Isles of Emotion: Emotionally Expressive Social Virtual Spaces for Reflection and Communication

Abstract

It is common not be fully aware of our experience of emotions, and sometimes it is hard to communicate our emotions to others. Using design strategies derived from ambiguity and performativity, we came up with the concept of Isles of Emotion, customizable abstract virtual spaces that represent emotions. Considering remote communication as one of the potential use cases, we assessed this concept as an emotional reflection and communication tool via user studies conducted with 6 pairs of closely related people who have lived apart in the near past. During the studies participants created their own emotion islands using VR tools and visited their own and their pair's islands. We contribute to the existing literature by sharing resulting design insights on emotionally expressive social virtual spaces, commenting on the level of abstraction from and connections to the real-world, sharing and collaboration concerning the islands and their customizability.