Abstract
Facial movement delivers rich emotional messages. This pictorial explores a novel concept in enhancing expressive facial communication – the Internal Facial Contour (IFC). The IFC device constructs a linear visual language on the face through a collection of face-worn wearables. These wearable augmentations deform in response to facial muscle movement, thereby suggesting emotional states. The shape of the IFC device naturally becomes visually wider and more open when smiling; in contrast, it becomes narrower and more closed when frowning. To test the acceptance of this communication language, feedback was collected through casual interviews, visual perception tests, and usage observations. The proposed design offers an innovative approach to emotional interaction. This design exploration also raises several further research questions, including the social acceptability of expressive face-worn wearables, their impact on the user and the environment, and the relationship between the user, the environment, and the wearables.
Keywords
Facial expression; Emotion; Communication; Expressive wearables
DOI
https://doi.org/10.21606/iasdr.2025.470
Citation
Li, M., Page, R.,and Khoo, C.(2025) Internal facial contour (IFC): an exploration of expressive communication approaches for the design of face-worn wearables, in Chang, C.-Y., and Hsu, Y. (eds.), IASDR 2025: Design Next, 02-05 December, Taiwan. https://doi.org/10.21606/iasdr.2025.470
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
Conference Track
Track 3 - Design, Art & Technology
Internal facial contour (IFC): an exploration of expressive communication approaches for the design of face-worn wearables
Facial movement delivers rich emotional messages. This pictorial explores a novel concept in enhancing expressive facial communication – the Internal Facial Contour (IFC). The IFC device constructs a linear visual language on the face through a collection of face-worn wearables. These wearable augmentations deform in response to facial muscle movement, thereby suggesting emotional states. The shape of the IFC device naturally becomes visually wider and more open when smiling; in contrast, it becomes narrower and more closed when frowning. To test the acceptance of this communication language, feedback was collected through casual interviews, visual perception tests, and usage observations. The proposed design offers an innovative approach to emotional interaction. This design exploration also raises several further research questions, including the social acceptability of expressive face-worn wearables, their impact on the user and the environment, and the relationship between the user, the environment, and the wearables.