Mainstream communication technology today enables us to connect with loved ones across long distances. However, even with the proliferation of easy-to-use technology, there are reports on increasing loneliness and isolation amongst people. The technologies that enable these interactions are not necessarily designed to support meaningful emotional communication for users in long-distance relationships (LDRs). Furthermore, there is a lack of participatory tools that are designed with the focus of supporting end-user involvement in the design of LDR communication systems. We developed the Flexi Card Game (FCG), a card-based generative design toolkit to support designers and non-designers within participatory structures that can help develop unconventional communication systems to support LDRs. The FCG was developed using an iterative design process, involving end-users, designers, and researchers across five workshops with 56 participants. The paper makes three main contributions: (1) presents FCG—the novel card-based design toolkit itself, (2) describes the process of developing an LDR framework into a participatory toolkit, and (3) offers lessons and insights that can help researchers who are developing participatory tools in similar contexts.

In this demo paper, we present the Flexi Card Game – a card-based generative design toolkit to support designers and non-designers with different backgrounds in participatory structures in the development of unconventional communication systems, with a particular focus on supporting couples in long-distance relationships.

Simple and low bandwidth communication on computers has been found to promote intimacy between couples. In this work, we further explore this minimal communication in the form of wearables. This pictorial presents an in-the-wild concept study of low bandwidth ambient wearable displays as a communication channel between couples. The goal is to understand the contexts in which the technology might be used and provide benefit. Our findings show that simple communications through a wearable device could provide an additional channel for communication. The wearable form factors also creates the feeling of being always connected. We highlight the importance and influence of form factors, contexts, and activities towards user experience. We discuss the opportunities this study opens for the future design of wearable ambient displays.

We present the design and prototype of the Idle Stripes shirt, which is an aesthetic, clothing-integrated display, reflecting the wearer's physical activity in an ambient manner. The design is targeted to be smart business-wear for an office worker, which creates awareness of immobility periods during typical sitting-intensive office work. Long periods of such sitting are known to be health risks. The Idle Stripes shirt promotes healthy working, encouraging the wearer to break up their office desk work with walking breaks. The design prototype is constructed of a fabric with integrated optical fibers, which are illuminated based on the sitting time detected by an app running on the wearer's mobile phone.

New form factors and user interfaces for computer-mediated communication are emerging. The possibilities to use these systems for emotional communication are interesting, and recent years have witnessed the appearance of a versatile range of prototypes. In this paper, we present the results of a systematic literature review on research addressing the design of systems with unconventional user interfaces for emotional communication, focusing on the use case of facilitating long-distance relationships. We reviewed a body of 150 papers resulting from a systematic search, further analysis scoping the body to 47 papers, containing altogether 52 prototypes that were relevant for our focus. We then analysed the characteristics affecting the interaction mediated by these systems and their user interfaces. We present the results related to the design attributes, e.g., form factors, modalities, and message types of the systems, as well as to the evaluation approaches. As salient findings, touch input and visual output are the most common interaction modalities in these systems, and their evaluations lack in-the-wild studies, especially on long-term usage.

We present Connected Candles, a peripheral aesthetic display for creating awareness and connecting people in long distance relationships (LDRs). The system consists of a pair of candle stands, which each include two candles, one being a real candle and the other electronic. The candle stands are placed at different locations, and are connected over the Internet such that lighting the real candle illuminates the electronic candle at the distant location. We present the concept's design, prototype, and its evaluation in a focus group based user study. Our findings illustrate the potential for using candles as a peripheral user interface to mediate emotional communication between couples in long-distance relationships.