Timepiece prototype assignment
In designing this prototype I realized that I wanted to diverge from the generic form factors one associates with clock and watch design. Circles are obviously an ideal shape for designing any time-telling device. I thought circles were limited for evoking the subtleties of time as their inherent symmetry doesn’t leave much for elaboration. The other form factor that people are accustomed to would be a square or rectangular form which is the popular alternative to circles when it comes to watches, especially digital watches.
I also spent some time thinking about the basic numeral systems that one has the option of dealing with in time telling. At the extreme level of data resolution the increments in their conventional order are 60 seconds, 60 minutes, 12 hours, 24 hours, 30 days etc. I thought that as a design constraint, to limit the amount of data that needs to be conveyed one could disregard all these increments in favor of the essentials 60:12, 60 minutes and 12 hours. Or even come up with a different increments. An hour could be split into 5 segments of 12 minutes.
In the process of sketching I tried to find a form that was conceptually a blend of the two different shape paradigms, one that is inherently rectilinear and one that evokes the more universal organic nature of a circle. At first I was drawn to sinewaves and other paraboIic curves. I like that they contain an inherent sense of linearity and progression but they then fade back to an original value. They can also be drawn with an envelope (attack, decay and retreat).
I have always had a keen interest in spirals so I began working with the idea of a tessellated spiral form that could span both paradigms.
I then thought about material and color, and how color could reflect time. Naturally I thought of a gradient as being the ultimate expression of time passing. From the darkness of night to the varying color temperatures of morning, the blown out “hotness” of noon back to the muted, cooler tones of afternoon and evening.
I deliberately began iterating after this in Maya as I could develop shapes with mathematical complexity and have them represented with some accuracy. I am not particularly attached to the form I ended up with but I was using it to test some color relationships and I was excited to output a pattern in paper so I could actually build something.
At this point there needs to be some attention paid to how one would interact with this piece. It is currently designed to be upright on a surface and I through it might be an interesting pendant. Similar to the type that one would wear as an accessory, attached to a lapel or something similar.
Some of my renderings so far…
• Paper Craft model of clock
