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Every Persona Has Their Palette: Persona-Based Color Highlighting for Emotional Expression in Text Chat

  • Stony Brook University
  • East West University

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contributionpeer-review

Abstract

Text messaging incorporates emojis, GIFs, and other visual cues to support emotional expression, yet the written text itself remains visually uniform. We explore whether adding color directly to text can support emotional expression in everyday conversation. We designed a chat system that uses a large language model to suggest color highlighting for selected words without changing the message text. In a six-week study with 24 participants, we observed how people used, adjusted, and sometimes disabled color highlighting over time. Participants developed different patterns of use depending on conversational context and relationship. These findings suggest that emotional support in messaging can benefit from flexible, user-controlled design that adapts through everyday use.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationCHI 2026 - Extended Abtracts of the 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
EditorsNuria Oliver, David A. Shamma, Heloisa Candello, Pablo Cesar, Pedro Lopes, Valentino Artizzu, Fiona Draxler, Gustavo Lopez, Anke V. Reinschluessel, Xin Tong, Phoebe O. Toups Dugas
PublisherAssociation for Computing Machinery
ISBN (Electronic)9798400722813
DOIs
StatePublished - Apr 13 2026
EventExtended Abtracts of the 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, CHI 2026 - Barcelona, Spain
Duration: Apr 13 2026Apr 17 2026

Publication series

NameConference on Human Factors in Computing Systems - Proceedings

Conference

ConferenceExtended Abtracts of the 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, CHI 2026
Country/TerritorySpain
CityBarcelona
Period04/13/2604/17/26

Keywords

  • Adaptive User Interfaces
  • Color Theory
  • Communication through Visual Cues
  • LLM
  • Visual Perception and Color Psychology

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