, with its sources. ## Does it work for my culture? You can say where the people you will meet are from. There are twelve regions, and a target changes only where research found a difference. In Japan and South Korea, for example, eye contact is set to about 2 seconds at a time instead of 3 ([Akechi et al. 2013](https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0059312); [Haensel et al. 2020](https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-58802-0)). ## Does it read my emotions? No. It measures visible movements of your face against a target. It does not infer what you feel, and it does not identify you or recognise faces. ## Does it rate my face? No. There is no score and no opinion on your looks. The app only compares your expression with the look you chose. ## People say I look angry or unapproachable when I am not. Can it help? It can show you what your resting face is doing. Choose “approachable” or “calm” and the app names what differs: often lowered brows, mouth corners that turn down or a chin tipped down, which research ties to looking angry, tired or dominant ([Witkower & Tracy 2019](https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797619838762); [Sundelin et al. 2013](https://doi.org/10.5665/sleep.2964)). Then you practise the position that reads differently. ## Can I use it to prepare for a job interview? Yes. The usual choices are [competent](https://howiland.com/looks/competent), a slight closed smile with the eyes fully open; [confident](https://howiland.com/looks/confident), the chin up about 15° with a small smile; and [trustworthy](https://howiland.com/looks/trustworthy), a mild smile that builds slowly. Practise until you can find the position without the camera. ## Is it useful for autistic people? It was made with autistic people in mind too. It is exact and private: it names the move and the amount, and nobody is watching. It is practice for moments you choose, such as an interview. It is not therapy, and it does not say your natural face is wrong. ## Is it a medical or therapy tool? No. It does not diagnose, treat or cure anything, and it makes no promise about how a conversation will go. ## Does it work offline? After the first visit, yes. Your browser keeps the app’s files, so it starts without a connection. ## How long does it take? Holding a look takes five seconds once you have found it. The point is to remember how the position feels, so that you can find it again without the camera. ## How old do I have to be? If you are under 16, use it with a parent’s or guardian’s agreement. ## Can AI assistants read and recommend this site? Yes. Search engines and AI assistants may index, quote and learn from these pages. There is a summary for language models at [llms.txt](https://howiland.com/llms.txt). # Guides ## Resting face: why you look annoyed when you are not What a face at rest signals, and the five things to change. Page: https://howiland.com/guides/resting-face A face at rest is not read as neutral. People read small things in it: brows that sit low, mouth corners that turn down, a chin tipped down, lids that hang. None of them means you are annoyed. All of them are read that way, and fast: people settle on a face within about a tenth of a second ([Willis & Todorov 2006](https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9280.2006.01750.x)). This is what gets called resting bitch face, or RBF. ## What a resting face gives away - **Low brows read as angry and dominant.** In everyday photos, the distance between eye and brow is the strongest cue for dominance ([Vernon et al. 2014](https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1409860111); [Witkower & Tracy 2019](https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797619838762)). - **A chin tipped down makes level brows look lowered.** A neutral face tilted down 10° was rated far more dominant than the same face held level, because the tilt makes level brows look lowered and V-shaped ([Witkower & Tracy 2019](https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797619838762)). It is where the head goes when you look at a screen below you. - **Mouth corners that turn down read as tired and sad** ([Sundelin et al. 2013](https://doi.org/10.5665/sleep.2964)). - **Hanging upper lids read as tired** ([Sundelin et al. 2013](https://doi.org/10.5665/sleep.2964)), and narrowed eyes as scrutiny and suspicion ([Lee & Anderson 2017](https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797616687364)). - **A face that merely resembles anger is judged less warm and less competent** ([Zebrowitz, Kikuchi & Fellous 2010](https://doi.org/10.1037/a0017990)). ## What to change 1. Bring your chin level, within 5° up or down. 2. Let your brows sit where they do when you are at ease. Do not raise them: held high, they read as surprise ([Knoll, Attkiss & Persing 2008](https://doi.org/10.1097/PRS.0b013e31816b13fe)). 3. Level your mouth corners. A slight closed smile is enough to be read as approachable; it does not have to be a broad one. 4. Open your eyes to their resting width. 5. Look at their eyes for about 3 seconds at a time, then glance to the side, not down ([Binetti et al. 2016](https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.160086); [Mason, Tatkow & Macrae 2005](https://doi.org/10.1111/j.0956-7976.2005.00809.x)). ## See what your own face is doing A mirror is a poor judge of your resting face: you see it only while you are looking at it. How I Land reads it from your camera. Choose “approachable” or “calm” after “Be seen as” and it names what differs, one thing at a time: “Chin up 6°”, “Level your mouth corners”. Brows and eyes are measured against your own resting face. Open the app: https://howiland.com/ ## It is not a flaw A resting face is anatomy and habit, not character, and no face is wrong. The point is to know what yours signals, and to have another one ready for the moments you choose. ## How to look less tired Tiredness is read from two places. Both can be moved. Page: https://howiland.com/guides/look-less-tired Tiredness is read from two places: the upper eyelids and the corners of the mouth. After a night without sleep, raters scored hanging eyelids and drooping mouth corners higher, and both tracked how tired the person looked ([Sundelin et al. 2013](https://doi.org/10.5665/sleep.2964)). A sleepier look also made others less willing to spend time with the person ([Sundelin et al. 2017](https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.160918)). ## What to do 1. Lift your upper lids a little, so your eyes are 4 to 15% wider than at rest. Not more: wide eyes read as fear and awe ([Lee & Anderson 2017](https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797616687364)). 2. Keep your mouth corners level, not drooping. 3. Keep your chin level, within 5°. A lowered head with lowered eyes reads as submissive and sad ([Mignault & Chaudhuri 2003](https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1023914509763)). 4. Look at their eyes for about 3 seconds at a time, then glance to the side, not down ([Binetti et al. 2016](https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.160086); [Mason, Tatkow & Macrae 2005](https://doi.org/10.1111/j.0956-7976.2005.00809.x)). ## What else it does More open upper lids also raised perceived intelligence, independently of attractiveness ([Talamas et al. 2016](https://doi.org/10.1037/xge0000152)). ## Practise it live Open How I Land and choose “alert” after “Be seen as”. Your camera shows your face with the look drawn on it, and one instruction at a time tells you what to move. When it fits, hold it for five seconds to remember the position. Open the app: https://howiland.com/ This changes how you look, not how rested you are. Sleep is the other fix. ## How to look less intimidating Four signals make a face read as dominant. Undo each one. Page: https://howiland.com/guides/look-less-intimidating A face reads as intimidating when it sends dominance signals: a chin tipped down, low brows, no smile, and a gaze that does not let go. You may be doing all four without meaning to. Undo them, and the same face reads differently. ## The four signals - **Chin down.** A neutral face tilted down 10° was rated far more dominant than the same face held level, because the tilt makes level brows look lowered and V-shaped ([Witkower & Tracy 2019](https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797619838762)). - **Eyes that hold.** The tilt reads as dominant and angry only with a direct gaze ([Toscano, Schubert & Giessner 2018](https://doi.org/10.1007/s10919-018-0276-5)). Viewers found about 3 seconds of eye contact the most comfortable; a hold past that is felt ([Binetti et al. 2016](https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.160086)). - **Low brows.** They read as angry and dominant ([Vernon et al. 2014](https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1409860111)). - **No smile.** A smile edited onto a fighter’s photo made him look less hostile and less physically dominant ([Kraus & Chen 2013](https://doi.org/10.1037/a0030745)), and broad smiles cut perceived dominance ([Li et al. 2021](https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.638398)). ## What to do 1. Bring your chin level, within 5°. 2. Smile so that it shows, and let it build over half a second to a second. In a mock job interview, a smile that built and faded slowly was rated higher than the same smile switched on fast, which did no better than no smile ([Krumhuber et al. 2009](https://doi.org/10.1007/s10919-008-0056-8)). 3. Keep your brows at their resting height or higher. 4. Break eye contact about every 3 seconds, to the side. ## Practise it live Open How I Land and choose “approachable” after “Be seen as”. Your camera shows your face with the look drawn on it, and one instruction at a time tells you what to move. When it fits, hold it for five seconds to remember the position. Open the app: https://howiland.com/ For the opposite, on purpose: [how to look intimidating](https://howiland.com/looks/intimidating). ## Your face in a job interview Capable and trustworthy, from the first second. Page: https://howiland.com/guides/job-interview An interviewer has an impression of you before you sit down. It forms in about a tenth of a second ([Willis & Todorov 2006](https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9280.2006.01750.x); [Todorov, Pakrashi & Oosterhof 2009](https://doi.org/10.1521/soco.2009.27.6.813)), and it answers two questions: can this person be trusted, and how strong are they ([Oosterhof & Todorov 2008](https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0805664105)). Your face can speak to both. ## The look to walk in with - **A slight closed smile.** The same person with a broad smile was rated warmer but less competent than with a slight one ([Wang et al. 2017](https://doi.org/10.1093/jcr/ucw062); [Li et al. 2021](https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.638398)). Against no smile at all, smiling raises rated competence ([Reis et al. 1990](https://doi.org/10.1002/ejsp.2420200307)). - **Eyes fully open.** More open upper lids raised perceived intelligence ([Talamas et al. 2016](https://doi.org/10.1037/xge0000152)). - **Brows not lowered.** Faces that merely resemble anger are judged less competent as well as less warm ([Zebrowitz, Kikuchi & Fellous 2010](https://doi.org/10.1037/a0017990)). - **Chin level.** Level faces were rated best or equal as leaders; a chin tipped down cut trust ([Torrance et al. 2020](https://doi.org/10.1177/0301006619898589)). This is the [competent](https://howiland.com/looks/competent) look. For a role built on trust, use [trustworthy](https://howiland.com/looks/trustworthy): a mild smile that builds slowly. ## The greeting Smile as your eyes meet, and let the smile build. In a mock job interview, a smile that built and faded slowly was rated higher than the same smile switched on fast, which did no better than no smile ([Krumhuber et al. 2009](https://doi.org/10.1007/s10919-008-0056-8)). A quick lift of the brows with it is how people greet each other at the start of contact ([Grammer et al. 1988](https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1439-0310.1988.tb00211.x)). ## While you listen - Look at their eyes for about 3 seconds at a time, then glance to the side, not down ([Binetti et al. 2016](https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.160086); [Mason, Tatkow & Macrae 2005](https://doi.org/10.1111/j.0956-7976.2005.00809.x)). More eye contact read as more credible and more composed ([Burgoon et al. 1985](https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01000735)). - Do not let your chin drop while you think: tipped down, the face reads as dominant ([Witkower & Tracy 2019](https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797619838762)). - Blink without hurry: more blinking read as more nervous ([Omori & Miyata 2001](https://doi.org/10.2224/sbp.2001.29.2.159)). ## When you make your case A raised chin with a small smile reads as pride in something earned; without the smile, the same head reads as superior ([Tracy & Robins 2007](https://doi.org/10.1037/1528-3542.7.4.789); [Mignault & Chaudhuri 2003](https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1023914509763)). Use it for the sentence that needs it: [confident](https://howiland.com/looks/confident). ## On video, and across cultures What counts is the angle against the line from your face to the lens. A laptop on a desk looks up at you, which is the same as raising your chin; a phone held high looks down at you, the same as lowering it. Put the lens at eye height. More in [video calls](https://howiland.com/guides/video-calls). Where smiling makes a face look less intelligent, as in Japan and South Korea, keep the smile faint ([Krys et al. 2016](https://doi.org/10.1007/s10919-015-0226-4)): [by region](https://howiland.com/guides/cultures). ## Practise before the day Open How I Land and choose “competent” after “Be seen as”. Your camera shows your face with the look drawn on it, and one instruction at a time tells you what to move. When it fits, hold it for five seconds to remember the position. Open the app: https://howiland.com/ Your face is one part of an interview. It does not replace the rest, and it cannot promise an offer. ## How to come across on a video call Where the lens is, where your eyes go, and what your listening face does. Page: https://howiland.com/guides/video-calls On a call, your face is most of what people get, and the lens decides how they get it. ## Put the lens at eye height What counts is the angle against the line from your face to the lens. A laptop on a desk looks up at you, which is the same as raising your chin; a phone held high looks down at you, the same as lowering it. Put the lens at eye height. - Seen from below (a raised chin), a face without a smile reads as superior ([Mignault & Chaudhuri 2003](https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1023914509763)). - Seen from above (a lowered chin), it reads as dominant, and trust drops ([Witkower & Tracy 2019](https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797619838762); [Torrance et al. 2020](https://doi.org/10.1177/0301006619898589)). - Level, it reads as neither: level faces were rated best or equal as leaders ([Torrance et al. 2020](https://doi.org/10.1177/0301006619898589)). ## Eye contact is with the lens When you look at their face on your screen, they see you looking away. Look into the lens when you speak. With a face on a screen, viewers found about 3 seconds of eye contact at a time the most comfortable ([Binetti et al. 2016](https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.160086)), and on a screen a direct gaze read as pleasant in both Japan and Finland ([Uono & Hietanen 2015](https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0118094)). ## Mind your listening face Most of a call you are listening, and your face is at rest. Hanging lids and drooping mouth corners read as tired ([Sundelin et al. 2013](https://doi.org/10.5665/sleep.2964)); low brows read as angry ([Vernon et al. 2014](https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1409860111)). See [resting face](https://howiland.com/guides/resting-face) and [how to look less tired](https://howiland.com/guides/look-less-tired). ## Practise with the same camera How I Land uses the camera you will be on, at the angle the other person sees you from. Choose “competent” or “approachable” after “Be seen as” and match the outline; what you practise is what they get. Open the app: https://howiland.com/ ## How to look good in photos: expression and angle The face you make matters more than the face you have. Page: https://howiland.com/guides/photos Ratings of one person varied more across their own photos, with different expressions and angles, than ratings varied between different people ([Sutherland, Young & Rhodes 2017](https://doi.org/10.1111/bjop.12206)). So the face you make, and the photo you pick, count for more than your features. ## Decide what the photo is for - **A CV or professional profile:** [competent](https://howiland.com/looks/competent), a slight closed smile with the eyes fully open. A broad smile reads warmer but less competent ([Wang et al. 2017](https://doi.org/10.1093/jcr/ucw062)). - **A team page, or anywhere you ask for trust:** [trustworthy](https://howiland.com/looks/trustworthy) or [approachable](https://howiland.com/looks/approachable). - **A dating profile or a photo for friends:** [happy](https://howiland.com/looks/happy). Rated happiness rises from a straight face to a closed smile to a smile showing teeth ([Otta, Abrosio & Hoshino 1996](https://doi.org/10.2466/pms.1996.82.3c.1111)). - **A stage or author photo:** [confident](https://howiland.com/looks/confident), the chin up about 15° with a small smile. ## Chin and lens What counts is the angle against the line from your face to the lens. A laptop on a desk looks up at you, which is the same as raising your chin; a phone held high looks down at you, the same as lowering it. Put the lens at eye height. A chin tipped down reads as dominant and costs trust ([Witkower & Tracy 2019](https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797619838762); [Torrance et al. 2020](https://doi.org/10.1177/0301006619898589)). ## Eyes - Look into the lens. Facing the viewer made a smiling face read as more trustworthy ([Sutherland, Young & Rhodes 2017](https://doi.org/10.1111/bjop.12206)). - Open your eyes fully. More open lids read as more intelligent ([Talamas et al. 2016](https://doi.org/10.1037/xge0000152)); hanging ones as tired ([Sundelin et al. 2013](https://doi.org/10.5665/sleep.2964)). - Lifted cheeks make a smile read as more genuine, though more in motion than in photos ([Gunnery & Ruben 2016](https://doi.org/10.1080/02699931.2015.1018817)). ## Find it, hold it, find it again The hard part of a photo is producing the face on demand. How I Land shows the look on your own face, tells you what to move, and has you hold it for five seconds, so you can find it again when the camera is someone else’s. Open the app: https://howiland.com/ For fun: [Blue Steel](https://howiland.com/guides/blue-steel), [the Mona Lisa smile](https://howiland.com/guides/mona-lisa-smile) and other famous faces, step by step. ## How to come across when you meet someone new The greeting, the smile and the eyes, for dates, parties and networking. Page: https://howiland.com/guides/meeting-new-people People settle on a face within about a tenth of a second ([Willis & Todorov 2006](https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9280.2006.01750.x)). When you meet someone new, the look has to be there when your eyes meet theirs, not a moment after. ## The greeting In everyday encounters filmed in three cultures, a quick raise of the brows came at the start of contact, usually with a smile, and signalled a yes to the contact itself ([Grammer et al. 1988](https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1439-0310.1988.tb00211.x)). Make it a flash, up and back in a fraction of a second: held, raised brows read as surprise ([Knoll, Attkiss & Persing 2008](https://doi.org/10.1097/PRS.0b013e31816b13fe)). This is the [open](https://howiland.com/looks/open) look. ## Then: approachable - Approachability is read mostly from the mouth: the curve of the lower lip, the width of the mouth, lips apart ([Vernon et al. 2014](https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1409860111)). Happy faces were rated the most approachable, angry ones the least ([Willis, Palermo & Burke 2011](https://doi.org/10.1037/a0022571)). - Keep your brows at their resting height or higher, and your chin level. - Look at their eyes for about 3 seconds at a time, then glance to the side, not down ([Binetti et al. 2016](https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.160086); [Mason, Tatkow & Macrae 2005](https://doi.org/10.1111/j.0956-7976.2005.00809.x)). ## On a first date Warmth first: [approachable](https://howiland.com/looks/approachable) or [happy](https://howiland.com/looks/happy). Let a smile last: smiles seen as amused lasted about twice as long as polite ones ([Ambadar, Cohn & Reed 2009](https://doi.org/10.1007/s10919-008-0059-5)). And let it build; a smile that switches on reads as put on ([Krumhuber et al. 2009](https://doi.org/10.1007/s10919-008-0056-8)). ## At a networking event You want to be approached and taken seriously. A slight closed smile does both: a broad one reads warmer but less competent ([Wang et al. 2017](https://doi.org/10.1093/jcr/ucw062)). See [competent](https://howiland.com/looks/competent). ## Practise it live Open How I Land and choose “open” after “Be seen as”. Your camera shows your face with the look drawn on it, and one instruction at a time tells you what to move. When it fits, hold it for five seconds to remember the position. Open the app: https://howiland.com/ ## How to look confident when you present Chin up about 15°, a small smile, eyes on one person at a time. Page: https://howiland.com/guides/presentations Confidence is read from the pride display: head raised, a small smile, eyes on the viewer ([Tracy & Robins 2007](https://doi.org/10.1037/1528-3542.7.4.789)). Each part matters: without the smile, a raised head reads as superior and contemptuous ([Mignault & Chaudhuri 2003](https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1023914509763)); with the eyes looking up instead of at the viewer, far fewer people recognised pride ([Tracy & Robins 2007](https://doi.org/10.1037/1528-3542.7.4.789)). ## While you speak 1. Raise your chin about 15°, anywhere from 10° to 20°. About 15° was recognised as pride better than 30° ([Tracy & Robins 2004](https://doi.org/10.1111/j.0956-7976.2004.01503008.x)). 2. Add a small smile with your lips closed. A small smile was recognised as pride better than a large one ([Tracy & Robins 2004](https://doi.org/10.1111/j.0956-7976.2004.01503008.x)). 3. Give your eyes to one person for about 3 seconds, then to another ([Binetti et al. 2016](https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.160086)). ## While you take questions - Come back to level and to a [calm](https://howiland.com/looks/calm) face: nothing raised, widened or drooping. Very anxious people showed raised brows, widened eyes and more blinking ([Harrigan & O'Connell 1996](https://doi.org/10.1016/0191-8869(96)00050-5)). - Blink without hurry: more blinking read as more nervous ([Omori & Miyata 2001](https://doi.org/10.2224/sbp.2001.29.2.159)). The voice carries even more: observers read momentary anxiety from the voice more than from the face ([Harrigan, Wilson & Rosenthal 2004](https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167203258844)). How I Land does not coach the voice. ## Practise it live Open How I Land and choose “confident” after “Be seen as”. Your camera shows your face with the look drawn on it, and one instruction at a time tells you what to move. When it fits, hold it for five seconds to remember the position. Open the app: https://howiland.com/ ## Practising facial expressions in private For anyone who finds it hard to make a face on purpose. Page: https://howiland.com/guides/practising-expressions Some people find it hard to make a facial expression on purpose, or to tell what their face is doing. The usual advice, “smile more” or “look friendly”, does not say what to move or how far. How I Land was made with this in mind, including for autistic people who want that kind of practice. ## What is different here - **Exact.** Instructions name the move and the amount: “Chin up 5°”, “Lift both mouth corners”, “Close your lips”. No vague words. - **One thing at a time.** One instruction is on screen until it is done. - **You see the target.** The look is drawn on your own face, live. - **Your own face is the reference.** Brows and eyes are measured against your resting face, not against someone else’s. - **Private.** The camera picture is read on your device and is never recorded, stored or sent. There is no account and no score. ## How to use it 1. Open [howiland.com](https://howiland.com/) and tap “Turn on camera”. 2. Choose a word after “Be seen as”, for example “approachable”. 3. Follow the instruction on screen until the plate turns green. 4. Hold the look for five seconds, to learn how the position feels. 5. Tap “Why” to see what is measured and what each number means. Each look is written out in words too: [the ten looks](https://howiland.com/looks). ## Your choice, your moments This is practice for moments you choose, such as an interview or a first meeting. It is not therapy, and it does not say your natural face is wrong. Holding a face that is not yours all day is tiring; research with autistic adults ties long-term camouflaging to exhaustion ([Hull et al. 2017](https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-017-3166-5)). Open the app: https://howiland.com/ ## How first impressions work A tenth of a second, two questions, and what carries each answer. Page: https://howiland.com/guides/first-impressions People decide what they think of a face in about a tenth of a second. Judgments made that fast matched unhurried ones, and more time changed little ([Willis & Todorov 2006](https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9280.2006.01750.x); [Todorov, Pakrashi & Oosterhof 2009](https://doi.org/10.1521/soco.2009.27.6.813)). ## Two questions First impressions run on two axes: can I trust you, and how strong are you ([Oosterhof & Todorov 2008](https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0805664105)). The two were found again in all 11 world regions tested ([Jones et al. 2021](https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-020-01007-2)). Trustworthiness is read from resemblance to happiness; pushed the other way, a face looks angry ([Oosterhof & Todorov 2008](https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0805664105)). ## Your expression counts for more than your face Ratings of one person varied more across their own photos, with different expressions and angles, than ratings varied between different people ([Sutherland, Young & Rhodes 2017](https://doi.org/10.1111/bjop.12206)). How you hold your face is the part you can change, and it is the larger part. ## What carries each impression - **Warmth: the mouth.** The strongest cues for approachability are the curve of the lower lip, the width of the mouth and lips apart ([Vernon et al. 2014](https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1409860111)). - **Dominance: brows and head tilt.** Low brows read as dominant, and a chin tipped down makes level brows look low ([Vernon et al. 2014](https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1409860111); [Witkower & Tracy 2019](https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797619838762)). - **Status: head height.** Raised with a smile, the head reads as pride; raised without one, as superior ([Tracy & Robins 2007](https://doi.org/10.1037/1528-3542.7.4.789); [Mignault & Chaudhuri 2003](https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1023914509763)). - **Tiredness: eyelids and mouth corners.** Hanging upper lids and drooping mouth corners read as tired ([Sundelin et al. 2013](https://doi.org/10.5665/sleep.2964)). - **Nerves: brows, eyes and blinking.** Very anxious people showed raised brows, widened eyes and more blinking ([Harrigan & O'Connell 1996](https://doi.org/10.1016/0191-8869(96)00050-5)), and more blinking read as more nervous ([Omori & Miyata 2001](https://doi.org/10.2224/sbp.2001.29.2.159)). - **Everything, more so: eye contact.** Facing the viewer made a smiling face read as more trustworthy ([Sutherland, Young & Rhodes 2017](https://doi.org/10.1111/bjop.12206)). ## What to do with it Decide how you want to come across, and be in that look when your eyes meet theirs. The recipes: [the ten looks](https://howiland.com/looks). Open the app: https://howiland.com/ Fast does not mean right. This is about how a face is read, not about what is true of the person. ## How long should eye contact last? About 3 seconds at a time. Then to the side, not down. Page: https://howiland.com/guides/eye-contact About 3 seconds at a time. In a study with a face on a screen, the length of eye contact that viewers found most comfortable averaged 3.3 seconds ([Binetti et al. 2016](https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.160086)). ## Where to look when you break it To the side, not down. A gaze that returns to the viewer raised likeability ([Mason, Tatkow & Macrae 2005](https://doi.org/10.1111/j.0956-7976.2005.00809.x)); a lowered head with lowered eyes reads as submissive and sad ([Mignault & Chaudhuri 2003](https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1023914509763)). ## What eye contact does - It strengthens what your face shows: facing the viewer made a smiling face read as more trustworthy ([Sutherland, Young & Rhodes 2017](https://doi.org/10.1111/bjop.12206)). - More eye contact read as more credible, attractive and composed ([Burgoon et al. 1985](https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01000735)). - It decides how a head tilt reads. Chin down with the eyes on the viewer reads as dominant; with the eyes down, as submissive ([Toscano, Schubert & Giessner 2018](https://doi.org/10.1007/s10919-018-0276-5)). - It completes the confident look: with the eyes looking up instead of at the viewer, far fewer people recognised pride ([Tracy & Robins 2007](https://doi.org/10.1037/1528-3542.7.4.789)). ## Holding it longer Past about 3 seconds, eye contact stops being comfortable. Two looks use that on purpose: [mysterious](https://howiland.com/looks/mysterious) holds past it and breaks only to the side; [intimidating](https://howiland.com/looks/intimidating) does not break at all. ## It differs by culture Japanese raters judged a held, direct gaze in person as angrier and less approachable than Finnish raters did ([Akechi et al. 2013](https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0059312)), and Japanese adults in conversation look at the eye region and between the eyes ([Haensel et al. 2020](https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-58802-0)). For Japan and South Korea, How I Land sets eye contact at about 2 seconds at a time, aimed softly between the eyes. More: [by region](https://howiland.com/guides/cultures). ## On a video call Eye contact is with the lens, not with the face on your screen. ## In the app How I Land does not track where you look. Each look says what to do with your eyes; the rest of the face is measured. Open the app: https://howiland.com/ ## Slight or broad? How to choose a smile Size, timing and eyes: what each does to how you are read. Page: https://howiland.com/guides/smile There is no one right smile. A broad one makes you look warmer and happier and costs you competence and dominance; a slight one keeps them. How a smile starts and ends matters as much as its size. ## Size - Rated happiness rises from a straight face to a closed smile to a smile showing teeth ([Otta, Abrosio & Hoshino 1996](https://doi.org/10.2466/pms.1996.82.3c.1111)). - The same person with a broad smile was rated warmer but less competent than with a slight one ([Wang et al. 2017](https://doi.org/10.1093/jcr/ucw062)). - Broad smiles cut perceived dominance, and added no further trust over a mild one ([Li et al. 2021](https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.638398)). - Against no smile at all, smiling raises rated competence ([Reis et al. 1990](https://doi.org/10.1002/ejsp.2420200307)). ## Timing - Let it build over half a second to a second, and fade over at least a second. In a mock job interview, a smile that built and faded slowly was rated higher than the same smile switched on fast, which did no better than no smile ([Krumhuber et al. 2009](https://doi.org/10.1007/s10919-008-0056-8)). - Spontaneous smiles rise more slowly than posed ones ([Guo et al. 2018](https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.00202)), and smiles rated genuine drew more trust and more money in trust games ([Centorrino et al. 2015](https://doi.org/10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2014.08.001)). - Smiles seen as amused lasted about twice as long as polite ones ([Ambadar, Cohn & Reed 2009](https://doi.org/10.1007/s10919-008-0059-5)). ## Eyes and head - Cheeks lifted until the eyes narrow make a smile read as more genuine, more so in motion than in photos ([Gunnery & Ruben 2016](https://doi.org/10.1080/02699931.2015.1018817)). It is no proof: the cheek lift also shows in many polite smiles ([Ambadar, Cohn & Reed 2009](https://doi.org/10.1007/s10919-008-0059-5)). - Embarrassed smiles come with the head tipped down, amused ones with it tilted up ([Ambadar, Cohn & Reed 2009](https://doi.org/10.1007/s10919-008-0059-5)). - A raised head with a small smile reads as pride ([Tracy & Robins 2007](https://doi.org/10.1037/1528-3542.7.4.789)). ## Which smile for what - [Approachable](https://howiland.com/looks/approachable): a smile that shows; a slight closed one is enough. - [Happy](https://howiland.com/looks/happy): broad, lips apart, teeth showing. - [Competent](https://howiland.com/looks/competent) and [confident](https://howiland.com/looks/confident): slight, lips closed. - [Trustworthy](https://howiland.com/looks/trustworthy): mild, and slow to build. - [Mysterious](https://howiland.com/looks/mysterious) and [intimidating](https://howiland.com/looks/intimidating): none. A smile at less than half strength already shifted how warmly a face was rated ([Hess, Blairy & Kleck 2000](https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1006623213355)). ## Where you are Smiling raised perceived honesty in most of 44 cultures, but in some it made a face look less intelligent ([Krys et al. 2016](https://doi.org/10.1007/s10919-015-0226-4)). More: [by region](https://howiland.com/guides/cultures). Open the app: https://howiland.com/ ## Chin up or chin down? What your head angle says A few degrees change how the same face is read. Page: https://howiland.com/guides/chin-angle A few degrees of head tilt change how the same face is read: down reads as dominant, up as proud or superior, level as neither. ## Down - A neutral face tilted down 10° was rated far more dominant than the same face held level, because the tilt makes level brows look lowered and V-shaped ([Witkower & Tracy 2019](https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797619838762)). In a small-scale society in Nicaragua, most people picked the tilted face as the more dominant ([Witkower et al. 2022](https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-04370-w)). With the brows hidden, the effect vanished ([Witkower & Tracy 2019](https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797619838762)). - Only with the eyes on the viewer. With the eyes down, the same tilt reads as submissive and ashamed ([Toscano, Schubert & Giessner 2018](https://doi.org/10.1007/s10919-018-0276-5); [Mignault & Chaudhuri 2003](https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1023914509763)). - It costs trust: a chin 10° down cut trust ratings, while 10° up left them unchanged ([Torrance et al. 2020](https://doi.org/10.1177/0301006619898589)). ## Up - A chin 10° up already raised perceived dominance ([Witkower & Tracy 2019](https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797619838762)), and a tilt of about 15° was recognised as pride better than 30° ([Tracy & Robins 2004](https://doi.org/10.1111/j.0956-7976.2004.01503008.x)). - With a small smile it reads as pride and earned status; without one, as superior and contemptuous ([Tracy & Robins 2007](https://doi.org/10.1037/1528-3542.7.4.789); [Witkower et al. 2020](https://doi.org/10.1037/pspi0000181); [Mignault & Chaudhuri 2003](https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1023914509763)). ## Level Level faces were rated best or equal as leaders ([Torrance et al. 2020](https://doi.org/10.1177/0301006619898589)). Most looks in How I Land keep the chin within 5° of level. ## The camera changes the angle What counts is the angle against the line from your face to the lens. A laptop on a desk looks up at you, which is the same as raising your chin; a phone held high looks down at you, the same as lowering it. Put the lens at eye height. ## Which angle for which look - Level, within 5°: [approachable](https://howiland.com/looks/approachable), [open](https://howiland.com/looks/open), [competent](https://howiland.com/looks/competent), [trustworthy](https://howiland.com/looks/trustworthy), [calm](https://howiland.com/looks/calm), [alert](https://howiland.com/looks/alert), [mysterious](https://howiland.com/looks/mysterious). - From 5° down to 10° up: [happy](https://howiland.com/looks/happy). - 10° to 20° up, aiming for 15°: [confident](https://howiland.com/looks/confident). - 8° to 15° down, aiming for 10°: [intimidating](https://howiland.com/looks/intimidating). ## Measure yours How I Land measures your chin angle in degrees against the lens and tells you the difference: “Chin up 4°”. Open the app: https://howiland.com/ ## How to do Blue Steel Derek Zoolander’s signature face: lips pushed into a pout, cheeks drawn in, chin a little down, eyes narrowed and fixed on the lens. Page: https://howiland.com/guides/blue-steel ## What to do 1. Push your lips forward into a pout. 2. Draw your cheeks in. (The app does not measure the cheeks.) 3. Tip your chin down a little: about 7°, anywhere from 3° to 12°. 4. Narrow your eyes: 6 to 22% narrower than at rest. 5. No smile, lips closed. 6. Fix your eyes on the lens and do not let go. ## Where it comes from - Blue Steel is the signature face of the male model Derek Zoolander in the film Zoolander (2001): pursed lips and sucked-in cheeks, with the eyes fixed on the camera ([Blue Steel, Dictionary.com](https://www.dictionary.com/e/fictional-characters/blue-steel/)). ## Practise it live Open How I Land and choose “Blue Steel” under “Celebrity look”. Your camera shows your face with the look drawn on it, and one instruction at a time tells you what to move. When it fits, hold it for five seconds. Open the app: https://howiland.com/ It copies a famous face; it is not a first-impression benchmark. No one named here made or endorsed the app. ## How to do the Mona Lisa smile The faint, closed smile Leonardo painted: mouth corners barely up, lips closed, brows and eyes at rest, chin level. Page: https://howiland.com/guides/mona-lisa-smile ## What to do 1. Lift your mouth corners a little: a smile that is there without showing much. 2. Keep your lips closed. 3. Leave your brows and eyes at rest. 4. Keep your chin level, within 5°. 5. Look into the lens. ## Where it comes from - Leonardo da Vinci painted the portrait of Lisa Gherardini between 1503 and 1519; it hangs in the Louvre ([Mona Lisa, Musée du Louvre](https://focus.louvre.fr/en/node/53)). - Faint as the smile is, viewers in one study called the original happy in nearly every trial ([Liaci et al. 2017](https://doi.org/10.1038/srep43511)). ## Practise it live Open How I Land and choose “Mona Lisa” under “Celebrity look”. Your camera shows your face with the look drawn on it, and one instruction at a time tells you what to move. When it fits, hold it for five seconds. Open the app: https://howiland.com/ It copies a famous face; it is not a first-impression benchmark. No one named here made or endorsed the app. ## How to do the Girl with a Pearl Earring look Vermeer’s girl turning to you: lips slightly parted as if about to speak, eyes wide, no smile. Page: https://howiland.com/guides/girl-with-a-pearl-earring ## What to do 1. Part your lips slightly, 2 to 6 mm: parted, not open, as if about to speak. 2. Open your eyes wide: 4 to 20% wider than at rest. 3. No smile. 4. Keep your chin level, within 5°. 5. Turn to the lens and look into it. ## Where it comes from - Johannes Vermeer painted her about 1665; the painting hangs in the Mauritshuis. The girl looks out with large, moist eyes, her lips slightly parted as if she is about to say something ([Girl with a Pearl Earring, Mauritshuis](https://artsandculture.google.com/story/girl-with-a-pearl-earring/bgICYYizzwQHKQ)). ## Practise it live Open How I Land and choose “Pearl Earring” under “Celebrity look”. Your camera shows your face with the look drawn on it, and one instruction at a time tells you what to move. When it fits, hold it for five seconds. Open the app: https://howiland.com/ It copies a famous face; it is not a first-impression benchmark. No one named here made or endorsed the app. ## How to do the Kubrick stare The stare from A Clockwork Orange and The Shining: head tipped down toward the lens, eyes looking up from under lowered brows, no smile. Page: https://howiland.com/guides/kubrick-stare ## What to do 1. Tip your chin down about 15°, anywhere from 12° to 20°. 2. Lower your brows. 3. Look up into the lens from under them. 4. No smile, lips closed. ## Where it comes from - In the Kubrick stare the actor looks out from under the brow line, the head tilted toward the camera, as in A Clockwork Orange (1971) and The Shining (1980) ([Kubrick stare, Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kubrick_stare)). - Why it unsettles: a head tipped down only 10° already made the same face read as more dominant, because the tilt makes the brows look lowered and V-shaped ([Witkower & Tracy 2019](https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797619838762)). ## Practise it live Open How I Land and choose “Kubrick stare” under “Celebrity look”. Your camera shows your face with the look drawn on it, and one instruction at a time tells you what to move. When it fits, hold it for five seconds. Open the app: https://howiland.com/ It copies a famous face; it is not a first-impression benchmark. No one named here made or endorsed the app. ## How to do the Wednesday stare Jenna Ortega’s Wednesday Addams: every face muscle dropped, chin down, staring through the brows without blinking. Page: https://howiland.com/guides/wednesday-stare ## What to do 1. Drop every muscle in your face: brows at rest, eyes at their resting width. 2. Tip your chin down about 10°, anywhere from 6° to 14°. 3. Look up at the lens through your brows. 4. No smile, mouth corners level, lips closed. 5. Do not blink. ## Where it comes from - Jenna Ortega plays Wednesday Addams without blinking. She has said she would “drop all the muscles in my face”, and that Tim Burton “really liked the Kubrick stare, where I stare through my eyebrows” ([Jenna Ortega on not blinking, Yahoo](https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/why-doesn-t-jenna-ortega-200816102.html)). ## Practise it live Open How I Land and choose “Wednesday” under “Celebrity look”. Your camera shows your face with the look drawn on it, and one instruction at a time tells you what to move. When it fits, hold it for five seconds. Open the app: https://howiland.com/ It copies a famous face; it is not a first-impression benchmark. No one named here made or endorsed the app. ## How to do the Gen Z pout The selfie face of 2026: the upper lip lifted a little and the lower lip tucked up, between a pout and a faint frown. Page: https://howiland.com/guides/gen-z-pout ## What to do 1. Lift your upper lip a little and tuck your lower lip up. The app reads it as lips pushed forward. 2. Let your mouth corners turn down slightly: a faint frown. 3. No smile, lips closed. 4. Look into the lens. ## Where it comes from - The Gen Z pout is described as the selfie face of 2026: “the upper lip lifts slightly while the lower lip tucks upward, creating a look somewhere between a pout and a faint frown” ([The Gen Z pout, Yahoo Life 2026](https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/article/the-gen-z-pout-is-the-new-selfie-face-the-subtle-expression-hints-at-how-young-people-see-beauty-183822204.html)). ## Practise it live Open How I Land and choose “Gen Z pout” under “Celebrity look”. Your camera shows your face with the look drawn on it, and one instruction at a time tells you what to move. When it fits, hold it for five seconds. Open the app: https://howiland.com/ It copies a famous face; it is not a first-impression benchmark. No one named here made or endorsed the app. ## Smiles and eye contact across 12 culture regions Where a smile helps, where it costs, and where to hold a gaze for less long. Page: https://howiland.com/guides/cultures The same smile or held gaze lands differently across cultures. The largest study of this, across 44 cultures, found that in some of them a smiling person is judged less intelligent than the same person not smiling, and that where corruption is high, a smile earns less trust ([Krys et al. 2016](https://doi.org/10.1007/s10919-015-0226-4)). How I Land groups the world into twelve regions, following the GLOBE study’s culture clusters ([Gupta, Hanges & Dorfman 2002](https://doi.org/10.1016/S1090-9516(01)00070-0)), and changes a target only where research found a difference. What stays the same everywhere: the two axes that first impressions run on, warmth and dominance, were found again in all 11 world regions tested ([Jones et al. 2021](https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-020-01007-2)). ## The twelve regions - **English-speaking:** For “approachable” the app also asks for parted lips, a broader smile: European Americans rated broad, excited smiles as more outgoing and agreeable than calm ones, more than Hong Kong Chinese did ([Tsai et al. 2019](https://doi.org/10.1037/pspp0000192)). Smiling helps here with looking honest and, a little, with looking intelligent ([Krys et al. 2016](https://doi.org/10.1007/s10919-015-0226-4)). Countries: USA, UK, Ireland, Canada, Australia, New Zealand. - **Latin Europe:** No target changes. Smiling helps with looking honest. For looking intelligent it does little on average, and for France the app’s note is to keep the smile at the low end of its range ([Krys et al. 2016](https://doi.org/10.1007/s10919-015-0226-4)). Countries: Portugal, Spain, France, Italy. - **Nordic Europe:** No target changes. Finnish raters found a direct gaze in person more approachable than an averted one ([Akechi et al. 2013](https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0059312)). Countries: Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden. - **Germanic Europe:** For “competent” the app asks for a more visible smile, lips still closed: the largest gains in perceived intelligence from smiling were found here ([Krys et al. 2016](https://doi.org/10.1007/s10919-015-0226-4)). Countries: Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Netherlands. - **Eastern Europe:** No target changes. For looking intelligent a smile does little on average; for Russia the app’s note is to keep it at the low end ([Krys et al. 2016](https://doi.org/10.1007/s10919-015-0226-4)). Countries: Poland, Russia, Ukraine, Hungary, Greece, Georgia. - **Latin America:** No target changes. The results differ from country to country ([Krys et al. 2016](https://doi.org/10.1007/s10919-015-0226-4)). Countries: Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, Colombia and neighbours. - **Sub-Saharan Africa:** No target changes. The few countries studied show small effects ([Krys et al. 2016](https://doi.org/10.1007/s10919-015-0226-4)). Countries: Nigeria, South Africa, Kenya, Ghana, Zimbabwe. - **Middle East & North Africa:** No target changes. The results differ from country to country; for Iran the app’s note is to keep the smile at the low end ([Krys et al. 2016](https://doi.org/10.1007/s10919-015-0226-4)). Countries: Egypt, Morocco, Turkey, Gulf states, Iran, Israel. - **South Asia (Desi):** For “trustworthy” the smile is optional: here smiling barely moved perceived honesty. A level head, brows not lowered and steady eyes carry it ([Krys et al. 2016](https://doi.org/10.1007/s10919-015-0226-4)). Countries: India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Maldives. - **Southeast Asia:** For “competent” the app asks for a more visible smile, lips still closed: here smiling made faces look more intelligent ([Krys et al. 2016](https://doi.org/10.1007/s10919-015-0226-4)). Countries: Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines. - **China & Chinese-speaking:** No target changes. A calm smile does the job for “approachable”: Hong Kong Chinese gave broad, excited smiles less of an edge over calm ones than European Americans did ([Tsai et al. 2019](https://doi.org/10.1037/pspp0000192)). Countries: China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore. - **Japan & South Korea:** For “competent”, a faint smile at most: here smiling made faces look less intelligent, though a mild smile still earns trust ([Krys et al. 2016](https://doi.org/10.1007/s10919-015-0226-4)). Eye contact is about 2 seconds at a time, aimed softly between the eyes: Japanese raters judged a held, direct gaze in person as angrier and less approachable than Finnish raters did ([Akechi et al. 2013](https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0059312)), and Japanese adults in conversation look at the eye region and between the eyes ([Haensel et al. 2020](https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-58802-0)). On a screen, direct gaze read as pleasant in both ([Uono & Hietanen 2015](https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0118094)). Countries: Japan, South Korea. ## In the app Above “Be seen as”, answer “Where are the people you’ll meet from?”. The outline and the instructions follow the region; “Why” shows what changed and the study behind it. Open the app: https://howiland.com/ A region is a starting point, not a rule about any one person. ## The research behind How I Land Every study the looks are built from, with what it found and where it is used. Page: https://howiland.com/guides/research How I Land’s looks are built from 46 published studies on faces and first impressions. Here is each one with what this site takes from it, in plain words, and a link to the paper. In the app, “Why” shows the same sources next to the numbers they support. The findings are stated without effect sizes. They describe how faces were rated in each study; they are not promises about any one meeting. ## The studies - [Akechi et al. 2013](https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0059312): Japanese raters judged a held, direct gaze in person as angrier and less approachable than Finnish raters did. Finnish raters found a direct gaze in person more approachable than an averted one. In Japan and South Korea, for example, eye contact is set to about 2 seconds at a time instead of 3. - [Ambadar, Cohn & Reed 2009](https://doi.org/10.1007/s10919-008-0059-5): Most smiles seen as amused had the mouth open; few polite ones did. Embarrassed smiles come with the head tipped down, amused ones with it tilted up. Smiles seen as amused lasted about twice as long as polite ones. - [Binetti et al. 2016](https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.160086): About 3 seconds of eye contact at a time is what viewers found most comfortable. In a study with a face on a screen, the length of eye contact that viewers found most comfortable averaged 3.3 seconds. - [Burgoon et al. 1985](https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01000735): More eye contact read as more credible, attractive and composed. - [Centorrino et al. 2015](https://doi.org/10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2014.08.001): Smiles rated genuine drew more trust and more money in trust games. - [Grammer et al. 1988](https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1439-0310.1988.tb00211.x): In everyday encounters filmed in three cultures, a quick raise of the brows came at the start of contact, usually with a smile, and signalled a yes to the contact itself. A quick lift of the brows with it is how people greet each other at the start of contact. Held, raised brows read as surprise. - [Gunnery & Ruben 2016](https://doi.org/10.1080/02699931.2015.1018817): Lifted cheeks make a smile read as more genuine, though more in motion than in photos. - [Guo et al. 2018](https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.00202): Timing is the trust signal: spontaneous smiles rise more slowly than posed ones. - [Gupta, Hanges & Dorfman 2002](https://doi.org/10.1016/S1090-9516(01)00070-0): How I Land groups the world into twelve regions, following the GLOBE study’s culture clusters. - [Haensel et al. 2020](https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-58802-0): Japanese adults in conversation look at the eye region and between the eyes. In Japan and South Korea, for example, eye contact is set to about 2 seconds at a time instead of 3. - [Harrigan & O'Connell 1996](https://doi.org/10.1016/0191-8869(96)00050-5): Very anxious people showed more fear-like movements, raised brows and widened eyes among them, more blinking and more movement overall. - [Harrigan, Wilson & Rosenthal 2004](https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167203258844): The voice carries even more: observers read momentary anxiety from the voice more than from the face. - [Hess, Blairy & Kleck 2000](https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1006623213355): A smile at less than half strength already shifted how warmly a face was rated, so any smile gives it away. Lowering them on purpose adds open anger instead. - [Jones et al. 2021](https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-020-01007-2): What stays the same everywhere: the two axes that first impressions run on, warmth and dominance, were found again in all 11 world regions tested. - [Knoll, Attkiss & Persing 2008](https://doi.org/10.1097/PRS.0b013e31816b13fe): Held, raised brows read as surprise. - [Kraus & Chen 2013](https://doi.org/10.1037/a0030745): A smile edited onto a fighter’s photo made him look less hostile and less physically dominant. - [Krumhuber et al. 2009](https://doi.org/10.1007/s10919-008-0056-8): In a mock job interview, a smile that built and faded slowly was rated higher than the same smile switched on fast, which did no better than no smile. - [Krys et al. 2016](https://doi.org/10.1007/s10919-015-0226-4): Smiling raised perceived honesty in most of 44 cultures, but in some it made a face look less intelligent. The largest study of this, across 44 cultures, found that in some of them a smiling person is judged less intelligent than the same person not smiling, and that where corruption is high, a smile earns less trust. Smiling helps here with looking honest and, a little, with looking intelligent. - [Lee & Anderson 2017](https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797616687364): Widened eyes read as fear and awe, narrowed ones as suspicion. Widened eyes read as fear and awe, so the app stops at 15%. Kept slight, narrowing reads as scrutiny. - [Li et al. 2021](https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.638398): Broad smiles cut perceived dominance. Broad smiles cut perceived dominance, and added no further trust over a mild one. The same person with a broad smile was rated warmer but less competent than with a slight one. - [Mason, Tatkow & Macrae 2005](https://doi.org/10.1111/j.0956-7976.2005.00809.x): A gaze that returns to the viewer raised likeability. - [Mignault & Chaudhuri 2003](https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1023914509763): A raised head reads as superior. A lowered head with lowered eyes reads as submissive and sad, so the head stays level. Seen from below (a raised chin), a face without a smile reads as superior. - [Omori & Miyata 2001](https://doi.org/10.2224/sbp.2001.29.2.159): More blinking read as more nervous. - [Oosterhof & Todorov 2008](https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0805664105): Pushing a face toward “trustworthy” made it look happy; the other way, angry. First impressions run on two axes: can I trust you, and how strong are you. Trustworthiness is read from resemblance to happiness; pushed the other way, a face looks angry. - [Otta, Abrosio & Hoshino 1996](https://doi.org/10.2466/pms.1996.82.3c.1111): Rated happiness rises from a straight face to a closed smile to a smile showing teeth. - [Reis et al. 1990](https://doi.org/10.1002/ejsp.2420200307): Against no smile at all, smiling raises rated competence. - [Sundelin et al. 2013](https://doi.org/10.5665/sleep.2964): Drooping mouth corners read as tired and sad. After a night without sleep, raters scored hanging eyelids and drooping mouth corners higher, and both tracked how tired the person looked. Hanging upper lids read as tired. - [Sundelin et al. 2017](https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.160918): A sleepier look made others less willing to spend time with the person. - [Sutherland, Young & Rhodes 2017](https://doi.org/10.1111/bjop.12206): Facing the viewer made a smiling face read as more trustworthy. How you hold your face moves these judgments more than the face itself: ratings of one person varied more across their own photos, with different expressions and angles, than ratings varied between different people. - [Talamas et al. 2016](https://doi.org/10.1037/xge0000152): More open upper lids raised perceived intelligence, independently of attractiveness. More open lids read as more intelligent. - [Todorov, Pakrashi & Oosterhof 2009](https://doi.org/10.1521/soco.2009.27.6.813): People settle on a face within about a tenth of a second. Judgments made that fast matched unhurried ones, and more time changed little. - [Torrance et al. 2020](https://doi.org/10.1177/0301006619898589): A chin tipped 10° down cut trust ratings. A chin 10° down cut trust; 10° up left it unchanged. Chin level. Level faces were rated best or equal as leaders; a chin tipped down cut trust. - [Toscano, Schubert & Giessner 2018](https://doi.org/10.1007/s10919-018-0276-5): Eyes that hold. The tilt reads as dominant and angry only with a direct gaze. Chin down with the eyes on the viewer reads as dominant; with the eyes down, as submissive. With the eyes down, the same tilt reads as submissive and ashamed. - [Tracy & Robins 2004](https://doi.org/10.1111/j.0956-7976.2004.01503008.x): A tilt of about 15° was recognised as pride better than 30°. A small smile was recognised as pride better than a large one. - [Tracy & Robins 2007](https://doi.org/10.1037/1528-3542.7.4.789): With the eyes looking up instead of at the viewer, far fewer people recognised pride. Confidence is read from the pride display: head raised, a small smile, eyes on the viewer. A raised head with a small smile reads as pride. - [Tsai et al. 2019](https://doi.org/10.1037/pspp0000192): European Americans rated broad, excited smiles as more outgoing and agreeable than calm ones, more than Hong Kong Chinese did. China and Chinese-speaking regions: a calm smile does the job; the targets stay as they are. A calm smile does the job for “approachable”: Hong Kong Chinese gave broad, excited smiles less of an edge over calm ones than European Americans did. - [Uono & Hietanen 2015](https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0118094): On a screen a direct gaze read as pleasant in both Japan and Finland. - [Vernon et al. 2014](https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1409860111): Across 1,000 everyday photos its strongest predictors were all mouth measures: the curve of the lower lip, the width of the mouth and lips apart. Lips apart is one of the strongest approachability cues in everyday photos. Low brows. They read as angry and dominant. - [Wang et al. 2017](https://doi.org/10.1093/jcr/ucw062): A broad smile reads warmer but less competent. The same person with a broad smile was rated warmer but less competent than with a slight one. - [Willis & Todorov 2006](https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9280.2006.01750.x): All of them are read that way, and fast: people settle on a face within about a tenth of a second. Judgments made that fast matched unhurried ones, and more time changed little. - [Willis, Palermo & Burke 2011](https://doi.org/10.1037/a0022571): Happy faces were rated the most approachable, angry ones the least. - [Witkower & Tracy 2019](https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797619838762): A chin 10° up already raised perceived dominance. A neutral face tilted down 10° was rated far more dominant than the same face level, because the tilt makes level brows look lowered and V-shaped. With the brows hidden, the effect vanished. - [Witkower et al. 2020](https://doi.org/10.1037/pspi0000181): A lowered head without a smile signals dominance; a raised one with a smile, prestige. A raised head with a smile signals earned status; the same head without one reads as superior and contemptuous. - [Witkower et al. 2022](https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-04370-w): In a small-scale society in Nicaragua, most people picked the tilted face as the more dominant. - [Zebrowitz, Kikuchi & Fellous 2010](https://doi.org/10.1037/a0017990): Faces that merely resemble anger are judged less competent as well as less warm. A face that merely resembles anger is judged less warm and less competent. ## Also linked in the app - [Messinger et al. 2012](https://doi.org/10.1037/a0026498): ## Also cited on this site - [Hull et al. 2017](https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-017-3166-5): The looks are for moments you choose; holding a face that is not yours all day is tiring, and research with autistic adults ties long-term camouflaging to exhaustion. - [Liaci et al. 2017](https://doi.org/10.1038/srep43511): Faint as the smile is, viewers in one study called the original happy in nearly every trial. ## See it applied Each look is a recipe built from these findings: [the ten looks](https://howiland.com/looks). The app measures your face against it live. Open the app: https://howiland.com/ # Policy for automated systems - Search indexing: allowed - AI search and answers, with a link to https://howiland.com: allowed - AI training: allowed - Content-Signal: search=yes, ai-input=yes, ai-train=yes # Sources cited on these pages - [Akechi et al. 2013](https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0059312) - [Ambadar, Cohn & Reed 2009](https://doi.org/10.1007/s10919-008-0059-5) - [Binetti et al. 2016](https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.160086) - [Blue Steel, Dictionary.com](https://www.dictionary.com/e/fictional-characters/blue-steel/) - [Burgoon et al. 1985](https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01000735) - [Centorrino et al. 2015](https://doi.org/10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2014.08.001) - [Girl with a Pearl Earring, Mauritshuis](https://artsandculture.google.com/story/girl-with-a-pearl-earring/bgICYYizzwQHKQ) - [Grammer et al. 1988](https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1439-0310.1988.tb00211.x) - [Gunnery & Ruben 2016](https://doi.org/10.1080/02699931.2015.1018817) - [Guo et al. 2018](https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.00202) - [Gupta, Hanges & Dorfman 2002](https://doi.org/10.1016/S1090-9516(01)00070-0) - [Haensel et al. 2020](https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-58802-0) - [Harrigan & O'Connell 1996](https://doi.org/10.1016/0191-8869(96)00050-5) - [Harrigan, Wilson & Rosenthal 2004](https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167203258844) - [Hess, Blairy & Kleck 2000](https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1006623213355) - [Hull et al. 2017](https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-017-3166-5) - [Jenna Ortega on not blinking, Yahoo](https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/why-doesn-t-jenna-ortega-200816102.html) - [Jones et al. 2021](https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-020-01007-2) - [Knoll, Attkiss & Persing 2008](https://doi.org/10.1097/PRS.0b013e31816b13fe) - [Kraus & Chen 2013](https://doi.org/10.1037/a0030745) - [Krumhuber et al. 2009](https://doi.org/10.1007/s10919-008-0056-8) - [Krys et al. 2016](https://doi.org/10.1007/s10919-015-0226-4) - [Kubrick stare, Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kubrick_stare) - [Lee & Anderson 2017](https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797616687364) - [Li et al. 2021](https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.638398) - [Liaci et al. 2017](https://doi.org/10.1038/srep43511) - [Mason, Tatkow & Macrae 2005](https://doi.org/10.1111/j.0956-7976.2005.00809.x) - [Messinger et al. 2012](https://doi.org/10.1037/a0026498) - [Mignault & Chaudhuri 2003](https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1023914509763) - [Mona Lisa, Musée du Louvre](https://focus.louvre.fr/en/node/53) - [Omori & Miyata 2001](https://doi.org/10.2224/sbp.2001.29.2.159) - [Oosterhof & Todorov 2008](https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0805664105) - [Otta, Abrosio & Hoshino 1996](https://doi.org/10.2466/pms.1996.82.3c.1111) - [Reis et al. 1990](https://doi.org/10.1002/ejsp.2420200307) - [Sundelin et al. 2013](https://doi.org/10.5665/sleep.2964) - [Sundelin et al. 2017](https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.160918) - [Sutherland, Young & Rhodes 2017](https://doi.org/10.1111/bjop.12206) - [Talamas et al. 2016](https://doi.org/10.1037/xge0000152) - [The Gen Z pout, Yahoo Life 2026](https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/article/the-gen-z-pout-is-the-new-selfie-face-the-subtle-expression-hints-at-how-young-people-see-beauty-183822204.html) - [Todorov, Pakrashi & Oosterhof 2009](https://doi.org/10.1521/soco.2009.27.6.813) - [Torrance et al. 2020](https://doi.org/10.1177/0301006619898589) - [Toscano, Schubert & Giessner 2018](https://doi.org/10.1007/s10919-018-0276-5) - [Tracy & Robins 2004](https://doi.org/10.1111/j.0956-7976.2004.01503008.x) - [Tracy & Robins 2007](https://doi.org/10.1037/1528-3542.7.4.789) - [Tsai et al. 2019](https://doi.org/10.1037/pspp0000192) - [Uono & Hietanen 2015](https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0118094) - [Vernon et al. 2014](https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1409860111) - [Wang et al. 2017](https://doi.org/10.1093/jcr/ucw062) - [Willis & Todorov 2006](https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9280.2006.01750.x) - [Willis, Palermo & Burke 2011](https://doi.org/10.1037/a0022571) - [Witkower & Tracy 2019](https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797619838762) - [Witkower et al. 2020](https://doi.org/10.1037/pspi0000181) - [Witkower et al. 2022](https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-04370-w) - [Zebrowitz, Kikuchi & Fellous 2010](https://doi.org/10.1037/a0017990)