Smiles Summon the Warmth of Spring: A Design Framework for Thermal-Affective Interaction based in Chinese Cí Poetry

Thermal-affective experience is a growing topic in Human-Computer Interaction. However, research linking thermal and affective experience in technology use has not moved beyond attempts to establish broad, sweeping associations, such as between warmth and positive affect. One of the obstacles to progression is the need for frameworks and vocabularies that describe and conceptualise the richness of thermal perception and affective experience. To help conceptualise associations between thermal perception and affective experience we turn to Cí poetry, a form of classical Chinese literature rich with evocative descriptions of embodied, environmentally situated, first-person experience. We conducted a lexical analysis to identify thermal-affective associations, and propose a design framework addressing thermal design. We demonstrate the value of this framework via analysis of existing thermal design exemplars.