Tempo helps you schedule your day with a more realistic linear mindset

Posted on 02/01/2023 by JC Torres

Many things in life seem to happen in cycles, from the movement of the Earth and the moon to the changing of seasons to the cycle of day and night. These natural events give us the impression that time itself is also cyclical, but spiritual beliefs aside, the reality is far harsher and crueler. We can never reclaim lost time, and the time passed is forever gone. Thanks to this discrepancy of concepts, not to mention the design of analog clocks, many people, unfortunately, develop an almost carefree attitude towards planning and executing their days, postponing and procrastinating on tasks simply because they presume the opportunity will come again. That’s the mindset that this concept device tries to shatter by forcing you to see a day for what it really is, moving forward with or without you.

Designer: Ahmet Berat Akyol

Time pretty much flows in a linear fashion, and there’s really no going back, no matter how science fiction (or even science) may want to make us believe. Maybe in the distant future, we will figure out how to bend time to our will, but for now, we have to live with the cold fact that time lost is lost forever. Unfortunately, many of the tools that we have today seem to dance around that concept or even encourage less productive mindsets. If tomorrow is just another day, we might as well put off today’s tasks for tomorrow, right?

Of course, our lives don’t work that way, and Tempo tries to reinforce the correct idea of how time works by visualizing it not as a 12-hour or even 24-hour clock but as a single, straight, unidirectional line. This way, people will be forced to face the tempo, or rather the music, for what it is, something that you can never recover once passed. Hopefully, facing this reality will also force them to be more mindful and appreciative of the time they have.

As for its design, Tempo is simply a bar with rounded ends inspired by devices like smart speakers and soundbars, a common appearance in many homes today. It has a flat surface on top with a touch screen that shows the flow of time as a straight line with a series of small or large circles corresponding to tasks you have scheduled for the day. In a way, it resembles music visualizers that similar show sounds as a line broken by waves whose height depends on the intensity of the beat.

Tempo does have the character of a musical interface, which is apt for both its name as well as the similarity of beats to the passage of time. It’s arguable whether such a device can help you become a more productive person or reduce your procrastination, but it’s still an interesting insight into how we often view time and take it for granted.

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This alarm clock keeps track of time in a childlike, playful manner

Posted on 14/10/2022 by JC Torres

For many people, alarm clocks are critical tools in making sure they’re on time or, at the very least, that they wake up on time. At the same time, however (no pun intended), these devices are often seen in a negative manner and are even portrayed as something most people will smash up first thing in the morning. It doesn’t have to be that way, of course, and sometimes all it takes is changing the way a thing looks to change the way people approach them. This alarm clock and timer in one, for example, looks less like a typical clock and more like a miniature arcade cabinet, reminding people not to take everything too seriously and to inject a bit of play into their lives.

Designer: MUID

A clock’s main objective is to tell time, but such a tool can take on many forms in order to accomplish that purpose. Alarm clocks and timers or stopwatches are simply variants that also do an action at certain times, usually by playing a sound or ringing a bell. There are plenty of ways these can be represented, but most of the designs of clocks appeal to the more serious side of life.

With a name like “Game Boy Alarm Clock,” it’s pretty clear that this concept design goes in the opposite direction. It embraces the lighthearted aspects of our existence, which is probably how you’d want to start your day in the first place. It could still annoy you when you want to squeeze in five or ten more minutes into your sleep, but you’ll hopefully feel a little less stressed whenever you see a reminder of that interruption.

This alarm clock’s toy-like appearance isn’t just for show, though. The way you use it is also like a gaming device, particularly with the lever that looks like a joystick. It can only go up or down, though, mostly for scrolling through hours and minutes. Admittedly, that could be tiresome when you’re going through a lot of numbers, but hopefully, you only need to do that only occasionally.

Operating the device is also easy, with clearly marked buttons for the different functions. Most of the buttons are on the back, though, so that they don’t become visual clutter. Only one button remains on the front, and that’s mapped to starting and pausing the stopwatch function. As for stopping the alarm, all it takes is a simple tap on the top, almost like petting a loyal companion that faithfully wakes you up at the right time. Hopefully, you won’t bring your hand down in wrath, which will probably make you feel guilty afterward for treating such a cute device poorly.

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This stunning wooden wall clock is like a metaphor for time as a gift

Posted on 21/07/2022 by JC Torres

Although clocks are purely functional by nature, there was a time when they became elegant and elaborate art pieces worthy of becoming heirlooms. While mechanical logs still retain that mystifying character, modern analog clocks have seemingly devolved back to their purely functional purpose. Of course, their simpler mechanisms also offer the perfect opportunity to turn them into something more than just time-keeping appliances. Wall clocks that also function as wall decor have been on the rise recently, adding some flourish to a wall that goes beyond telling the time. Some tend to be minimalist in line with current design trends, but once in a while, we come across an elaborate piece of art masquerading as a wall clock, such as Nomon’s Ciclo.

Designer: Andres Martinez (Nomon)

A clock’s main purpose is to tell the time, but you won’t always be interested in that all the time. That means that a clock, whether on the wall or on your desk, spends most of the day unused and pretty much unappreciated. It’s hard not to appreciate the Ciclo, though, which looks like a wooden ribbon stuck to your wall. There’s almost a metaphor here about time and the present being a gift. Regardless of whether that was intentional or not, it’s hard to argue that it would definitely be a great gift to others or for yourself.

Many designer wall clocks these days tend to eschew the traditional circle that encompasses a clock’s face, or at least makes them subtle or invisible. The only circles you’ll find on the Ciclo are the round pips that mark the hours. These can be the same wooden material as the rest of the clock or made from metals like brass. Whatever the material, they still stand out, sometimes ever so slightly, to make it easy to actually tell the time.

The centerpiece of the clock is, of course, the wooden strips that make up its body. These thin sheets of wood are bent at their center and then arranged in a floral pattern to create the semblance of a round face. The wedge-shaped gaps between each strip not only create interesting whitespace to break the monotony of the wood but also provides color contrast, especially if the clock is affixed to a wall with a light hue.

Each Ciclo is made by hand, and the wood is sustainably sourced forested wood. That almost makes the wall clock completely sustainable if not for the electronics it needs to actually fulfill its function. It’s still better than many of the plastic-based wall clocks that litter not just markets but even some designer shelves.

The Ciclo is definitely a work of art and a handcrafting masterpiece, one that can easily breathe life into a barren wall. Admittedly, telling time becomes secondary with this design, but it combines function and art in a way that will continue to serve a useful purpose, even long after the clock’s batteries or electronics have died out.

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Kehai wall clock makes you look at the passage of time in a different light

Posted on 29/06/2022 by JC Torres

Being able to tell the time of day may have been critical to survival in ancient times, but our modern lifestyles have unsurprisingly put a different twist on that. More often than not, the ticking of the clock, literal or figurative, is a source of stress for some people, a glaring reminder of how little time they have left in the day or in their lives. Minimalist clocks have tried to change our attitude towards time by changing the way we look at clocks themselves. This wall clock continues that tradition by applying a good measure of Japanese minimalist aesthetic to create a timepiece that tries to make you feel more detached from the burden of keeping time.

Designer: Makoto Koizumi

It starts with the very shape of the clock, a simple and familiar circle. The custom aluminum frame is made in Japan using a casting technique to create a thin yet durable container for the wall clock. Available in white, yellow, and gray, the clock almost disappears into the wall if placed on a surface that nearly has the same hue. Without any extraneous marks inside or outside, the minimalist appearance of the clock’s frame tries to avoid inducing stress whenever you look at it.

The clock’s hour and minute hands are not only plain, but they’re also literally flat and look almost broken. The two together almost give the clock a skewed face, as if the hands were floating in some murky soup of time and space. The frosted glass on top adds to the obscurity of the hands and the clock in general as if making it harder to read the time. Its ambiguous design, as the designer called it, tries to make us rethink our sometimes unpleasant view of time and the clocks that represent them.

In contrast to the rest of the clock, however, the second “hand” easily stands out and calls attention to itself. It’s just a big red dot that looks almost like a zit on the clock’s otherwise pristine face. It is so unlike traditional seconds hands, not just in appearance but also in movement. Where most hands move either in staggered motions or sweep swiftly around, the size of the red circle means it travels smoothly and more slowly as it circumnavigates the clock’s edge. In some sense, it removes the tension when watching the Kehai clock, unlike the gripping suspense of watching the second hand hit 12 as seen on TV.

Kehai is a simple and beautiful interpretation of a clock that is both Zen and playful at the same time. In a way, it almost represents that same ambiguity we have towards clocks and time itself. The murky glass is seemingly creating a barrier between us and the clock, while the red dot tries to remind us that every second counts. Time passes at the same rate, whether we rush or not, and this clock tries to blur our skewed perception of it while also giving any wall and any room a unique character.

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This DIY digital hourglass delivers a retro feeling without the messy sand

Posted on 05/04/2022 by JC Torres

It’s almost difficult to imagine, especially for the maker and modding communities, that it wasn’t until only a few years ago that it was possible to create decent-looking “hacks” and electronics projects right at home, whether in your garage or your bedroom. Single-board computers or SBCs like the Arduino and the Raspberry Pi made it super cheap to put decent computers inside those DIY contraptions, while 3D printers made it possible to dream up your own designs. Sure, you might still need to be comfortable using a soldering iron for some projects, but the end results often make it worth the singes. You can, for example, easily create digital versions of analog tools that retain most of the design, just without the messy parts.

Designer: Engineercly

Everyone has a smartphone these days, and all smartphones come with some sort of timer app. That fact alone almost makes having an hourglass impractical and inefficient, but the old-school tool still has its charm, just like many non-digital artifacts today. That said, creating a sand clock is more trouble than it’s worth for a hobbyist, so it’s fortunate that we can now recreate an hourglass in a more precise and more digital form.

No, this isn’t about having a screen that displays a sand clock, which would be boring and too easy to make. This DIY project actually tries to mimic the experience of using an actual hourglass, including turning it upside down or sideways, as well as watching the “sand” drop little by little. Naturally, it doesn’t use any sand at all but utilizes LED lights to convey the same visual effect.

This project will require a bit more familiarity with electronics, though, as it involves multiple parts that need to be soldered and put together properly. All those parts can be bought online or even off-shelf, though you still need access to a 3D printer to craft the parts. Fortunately, the engineer behind the project provides the pattern that you can feed into any 3D printer or send to a printing service.

The Digital Sand Clock isn’t just a hardware project, though. There is also a bit of coding involved, especially in animating how the LEDs light up to mimic falling sand. That part is actually what makes the entire endeavor rather impressive, given how it can use motion (technically an accelerometer) to control the “movement” of the sand, and the lights adjust accordingly as if they were actually movable solid objects.

DIY projects like these often make people raise their eyebrows, especially after seeing all the components and work involved in making them. Beyond being an enjoyable pastime for hobbyists and makers, it is also a demonstration of how far we’ve come in enabling such creations without being at the mercy of large companies and production plants. It’s not only an enabler but also a source of inspiration for budding designers and engineers who want to take a whack at this more democratic way of creating things.

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This mountain-shaped household appliance is designed to visualize the journey of a seven-day workweek

Posted on 03/04/2022 by Shawn McNulty-Kowal

Mt. Week is a household clock appliance that takes the shape of a mountain to visualize the journey of a seven-day workweek.

There are few things more universally exciting than reaching the weekend after a long, arduous work week. It’s like reaching a mountain’s summit after spending the morning and afternoon traversing its trails and footpaths. There’s nothing like that first gulp of water, overlooking the valleys and tree canopies below, or that first cup of coffee on a slow Sunday morning. Taking the mountain motif to its ultimate end, a team of designers conceptualized Mt. Week, a cone-shaped clock appliance that denotes the motions of a week’s journey.

Designers: Minsu Kim, Yoonjeong Lee, Seunghyun Ko, Gyeongah Hwang, Hyunmin Kim

Inspired by the shape of a mountain, Mt. Week takes the form of an upside-down triangle for its time-controlled magnetic sphere to wind toward the appliance’s apex.

Separated into seven even parts, the cone represents the seven-day week and the magnetic sphere represents our timed journey through the week. Comprised of three main components, Mt. Week keeps an integrated digital clock to its side to indicate the time of day, while a magnetic sphere traverses the course of seven equal portions.

Describing the device’s time-controlled modules, the designers describe, “Mt. Week is divided into seven areas, representing a week’s journey. The sphere climbs the mountain diligently [on] weekdays and descends with ease during the weekend.

Users will find themselves excited while watching the sphere moving towards the weekend.” A built-in magnetic rail traces the cone’s surface for the magnetic sphere to latch onto and follow. As the cone rotates, the magnetic sphere signals to the user which day of the week it is while the clock displays the time of day.

The integrated magnetic rail mimics the curving nature of trailheads.

When users place the magnetic sphere at the top of Mt. Week, the magnetic rail positions it to its correct positioning.

Operated via a wire connection, all users would need is an outlet.

Even when not in use, Mt. Week offers a touch of minimalist elegance to any office or bedroom.

The post This mountain-shaped household appliance is designed to visualize the journey of a seven-day workweek first appeared on Yanko Design.

This minimalist dehumidifier disguises itself as a table clock

Posted on 09/03/2022 by JC Torres

Air quality at home has become a big concern for many people in the past two years, especially during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. Although many have started investing heavily in air purifiers and similar devices, others were just content to reduce allergens in the air using dehumidifiers. These home devices are often large or in-your-face appliances that call attention to themselves in a not-so-good way. One concept, however, envisions one that can become a part of the living room decor by posing as a large but minimalist clock.

Designer: Hyeongkwon Lee

At first glance, it’s hard to make out what the CLOCK is, and its name only adds to the confusion. It looks like a fan with its basic form, but the lack of air output immediately refutes that theory. On the other hand, it doesn’t have the telltale signs of a clock, so it almost doesn’t come off as a traditional timekeeping appliance. Fortunately, its pleasing minimalist aesthetic does help catch some attention, making it an interesting visual piece in the room.

The CLOCK concept has the equivalent of hour and minute hands, but neither actually tells the time. The “hour” hand is actually a blue circle that travels along the circumference of the device’s face and acts as a timer for the dehumidifier’s function. The “minute” hand is an LED light strip that always points at the 6 o’clock position and serves as a meter for how much water has been collected inside the dehumidifier’s tank.

The idea, according to the designer, is to have one complete revolution of the circular hour hand to indicate that it has completed one processing cycle. At this point, the air might have already returned to its humid state, and the owner could decide to start the process all over again. The benefit of this clock-based design is that it is easy to tell the state of the machine at a glance and from a distance. Most dehumidifiers, humidifiers, and even air purifiers would require owners to take a closer peek at a small LCD display instead.

The CLOCK dehumidifier is also minimalist in the sense that there are no controls on the device itself. Everything has to be done through an app, which has its perks as well as its drawbacks. It keeps the physical design of the product simple while allowing more information to be accessed from a paired smartphone. The app, for example, can inform you of the exact level of humidity in the air, something that’s not visible on the CLOCK’s face.

On the other hand, being completely dependent on an external device means that it would be impossible to use the dehumidifier when that wireless connection gets broken, which isn’t that uncommon for Bluetooth technology. It wouldn’t have taken anything away from the CLOCK’s minimalist design if some part of that device could actually turn it on or off manually, like a button that’s hidden on its back.

The post This minimalist dehumidifier disguises itself as a table clock first appeared on Yanko Design.

Making an LED Clock from Ping Pong Balls

Posted on 29/12/2019 by Paul Strauss

Hey kids, what time is it? Better check the ping pong balls to find out! When turned off, this unique clock looks like a bunch of ping pong balls in a picture frame, but when activated, it turns into a bright and colorful digital clock.

Instructables contributor thomasj152 put this cool looking timepiece together by assembling a grid of 128 individual ping pong balls, with each of them backlit with an RGB LED from a strip light. Using an Arduino nano controller, a real-time clock module, and a small bit of programming, it displays the current time on some of its ping pong pixels, and can light up the unused pixels to create a colorful background.

While the idea of cutting open 128 ping pong balls and then wiring up all of the LED strip light sounds complicated, its builder says it was actually pretty easy to do, and he’s provided details for your to make your own over on Instructables, complete with the code required to run the clock. With a little programming skill, you could use the LED matrix to display other images or animations too.

Clock designs that challenge the traditional time-displaying methods

Posted on 24/06/2019 by Neha Mistry

Wall Clocks, all of us seem to have them but have we thought beyond the regular hour and minute watch hands? Well, these designers have! And boy they have made some innovative versions of this everyday essential. From the coveted steam-punk inspired Nixie Tube clock, a clock that helps you breathe while spending time to a clock that uses no hands but instead uses a levitating ball to track the passage the time, these innovative clocks have something unique that will surely become a conversation starter in your home!

The Reverse Clock by Mattis Boets

The Equinox clock by Animaro Design

The ZIN 18 Clock is a six-tube clock that features Millclock Company’s ZIN18 nixie tubes

Rhei Clock, an electro-mechanical clock with a liquid display by Damjan Stanković

The Frame Clock by Meyer Objects

The Dusk Clock by Lu Yicong

STORY is the world’s first levitating timepiece by Flyte

Glance Smart Clock by Glance Tech

Freakish Wall Clock by Sabrina Fossi

Sparrow Round Clock by Haoshi Design

After Facebook and Google, the EU tackles… daylight savings

Posted on 06/07/2018 by Engadget RSS Feed

After holding tech giants to account with fines and legislation, the European Commission (EC) sights are now trained on a new target. The commission is polling EU residents to figure out whether it's time to reconsider daylight savings.

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