Kinetic Type Instant Messenger

Software Architecture for Usable Interfaces, three weeks, fall 2004

I designed and implemented an interface for instant messaging using animated text based on the Kinetic Typography Engine.

 

Use the Kinetic Typography Engine to build an interface for chat or instant messaging.

I started by talking to people about how they convey emotion through instant messaging and started designing the interface to support a simple, fun and expressive chat client. I also spent a lot of time thinking about how to accurately convey emotions through text animation, and I tested the animations frequently to ensure they were expressive of the desired emotion.

A big challenge of this project was the learning curve involved in using two engines that I had no experience with, Kinetic Typography and Jaim, but I was able to implement a fully-functional Java chat client that works with existing AOL Instant Messenger accounts.

My kinetic instant messenger allows users to be more expressive in their chats by animating some or all parts of a message. Happy text bounces, and sad text drifts downward, and users can yell or hop in with their text. There is a preview function available to make sure that the animation has the desired effect, and users can replay animations as well as see a text version of the chat history.

Preliminary testing results were quite positive - people enjoyed the possibilities of more expressive chats and had a lot of fun experimenting with the different effects. It would be very interesting to explore this concept further.

Advised by Scott Hudson.