WearEC Kits: Designing Toolkits for Exploring Subtle Visual Outputs on Wearables with Electrochromic Displays

Abstract

For designers, exploring subtle visual output modalities in the early phases of wearable design is a challenging task. In this work, we present the design and implementation of two toolkits, Transparent and Programmable WearEC Kits, that aim to enable designers to quickly explore electrochromic displays (EC) as a subtle output modality for wearables. EC displays are graphical displays that transition between two predefined visual states when a small voltage is applied. They are flexible, transparent and can be fabricated in a free-form shape, which makes them fitting candidates for designing wearables. Our work contributes the description of the novel design and implementation of the WearEC kits and reports a design exploration study conducted with a fashion designer.