Connected Candles as Peripheral Emotional User Interface
Jonna Häkkilä, Li Hong, Saara Koskinen, Ashley Colley · 2018
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.