# VibEmoji: Exploring User-authoring Multi-modal Emoticons in Social Communication

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2112.13555 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2112.13555/

## Key facts

- Cited by 1 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- First posted on arXiv 27 Dec 2021.

## Built on by (most cited first, 1 of 1)

- [EmoWear: Exploring Emotional Teasers for Voice Message Interaction on Smartwatches](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2402.07174/) (2024)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Emoticons are indispensable in online communications. With users' growing needs for more customized and expressive emoticons, recent messaging applications begin to support (limited) multi-modal emoticons: e.g., enhancing emoticons with animations or vibrotactile feedback. However, little empirical knowledge has been accumulated concerning how people create, share and experience multi-modal emoticons in everyday communication, and how to better support them through design. To tackle this, we developed VibEmoji, a user-authoring multi-modal emoticon interface for mobile messaging. Extending existing designs, VibEmoji grants users greater flexibility to combine various emoticons, vibrations, and animations on-the-fly, and offers non-aggressive recommendations based on these components' emotional relevance. Using VibEmoji as a probe, we conducted a four-week field study with 20 participants, to gain new understandings from in-the-wild usage and experience, and extract implications for design. We thereby contribute both a novel system and various insights for supporting users' creation and communication of multi-modal emoticons.