Our Little Secret: Design and User Study on an Electrochromic Ambient Display for Supporting Long-Distance Relationships

In this paper, we present a non-light-emitting electrochromic ambient display, Our Little Secret, for supporting the communication in long-distance relationships (LDRs). The unobtrusive display technique was prototyped with an interactive picture frame, which was used as a probe to chart the possibilities of the technique in an interview-based user study (n=12) and an in-the-wild deployment (one couple) of people living remotely from their partner. The salient findings showed positive response especially on the non-light-emitting nature of the display, and indicates that it has potential to support LDR communication and relationship through a pair of private, meaningful, and always-on yet calm displays.