cubble

Abstract

Couples in long-distance relationships (LDR) want to keep in touch, share emotions and feel connected despite the geographical distance. Current approaches to solve this problem include dedicated objects, common communication channels and mobile applications (apps). To combine the advantages of all three approaches, this paper introduces a hybrid approach called cubble. cubble enables partners to share their emotions, simple messages and remote presence. The prototype offers color signals augmented with vibration patterns and thermal feedback. We performed qualitative user explorations, which show that users favor the hybrid communication concept and found that this fostered their intimate communication by providing emotional closeness.