wjudy Project 1

Intention

For this project, I planned to create a functional wall clock. This clock had to be operational and able to be hung on a wall (if desired). I made this clock for my parents, who will hopefully put it on display in their living room.

Context

I was inspired by the image below. This design is similar to other modern clocks; it is a simple, elegant, but most importantly functional design. The image below was pulled from Pinterest.

Process

Below is an initial sketch of my idea. As you can see, I was largely inspired by the clock I found on Pinterest (above). Initially, I was considering a more traditional, circular cock; however, this idea did not stand out. Instead, I wanted something more modern and abstract. This is how I settled on the modern, layered clock design.

As I progressed, however, I wanted to add an additional element to the centerpiece of my clock. Since I am from Boston, I thought it would be fitting to engrave the Boston Red Sox 'B'. This can be seen in the fourth image below.

Product

To design my clock, I decided to use Vectorworks. After one of my friends gave me a brief tutorial on it, I found it to be much more intuitive than Fusion360.

Once I successfully designed my clock in Vectorworks, I converted it to a DXF file. I then used a laser cutter to execute the cuts. I used a large piece of  1/4" luan as my material for the clock.

After my clock was successfully printed, I added 1/4" luan spacers in between the larger pieces of luan to give the clock further dimension (see image below). I then glued all pieces of the wood together with super glue.

Once the glue had dried, I sanded the edges to give the clock a smooth, soft finish.

Reflection

This project exposed me more to 'design thinking' in that we had to create an object with the end in the mind. This was a challenging project for me because I have not been pushed to think this way in my other classes. After completing this project, my understanding of 'design thinking' has further evolved and matured.

However, I do wish that I had explored other ideas in the beginning. I ended up committing to my first clock idea, rather than fully exploring alternative options. Thus, in the future, I will be sure to experiment with different designs before committing to one.

Collaboration or Attribution

Deepak Vanjani and I worked closely together to generate ideas and answer each other's questions.