Happy Hour

Intention

I began this project with the intent to design an elegant clock that branched out from the common conception of the shape and layout that a usual clock would be. I pulled inspiration from online sources and my own sketches to create a clock that would break out of these common perceptions of the wall clock as a circular design.

Context

I created a geometric clock using Fusion360 and laser cutting techniques. These techniques were taught in the Digitool course. Some of the core techniques I focused on mainly concerned detailing the design through Sketch Editing and ensuring that each hexagon in the clock's design was collinear to neighboring hexagons to ensure that the design would no fail in the laser cutter. The biggest concern was overlapping lines.

Process

I began my ideation through sketches. These sketches ranged from circular clocks to more square clocks and helped me play around with a more 3-dimensional design. Once I had decided on how I wanted the clock to look, I drew the 2-dimensional version of it on a piece of paper to estimate what size I wanted it to be in real life and what dimensions. Once I had decided on dimension, I used parameters to sketch out the clock according to what I had decided in the Fusion360 software. Once completed, I exported the components to a .dxf file to lasercut. 

My main focus in creating a design for the wall clock was to create a form that would play with the shadows that the clock would cast on the wall. For my project, I actually came up with two separate designs. The first (seen below) was more complex and presented a more three dimensional view of the clock and numbers. It allowed the user to see the clock different, with different shadows from different angles. My first design is below:

After reviewing how I would laser cut the above design, I discovered that the more three dimensional aspect might make it more difficult to cut each individual part and may contradict the more two-dimensional goals of the assignment. I decided to go back to the drawing board to review any more designs I was looking to do before settling on the first design. Ultimately, I decided on a more geometric pattern that closely resembled a honeycomb. Here is an image of the design being created in Fusion360:

After awhile working on the design in Fusion360, I noticed that the large amount of hexagons present in the sketch was significantly slowing down Fusion360. I was unable to diagnose the performance problem, so I exported the design I had on Fusion360, uploaded it to Adobe Illustrator, and chose to finish the rest of the product with Illustrator sketching. Here is an image of the final clock (without text) in Illustrator:

Ultimately, I decided to create this clock as a one-layer clock with light wood to give the clock a more natural feel.

Finally, using a laser cutter in the Hunt Ideate Library, I created a wall clock using laser cutting techniques taught in DigiTool. Cutting and surface cuts were used to create the hexagon-shaped holes and outlines on the clock, etching was used to create the "5:00" on the bottom right corner.

Product

I chose to create a wall clock that would have a natural, elegant feel. I was inspired by a variety of designs that I found online and chose to make this design in a similar style.

Below are images of the final product:

Reflection

Overall, I am proud of the way the wall clock came out. It has an elegant feel with the geometric pattern. Looking back on the process, I would have saved myself time with the wall clock by creating everything in Illustrator first (instead of Fusion360, because it became so glitchy) in order to save myself time with this design part. I would also have focused some time into designing the handles of the clock itself. I think it would have been even more elegant to have well designed clock hands to match and accompany this wall clock.