Mood Squeezer

Abstract

Many companies would like to redesign their workspaces to make them more pleasant and even fun places to work in. An assumption is it will result in social and economic benefits. However, it can be difficult to achieve because of cost, level of disruption and regulations. We present an alternative approach that provides an injection of playfulness into "drab" office buildings. A lightweight technology intervention was designed -Mood Squeezerthat asks people to reflect on their mood by squeezing a colored ball from a box set. The squeezes are mirrored back as an aggregate colorful visualization on a public floor display. An in-the-wild study showed how this intervention was successful at getting people to squeeze their mood, leading to a diversity of conversations throughout the building. We discuss how this lightweight approach to office augmentation can provide new opportunities for opening up a "closed" workplace.

Squeezy Green Balls

“…This finding suggests that this kind of simple playful device, that requires minimal effort, may be able to trigger a big increase in environmental awareness. Part of the effect can also be down to how it encourages the 'honeypot effect', where people take part in groups and a 'social buzz' is created around the installation (cf Gallacher et al [15]). …”

“…Gallacher et al [15] developed the Mood Squeezer, consisting of a squeeze kiosk of differently coloured balls, which invites users to squeeze according to their mood. Through creating opportunities for people to socialise, the intervention was able to create a more positive and open work environment, providing employees with opportunities for self-reflection and to engage in conversation with others.…”

“…Given the success of the Mood Squeezer study [15], we decided to adapt the original design by changing the colours of the six balls to different shades of green, varying from light to dark (see Figure 1). …”

Image-based Emotion Feedback

“…Shape and the physicality of distorting a flexible surface have also been investigated [54]. Physicality and color (colored squeezable balls) were also used to gather the mood of a building's occupants in an in-the-wild study [14].…”

Crossed Wires

“…These devices can take input from the world, through sensors that measure aspects of the environment, such as temperature, proximity, or light, and respond in some way, for example, though sound, motion or vibration. [4,23,16].…”