I’m Jiayu Kang, a Chinese designer based here in Syracuse, NY. I specialize in designing human-machine communication and using a human centered approach to solve the given problem. I grew up in a family of artists, and I have studied painting and designing for over 20 years. I earned my undergraduate degree in art design at Beihang University in China.
I’ve been paying attention to how people connect and communicate for a long time. Communication is the core of human existence, and how we communicate with each other shapes our lives and our world. Communication satisfaction is positively correlated with relationship satisfaction. In all relationships, the quality of intimate relationship directly affects people’s quality of life and happiness index, so my work pays special attention to ‘how to use the latest technology to improve communication satisfaction in intimate relationships.
In the past year, we have all experienced the Covid-19 pandemic. In this very special period, everyone hides behind a mask and tone becomes blurred. Facial expressions become elusive and therefore communication is often difficult. I myself have experienced this kind of bad outcome in a long distance romantic relationship. Because online communication is lacking in expressing non-verbal behavior, I wanted to create a new channel to help couples achieve communication satisfaction.
LoveNotes
The LoveNotes app is an AI-enabled communication platform providing people a special space to connect. In the app, Gugu is your emotional messenger. Gugu will carefully analyze your speech patterns and he’s especially sensitive to words that contain emotions and attitudes. As GUGU monitors your discussion, he changes his facial expressions and body language according to the wording and overall meaning of the content. Thus, instead of using an emoji surrounded by the words, Gugu becomes the main form of expression and words are play a secondary role. Gugu can also convey the partner’s voice and allow you to share simple hand-drawn sketches. Instead of writing a letter, users speak to Gugu who then transcribes their message and plays their voice to the recipient.
In the app, the delivery time of the message is based on the physical distance between partners. For example, if a person lives in New York and his or her partner lives in China, it would take three hours to deliver the message. Once they log-in, within the world of the app partners are assigned to different planets based on their real-world geographic location.
Another feature is that Gugu also changes the background animation and music to enhance the expression and emotion of the message. Gugu will also help you reorganize sentences and words and transform ‘emotional words’ into icons if you wish. On a continual basis, he will analyze the user’s voice in order to judge the intensity of the emotions.
Within the LoveNotes app, facial expression, body language and tone of voice are amplified. All of which can help long distance relationship partners express their thoughts in a stronger, more accurate way.