EmoFlow: From Tracking to Sense-Making of Emotions Through Creative Drawing

Shannon Sie Santosa; Qian Wan; Junnan Yu; Yuhan Luo

doi:10.1145/3772318.3790819

EmoFlow: From Tracking to Sense-Making of Emotions Through Creative Drawing

Shannon Sie Santosa
, Qian Wan
, Junnan Yu
, Yuhan Luo^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

Department of Computer Science

Research output: Chapters, Conference Papers, Creative and Literary Works › RGC 32 - Refereed conference paper (with host publication) › peer-review

2 Downloads (CityUHK Scholars)

Abstract

While previous research has attempted to link features of individuals’ drawings to their emotional states, it often overlooks the deeply personal and context-driven nature of visual expression. To bridge the gap, we conducted a two‑week diary study with 21 participants, who used a custom‑built app to track daily emotions through free drawings, followed by interviews reflecting on their artwork. Among the 252 drawings gathered, we found no strong correlations between reported emotions and measurable drawing behaviors; instead, participants expressed emotions through diverse approaches, from illustrations of emotion sources (e.g., events, objects) and metaphors, to emojis, literal text and spontaneous, random mark-making. Participants developed consistent personal styles and described drawing as an intuitive, playful, and safe outlet, though some faced challenges with the ambiguity of visual expressions and interpreting their creations afterwards. With the lessons learned, we discuss opportunities for designing expression-centered emotion tracking technologies that embrace individuality and creativity.
© 2026 Copyright held by the owner/author(s).

Original language	English
Title of host publication	CHI '26
Subtitle of host publication	Proceedings of the 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
Editors	Nuria Oliver, David A. Shamma, Heloisa Candello, Pablo Cesar, Pedro Lopes, Alessandro Bozzon, Thomas Kosch, Vera Liao, Xiaojuan Ma, Valentino Artizzu, Fiona Draxler, Gustavo López, Anke V. Reinschluessel, Xin Tong, Phoebe O. Toups Dugas
Publisher	Association for Computing Machinery
Number of pages	18
ISBN (Print)	979-8-4007-2278-3
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1145/3772318.3790819
Publication status	Published - 13 Apr 2026
Event	2026 ACM CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI 2026): Creating Tomorrow Together - Centre de Convencions Internacional de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain Duration: 13 Apr 2026 → 17 Apr 2026 https://chi2026.acm.org/

Conference

Conference	2026 ACM CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI 2026)
Abbreviated title	CHI'26
Place	Spain
City	Barcelona
Period	13/04/26 → 17/04/26
Internet address	https://chi2026.acm.org/

Research Keywords

Emotion tracking
creative drawing
sense-making
personal informatics
expressive visualization

Publisher's Copyright Statement

This full text is made available under CC-BY 4.0. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

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10.1145/3772318.3790819

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Santosa, S. S., Wan, Q., Yu, J., & Luo, Y. (2026). EmoFlow: From Tracking to Sense-Making of Emotions Through Creative Drawing. In N. Oliver, D. A. Shamma, H. Candello, P. Cesar, P. Lopes, A. Bozzon, T. Kosch, V. Liao, X. Ma, V. Artizzu, F. Draxler, G. López, A. V. Reinschluessel, X. Tong, & P. O. T. Dugas (Eds.), CHI '26: Proceedings of the 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems Article 1340 Association for Computing Machinery. https://doi.org/10.1145/3772318.3790819

Santosa, Shannon Sie ; Wan, Qian ; Yu, Junnan et al. / EmoFlow : From Tracking to Sense-Making of Emotions Through Creative Drawing. CHI '26: Proceedings of the 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. editor / Nuria Oliver ; David A. Shamma ; Heloisa Candello ; Pablo Cesar ; Pedro Lopes ; Alessandro Bozzon ; Thomas Kosch ; Vera Liao ; Xiaojuan Ma ; Valentino Artizzu ; Fiona Draxler ; Gustavo López ; Anke V. Reinschluessel ; Xin Tong ; Phoebe O. Toups Dugas. Association for Computing Machinery, 2026.

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title = "EmoFlow: From Tracking to Sense-Making of Emotions Through Creative Drawing",

abstract = "While previous research has attempted to link features of individuals{\textquoteright} drawings to their emotional states, it often overlooks the deeply personal and context-driven nature of visual expression. To bridge the gap, we conducted a two‑week diary study with 21 participants, who used a custom‑built app to track daily emotions through free drawings, followed by interviews reflecting on their artwork. Among the 252 drawings gathered, we found no strong correlations between reported emotions and measurable drawing behaviors; instead, participants expressed emotions through diverse approaches, from illustrations of emotion sources (e.g., events, objects) and metaphors, to emojis, literal text and spontaneous, random mark-making. Participants developed consistent personal styles and described drawing as an intuitive, playful, and safe outlet, though some faced challenges with the ambiguity of visual expressions and interpreting their creations afterwards. With the lessons learned, we discuss opportunities for designing expression-centered emotion tracking technologies that embrace individuality and creativity. {\textcopyright} 2026 Copyright held by the owner/author(s).",

keywords = "Emotion tracking, creative drawing, sense-making, personal informatics, expressive visualization",

author = "Santosa, \{Shannon Sie\} and Qian Wan and Junnan Yu and Yuhan Luo",

year = "2026",

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language = "English",

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editor = "Nuria Oliver and Shamma, \{David A.\} and Heloisa Candello and Pablo Cesar and Pedro Lopes and Alessandro Bozzon and Thomas Kosch and Vera Liao and Xiaojuan Ma and Valentino Artizzu and Fiona Draxler and Gustavo L{\'o}pez and Reinschluessel, \{Anke V.\} and Xin Tong and Dugas, \{Phoebe O. Toups\}",

booktitle = "CHI '26",

publisher = "Association for Computing Machinery",

address = "United States",

note = "2026 ACM CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI 2026) : Creating Tomorrow Together, CHI'26 ; Conference date: 13-04-2026 Through 17-04-2026",

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Santosa, SS, Wan, Q, Yu, J & Luo, Y 2026, EmoFlow: From Tracking to Sense-Making of Emotions Through Creative Drawing. in N Oliver, DA Shamma, H Candello, P Cesar, P Lopes, A Bozzon, T Kosch, V Liao, X Ma, V Artizzu, F Draxler, G López, AV Reinschluessel, X Tong & POT Dugas (eds), CHI '26: Proceedings of the 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems., 1340, Association for Computing Machinery, 2026 ACM CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI 2026), Barcelona, Spain, 13/04/26. https://doi.org/10.1145/3772318.3790819

EmoFlow: From Tracking to Sense-Making of Emotions Through Creative Drawing. / Santosa, Shannon Sie; Wan, Qian; Yu, Junnan et al.
CHI '26: Proceedings of the 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. ed. / Nuria Oliver; David A. Shamma; Heloisa Candello; Pablo Cesar; Pedro Lopes; Alessandro Bozzon; Thomas Kosch; Vera Liao; Xiaojuan Ma; Valentino Artizzu; Fiona Draxler; Gustavo López; Anke V. Reinschluessel; Xin Tong; Phoebe O. Toups Dugas. Association for Computing Machinery, 2026. 1340.

Research output: Chapters, Conference Papers, Creative and Literary Works › RGC 32 - Refereed conference paper (with host publication) › peer-review

TY - GEN

T1 - EmoFlow

T2 - 2026 ACM CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI 2026)

AU - Santosa, Shannon Sie

AU - Wan, Qian

AU - Yu, Junnan

AU - Luo, Yuhan

PY - 2026/4/13

Y1 - 2026/4/13

N2 - While previous research has attempted to link features of individuals’ drawings to their emotional states, it often overlooks the deeply personal and context-driven nature of visual expression. To bridge the gap, we conducted a two‑week diary study with 21 participants, who used a custom‑built app to track daily emotions through free drawings, followed by interviews reflecting on their artwork. Among the 252 drawings gathered, we found no strong correlations between reported emotions and measurable drawing behaviors; instead, participants expressed emotions through diverse approaches, from illustrations of emotion sources (e.g., events, objects) and metaphors, to emojis, literal text and spontaneous, random mark-making. Participants developed consistent personal styles and described drawing as an intuitive, playful, and safe outlet, though some faced challenges with the ambiguity of visual expressions and interpreting their creations afterwards. With the lessons learned, we discuss opportunities for designing expression-centered emotion tracking technologies that embrace individuality and creativity. © 2026 Copyright held by the owner/author(s).

AB - While previous research has attempted to link features of individuals’ drawings to their emotional states, it often overlooks the deeply personal and context-driven nature of visual expression. To bridge the gap, we conducted a two‑week diary study with 21 participants, who used a custom‑built app to track daily emotions through free drawings, followed by interviews reflecting on their artwork. Among the 252 drawings gathered, we found no strong correlations between reported emotions and measurable drawing behaviors; instead, participants expressed emotions through diverse approaches, from illustrations of emotion sources (e.g., events, objects) and metaphors, to emojis, literal text and spontaneous, random mark-making. Participants developed consistent personal styles and described drawing as an intuitive, playful, and safe outlet, though some faced challenges with the ambiguity of visual expressions and interpreting their creations afterwards. With the lessons learned, we discuss opportunities for designing expression-centered emotion tracking technologies that embrace individuality and creativity. © 2026 Copyright held by the owner/author(s).

KW - Emotion tracking

KW - creative drawing

KW - sense-making

KW - personal informatics

KW - expressive visualization

U2 - 10.1145/3772318.3790819

DO - 10.1145/3772318.3790819

M3 - RGC 32 - Refereed conference paper (with host publication)

SN - 979-8-4007-2278-3

BT - CHI '26

A2 - Oliver, Nuria

A2 - Shamma, David A.

A2 - Candello, Heloisa

A2 - Cesar, Pablo

A2 - Lopes, Pedro

A2 - Bozzon, Alessandro

A2 - Kosch, Thomas

A2 - Liao, Vera

A2 - Ma, Xiaojuan

A2 - Artizzu, Valentino

A2 - Draxler, Fiona

A2 - López, Gustavo

A2 - Reinschluessel, Anke V.

A2 - Tong, Xin

A2 - Dugas, Phoebe O. Toups

PB - Association for Computing Machinery

Y2 - 13 April 2026 through 17 April 2026

ER -

Santosa SS, Wan Q, Yu J, Luo Y. EmoFlow: From Tracking to Sense-Making of Emotions Through Creative Drawing. In Oliver N, Shamma DA, Candello H, Cesar P, Lopes P, Bozzon A, Kosch T, Liao V, Ma X, Artizzu V, Draxler F, López G, Reinschluessel AV, Tong X, Dugas POT, editors, CHI '26: Proceedings of the 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. Association for Computing Machinery. 2026. 1340 doi: 10.1145/3772318.3790819

EmoFlow: From Tracking to Sense-Making of Emotions Through Creative Drawing

Abstract

Conference

Research Keywords

Publisher's Copyright Statement

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