Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
Fig. 14.1
The first iteration
of the design: the
arrow
shows the predominant
emotion in the current
direction
The result was a multi-compass, with each color showing an emotion, its
thickness around the center indicating its intensity in the relative direction. In the
picture, the color purple, indicating boredom, is thicker in the upper right and lower
left, showing that the emotion has been recently manifested on social networks to
the front-right of the user, and to his back-left.
A pull-up menu can be dragged up by the user to toggle on/off the various layers,
also obtaining a visual legend for the meaning of the colors. From the same menu,
cursor sliders can be used to configure the sensibility of the emotional compass:
in distance, from 100 m to 1 km (e.g.: if you choose 500 m, only the emotions
generated within a 500 m radius will be taken into account); and in time, from 5 min
to 1 month (e.g.: if you choose 2 days, only the emotions expressed during the past
2 days will be used).
The transformation of the emotional color blobs around the center take place
using smooth, interpolated transitions, both to give the user a clear vision of what
is changing, and to achieve a “blobby”, organic look, which is able to visually
communicate a situation in constant evolution.
Whenever the user reaches a location in which a certain emotion has recently
been expressed with particular strength, the background starts pulsating in the color
of the corresponding emotion: an emotional landmark has been reached.
