Cuebic
Reviving the subtleties of affection in long-distance relationships (LDRs) with non-verbal cues.
What if
long distance couples could communicate beyond text and call?
It’s been over a year since I am in a long-distance relationship and even though technology helps me to stay in touch, oftentimes I crave the sweet nothings and subtle gestures which are the essence of any bond that stands the test of time - a gentle squeeze on the shoulder that reassures, a playful nudge of mischief or a slight nod that shows they understand.
The exchange of these simple cues is completely absent from LDRs and that takes a toll on the relationship over time.
I don't hear these kind of problems being talked about enough and I wanted to solve for this using technology. But was this just a me problem? Let's find out.
Duration
Roles
Advisor
User research
Ideation
Prototyping
Experience Design
Interaction Design
Design Strategy
Creative Coding
3D Modelling
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8 weeks
2021
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Collaborator
Madeleine Cordier
Chico Liu
Tools
Arduino
Figma
Circuit Python
Illustrator
PremierPro
Wood modeling
Blender
3D Printing
Lazer Cutting
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1.4 Million
in the US are in an LDR.
And this doesn’t even include the rest of the world or the other 3.37 million people who are married but share a long-distance relationship.
But,
4.5 months
is the average span of an LDR
and we wanted to know why, so we spoke to people from various demographics who have been or are currently in an LDR. Their stories overlapped to a large extent but some things stood out. What we learned helped us design a product that bridges those differences and bring loved ones close.
Based on the principles of calm design,
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Cuebic is a pair of communication devices that merges with the periphery and subtly demands your attention only when it has something to tell you. Place it on your desk or nightstand, and feel it become a fun embodiment of your partner!
Cuebic communicates without speaking, similar to how we often behave with our partners - one quick glance and we know what's happening. It allows couples in LDRs to express their moods, and keep track of schedules even in different time zones and more - all through a series of playful interactions that almost become a part of their daily lives.
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Share moods, status, pulse & hugs, all in real time
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Haptic Feedback
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Wireless charging
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App integration
Sound on ? Yes please.
How does it work?
The screens on each cube show updates from its pair.
Each cube comes with a variety pack of square chips that represent everyday moods & any five of those can be chosen and attached magnetically to the sides of the cube (one side is the screen).
The cubes are completely wireless as they communicate through wifi and can be charged wirelessly on any charging dock. It comes with a LiPo battery that lives up to 32 hours.
To reduce distraction and maximize calm yet effective notifications, the Cuebic uses visuo-haptic exploration to induce multimodal memory.
Interacting with Cuebic
double tap, tilt and double tap to send status
shake to nudge
hold to send hug
touch to send pulse
spin to spread cheer
Flip to send moods
Time
represented by the number of the 12-hour clock accompanied by the sun or moon icon that glides along the outer circle as the day progresses.
Schedule
Synced with google calendar and represented by the color of the engagement.
Mood
Represented by the side of the cube facing upward.
Status
Set as per current availability.
moods
angry
sad
happy
worried
love
The mood chip facing upwards is the one that's selected
Flip
Mood update
Haptic feedback
Sent Indicator
Haptic feedback
Checking history
Haptic feedback
Status
work
sleep
busy
away
available
home
double tap to open menu, tilt to choose status and double tap to send
Tap, tilt, tap
Status Menu
Haptic feedback
Status update
Haptic feedback
Hug
Hold for a few seconds to
send a hug
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​
Hold
Sending
Receiving
Pulse
place a finger on the "love" chip to send a pulse
​
​
Touch
Status Menu
Haptic feedback
Nudge
Shake the cube to nudge and grab their attention
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Nudge
Status Menu
Haptic feedback
Cheer
spin the cube once to spread some cheer with confetti
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​
Spin
spreading cheer
But,
What if you're away from the cube?
In that case, the Cuebic app helps to check notifications, and send updates to your partner too!
The app is the representation of your cube - which allows you to perform all the functions enabled with the physical device.
See your cube's present condition on your app's Cube tab and control all features through this virtual cube!
Watch your relationship grow with the Profile Tab, and check your mood trends and how they overlap with your partner's.
View history for every update sent to your cube and sort them by day, month or year to get a better understanding.
View notifications for any changes that have occurred since you last saw the cube.
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Keep track of the history, your partner's schedule and more, all in once place!
Let's dive into the process
How did we actually make cuebic
My teammate and I were both in long-distance relationships and we had similar concerns. We found that there was a lack of technological solutions in that space - and it was clear why.
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The problem was so abstract and ambiguous that it was hard to nail how it could be solved. Could design even solve for emotional detachment?
​
To answer that, we needed to get to the root of this misfortune. We asked - what is it that caused people to drift apart? This is what our research participants had to say -
Based on our insights, we reframed the problem.
What we learnt is that there were certain complications that caused couples to drift apart over a period of time and based on the patterns, we condensed these into four key insights.
In the language of love, silence speaks louder
Calls & texts can’t replace a physical presence
unrelated lives lead to a lack of general interest
Attempts to set things right make all the difference
How might we enhance communication in LDRs with the power of non verbal, asynchronous exchange?
and then we designed an app.
Well, not so soon. A thorough competitor analysis of the market helped us understand the shortcomings of current solutions and a common thing that lacked was perpetual ubiquity - just existing without needing one’s constant time and attention.
Value propositions
1. A way to express emotions non-verbally.
2. Facilitate efficient asynchronous communication.
3. Requiring minimum interactions to communicate.
It seemed like we would be fashioning a communication device and coding it from scratch! For someone who didn't know the first thing about coding, this thought was extremely daunting at first, but I knew I could find a way out.
A plethora of questions encompassed us...
There was only one way to go from here.
Ideate.Ideate.Ideate
The form factor
We tried out how differently shaped objects feel in our hands, and we were inspired by the versatility of the Rubik's cube.
The cube can be explored for many interaction touchpoints and gestures that are naturally intuitive for humans. We can throw it, spin it, tap it, hold it, flip it, and more!
We started exploring how we could use cubes to communicate - and one thing was clear,
our cube needed a screen. *hiccup*
And that meant even more coding.
So, I put my engineer hat* on.
(*fun fact - so far in life, I didn't know I had one)
Alligator clips? check
soldering iron? check
a matted mess of wires? check
Let's make an electronic device!
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Wireless charging
receiver coil
3 pin
Pulse sensor
3.7 V
LiPo battery
A million very colourful wires
4
2
&
2
2
2
2
Bluefruit circuit playground Express
Adafruit circuit playground Express
TFT Gizmo display
240 x 240 px
Haptic
Vibration Motor
It all started with a simple idea -
using the principles of calm design to create an intuitive, fun and engaging device that brings LDR couples closer and feel each others' presence in the physical world.
knw
*knuckle cracks* ; *deep breath*
I began by teaching myself the basics of coding in c++ and then setting the accelerometer to detect the flipping motion of the cube, using the neopixels to indicate the change.
Then we experimented with a few screens that could work for us. This included touchscreens from amazon but we realized that they had a bad viewing angle and the touch was faulty.
So we fixated on the TFT Gizmo screen which works reliably with the Bluefruit circuit playground.
There was just one problem, this screen could show us images only using circuit python because Gizmo had a small memory, and so we had to learn the basics of coding in circuit python too.
Soon we were able to merge the accelerometer code with the gizmo and represent moods using colors on the screen and even included features like tap and shake.
After that, we installed the wireless charging receiver so that we can attach a battery to make the product completely wireless.
The next challenge was to get the two microcontrollers to communicate using Bluetooth. this took us a while but soon we were able to change the screen outputs on one controller by taking inputs from the other.
This was the first time when we had two connected devices.
Then I had to get the status menu to work. I used the tap to initiate the menu and accelerometer to gauge the tilting of the cube and navigate between different statuses. We continued to create the other features using tap, spin, and shake detection.
Then I started thinking about the form and tried to fit the whole circuit in the smallest cube possible.
Through multiple iterations, I arrived at a size that could easily fit in the hand and was ergonomic to use as well.
We rendered a 3-D model to understand the exact dimensions of the cube so that we could start building the actual product.
Then we tried out a few materials. We started with wood and cut all the edges at a 45° angle to make them fit together seamlessly and chopped the wood to the desired lengths using a table saw.
Then we joined the sides and our first wooden cub was ready. We even engraved a few wood samples with different mood representations.
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Wood was too organic for a communication device and not the right feel when placed in day and night light.
We also tried 3-D printing as well as laser cutting acrylic sheets to see which material looks best for our product.
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3D printing was very coarse, unfinished, and took a lot of time to make.
We decided to go ahead with A combination of frosted and opaque acrylic. We hand-buffed the edges to give a polished finish. This provided a finished look and was suitable for indoor lighting during both day and night.
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Now we had to fit all the components inside this acrylic cube.
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After many sleepless nights
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Finally, after so many form iterations, and adding the finished screens to the code, our product was ready to be showcased in the exhibition and was thoroughly appreciated by professors and guest visitors from companies like:
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Apple, Humane, Meta, Google, Gensler, etc.
Testing
Testing has been an integral part of this project. We utilized the resources available to us and tested at every step of the way, sometimes hallway testing when there were time constraints, & going really deep for the key decisions.
We tested for usability by asking participants to try out the interactions. We even gave away the cubes to people living in the same households for a few days and urged them to send updates and test the communication and how it makes them feel.
Their feedback helped us understand the few things that didn't work exactly how we'd envisioned. I made a note of the same and added that as the next steps.
We plan to continue working on this after the program is over because it's a problem we'd like to solve for ourselves too and hope to keep improving the design as we learn more about it!
Just one quick glance to know what's happening with your loved one?
Your partner is in a fun mood - Spin to throw confetti on them and watch them return the cheer!
Comfort them with a warm hug which you *warmed* with your body heat
It's all made possible with Cuebic :)
Final thoughts
Next Steps
Through this project, I learnt a lot about myself as a designer.
I stopped being intimidated by everything new and realised that with the right amount of determination and effort - I can teach myself to do pretty much anything and that gave me a huge boost of confidence. I remember coming into this graduate program as someone who was super unsure of herself especially in a new field of work - and this project took me a long way from that.
Working in teams has always been my forte but for the first time during this project I was able to understand how it can be an enriching experience in terms of learning and self - reflection.
I was humbled and learnt to appreciate and my team mate while simultaneously acknowledging the strengths I bring to the table and growing into the shoes of the kind of designer I want to be.
We had a tonne of ideas when we started out with this project, however due to time and resource constraints we were unable to implement some of them.
If I got more time and resource to work on this project - some of the things I would like to do are -
. Test this unmoderated with an actual couple over a period of time
. Include wifi instead of bluetooth so it can be tested properly
. Try out more intuitive to vizualize the Cuebic and app UI
. Think of the first and visualize cybernetics of this system
second-order
. Implement what we learn from the testing phases
