Gleamy: An Ambient Display Lamp with a Transparency-Controllable Shade

We present Gleamy, a lamp supporting ambient information display in everyday environment by the shade with controllable transparency. Information can be displayed abstractly by static or animated patterns on the shade. A preliminary study with twelve users showed that Gleamy naturally blended in a home environment. It satisfied practicality both as an ambient display and as a lighting device. We found that representation of information by Gleamy was unobtrusive and informative. The changes of the pattern on the shade delivered information in an emotionally rich and private manner, and enhanced aesthetic value as well. In this paper, we discuss design considerations that could improve peripheral information display using the shade with changeable transparency.