Project #3 Experimental Clock

Description

Object: Design and code an experimental clock that expresses a novel way of tracking time.

In this project, I was inspired by my own experience in this pandemic. During the pandemic, I spend most of my time in my apartment. When I was working or doing my own projects, the only thing that changed in the apartment was the scenery outside the window. So inspired by that, I designed a window, which shows the landscape outside. And the scenery outside the window will change according to the movement of time based on computer system. For instance, If it is 5 pm, the sunset will appear outside the window. Of course, if you don’t want to use the system time, you can also adjust your own time in the search bar. It will show different views based on the time you searched.

Design Process

In the beginning of the design process, I am thinking of designing a window and it will change to different views based on the movement of time.

After I decided on this idea, I started to draw sketches on the paper, and considered how to change the scenery in different time periods. Then decided to separate time into 6 different periods, which are 0:00-4:00am, 4:00-8:00am, 8:00-12:00pm, 12:00-16:00pm, 16:00-20:00pm and 20:00-0:00am. And the scenery outside the window will change every 4 hours based on the user's computer system.And I use the landscape view in Shanghai, which is my view outside the window.

After this step, I add a search bar and button, which users can also search any times, not just follow the system. In the search part, I separate time into 12 different periods. And each two hours will display different city or country views.

In the final step, I add a back button, which allows users back to their system time.

Reflection

This is a really interesting project, which has movement and interaction in it. And I think it’s a little bit challenging for me on the last step, how to let users back to the beginning page.