Design and Field Trial of Lumino in Homes: Supporting Reflective Life by Archiving and Showing Daily Moods with Light Colors

Abstract

Although archiving daily moods in a diary is a common behavior, reflection is difficult because of the pressure brought about by continuous self-tracking of personal moods. In this paper, we developed Lumino, a standalone device that enables users to log their daily moods with colored lights and switch mode to show the log by physically sliding a circular lighting plate. The results of our three-week in-field study with six participants revealed that Lumino helped users encounter emotional archives as it separated reflective experiences from daily life activities. Moreover, Lumino helped prevent deep reflection on negative emotions and maintained privacy through abstract color expression. We also found user’s various trials to control emotion reflections in their own usage patterns. We propose considerations for augmenting daily mood recording experiences combined with existing diary practices and further implications for designing how to support positively the negative reflections in everyday spaces.