MetaphorChat: A Metaphorical Chatting Space for Expressing and Understanding Inner Feelings

TL;DR

This paper introduces MetaphorChat, a prototype digital platform using metaphors, graphics, and sound to facilitate expressing and understanding inner feelings in close relationships, inspired by therapeutic practices.

Contribution

It presents the design and prototype of a metaphorical chatting space tailored for daily emotional communication, bridging messaging apps and video games.

Findings

Prototype demonstrates effective metaphorical expression of feelings.

User reflections indicate enhanced emotional understanding.

Design insights inform future empathetic communication tools.

Abstract

Metaphors have been used during therapy sessions to facilitate the communication of inner feelings between clients and therapists. Can we create a digital metaphorical chatting space for daily use within close relationships? As the first step towards this vision, this work follows the autobiographical design approach to prototype MetaphorChat, which comprises two metaphorical chatting scenes tailored to meet researchers' genuine needs for discussing specific life topics in close relationships. Along with typing-based chatting, each scene offers a metaphorical narrative experience, composed of graphics and sound, with interactive mechanisms that deliver metaphorical meanings. This pictorial details the process of mapping abstract feelings into metaphor concepts, then how these concepts are translated into various interaction design elements, and the reflections from self-usage. We discuss the vision for such a metaphorical chatting space, uniquely positioned between messaging apps and video games, for the future design of empathetic communication applications.