To appear in: Extended Abstracts of CHI 2000 (Student Poster), ACM Press, 2000.

The Reminder Braclelet: Subtle Notification Cues for Mobile Devices

Rebecca Hansson and Peter Ljungstrand
PLAY: Applied research on art and technology
Interactive Institute, Box 620, SE-405 30 Gothenburg, Sweden
{rebecca.hansson,peter.ljungstrand}@interactiveinstitute.se
http://www.playresearch.com/

Abstract

We are investigating new ways of conveying event notifications from mobile devices to their users. Our ambition has been to explore non-intrusive, or subtle ways of notifying users, to hide the technology and make room for aesthetic considerations. We argue that there is need for new ways of attracting a user's attention, while at the same time not disturbing other people. We have built a notification tool, the Reminder Bracelet, that is worn on the wrist and connected to a PDA. It notifies its user of scheduled events in a subtle and silent manner using light, color and patterns. Initial evalutations have shown that in a number of situations, the bracelet was preferred to the alert sound of a PDA or a mobile phone.

Keywords

Notifications, Mobile devices, Aesthetics

© 2000