Have you stood in front of a mirror and wondered if someone is spying on you?
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In this article, we’ll show you several easy techniques for detecting a two way mirror.
A two way mirror is a transparent mirror that can look exactly like a regular mirror when the back side of it is dark. Don’t worry, there is more than one way to tell the difference!
Fingernail Test
Tint Comparison
Hollow Sound
We have a series of three tests to use to confirm that the mirror you see in front of you is not a two way mirror.
The glass two way mirror has a mirror coating that is 70% reflective. It only allows 11% of the light through the mirror. It is on a dark grey substrate, which makes it one-directional. The glass two-way mirror cannot cheat the fingernail test. The reflection coating must be facing the room that is being observed. That way the people being observed are only seeing their reflection. On the opposite side, the darker room is located where the observer will be watching.
Notice the fingertip’s reflection touching itself. Very different from that of the standard mirror’s reflection.
The light is even on both sides of the mirror in this picture. You are able to see through the semi-transparent glass at the moment.
Front
Side
Back
Glass two-way mirror cannot cheat the fingernail test. The reflection coating must be facing the room that is being observed. That way the people being observed are only seeing their reflection. On the opposite side, the darker room is located where the observer will be watching.
70% reflective with 25% light transmission on a grey substrate, acrylic two way mirror is reflective from both sides of the substrate. Meaning it can be installed either way. If installed backwards ( the coated side on the back ) it can cheat the fingernail test looking like the reflection of a standard mirror! Something to think about if you are testing a questionable mirror. Acrylic tends to have a different feel than glass. Rubbing your nail gently across the surface may help you determine if you have found an acrylic two way mirror, or a standard glass mirror.
Acrylic two way mirror will closer match the reflection tint of a standard mirror as well. Whereas glass two way mirror tends to have a bronze tint.
Smart mirror is similar to the acrylic two way mirror in properties. It has a 70% reflection with a 25% light transmission. Its reflective from both sides of the substrate. Smart mirror can be installed backwards as well ( the coated side on the back ) it can cheat the fingernail test looking like the reflection of a standard mirror!
If you are testing a questionable mirror, smart mirror tends to have a warmer tone on the reflective coating. Observe the smart mirror on the right compared to the standard mirror reflection of the mug on the left.
Two-way mirrors are dependent upon the lighting in the room. Both sides of the mirror cannot be evenly lit for the illusion to work. The observer side of the mirror must be at least half as dark for the reflection coating on the other side to properly reflect light back at those being observed.
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Or, Why you shouldn’t talk during your own critiques
Have you ever been part of a focus group? Eight to twelve participants are ushered into a conference room to sample and react to a product or to discuss a topic or issue. A moderator is there to ask questions, gather opinions, and keep the discussion on track.
Behind the moderator is a one-way mirror, reflecting the people in the room and shielding whoever is behind it from view. The hidden observers aren’t secret—the moderator tells the participants they’re back there—but ideally, the participants quickly forget about them.
As a developer of educational materials for publishers, I’ve been behind that one-way mirror more times than I can remember, watching and listening while teachers review classroom materials that are still in an early draft, sharing how they think their students would respond to the materials, and whether they’d consider using them in their own classrooms.
Here are the kinds of things that run through your head while you’re sitting behind the one-way mirror hearing teachers discuss a textbook or web site:
Oh no, I don’t think they get it! Let me explain—wait, I can’t explain. I’m back here, behind the mirror. Someone asked a question. Why didn’t the moderator answer it? Oh right—we’re here to see what people think about the book when there isn’t anyone there to explain it. We’re here to see if they like it even if they don’t know who made it. We’re here to find out if they’d even give it a second glance if no one was paying them to look at it.
Sound familiar? It should.
A critique group is kind of like a focus group. The purpose of both is to gather thoughtful responses to a work in progress, to get a range of reactions, to gather suggestions for making it stronger before you offer it up to potential readers. As a critique group leader, I try to follow the model of a focus group moderator, whose job is to gather unbiased, honest responses from the participants, without explaining the creators’ intent.
Taking a page from focus group moderators
Every focus group I’ve observed has started with the moderator setting ground rules for discussion. These are also great ground rules for a critique group discussion:
These guidelines provide for a thoughtful, thorough discussion of the work at hand. The creators hear a range of opinions and suggestions from people with a variety of relevant viewpoints.
One thing a focus group moderator says to the group, that I can’t:
In a critique group, this isn’t true. The creator is sitting right there at the table. The risk of hurt feelings runs high, especially for someone whose work is under the microscope for the first time. And yet the need for honest responses is every bit as great. We’re gathered to help someone improve their work, and that can’t happen if we offer only praise. The most effective critiques follow the “sandwich” guideline, which is, “Share what is working well with the manuscript or illustration, then share what needs to be strengthened, and end with something that is working well.” Not only is this important—the creator needs to know what’s good, so he or she keeps doing it—this approach also helps keep spirits high.
One thing that I say to the work’s creator, that a focus group moderator doesn’t have to:
Why doesn’t the focus group moderator say this? Because the people who’d need to hear it can’t join the conversation. They’re behind that one-way mirror, sitting in silence in the dark, watching and listening while total strangers dissect the work of months, chewing their fingernails and gobbling M&M’s (every focus group viewing room I’ve ever visited has bowls of M&M’s candies) and scribbling down panicked questions they wish they’d thought of sooner, that they hope to give to the moderator to ask the group if—and only if—there’s time left for questions at the end of the discussion.
Want to get the most out of your next critique? Pretend you’re behind a one-way mirror.
During a critique, you have the chance to find out how your work stands on its own. You have the opportunity to hear readers analyze a character’s motivations, wonder what will happen next, share how the work makes them feel, and guess at the author’s intentions. The less you say, the fewer questions you ask and answer, the more comments you’ll hear in response to your work—not in response to you.
And if there’s time at the end of the discussion, you can still ask your questions—or maybe even answer a few.
What approach do you think works best for giving and receiving a critique? Join the conversation in the comments section. Dissent welcome!
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