BreathScreen – Design and Evaluation of an Ephemeral UI

We present a novel concept, BreathScreen, whereby clouds created by breathing are used as a projection surface for a picoprojector, creating an ephemeral user interface. In cold weather conditions the clouds are created naturally by warm breath condensing, but in other conditions an electric vaporizer may be used. We present an initial evaluation of the concept in a user study (n = 8), utilising a vaporizer-based BreathScreen prototype. The concept was positively received by study participants as a natural, hands-free interface and considered magical and aesthetically beautiful. Additionally, we provide guidance on the quantity of content that may be displayed on a BreathScreen, which is limited both by the length of a human breath and the contrast of the system.