designing for time

Illustration by Ellen Lupton, 2009, from FastCompany

Before this summer, I wore a watch faithfully every day. As soon as one bit the dust, I was quick to go find the next one, making sure it fit with my personal style. But at the beginning of a beach trip recently, I decided to forgo the watch on the grounds that I was on vacation and didn't need to know what time it was (that, and watches at the beach mean awkward tan lines).

Ellen Lupton had a piece at FastCompany in July entitled Time and Identity: What Your Clock Says About Your Personality, though I only discovered it recently. While she chooses to focus mostly on aphorisms and advice for how best to structure the time in your life, she does briefly discuss the use of watches and clocks in everyday life:

For centuries, church bells have signaled the passing of time; the bells are still tolling where I live in Baltimore, reminding the neighborhood every 15 minutes that time is, indeed, marching on. I recently hung an outdoor clock on my shingled garage as a civic offering to the countless morning dog-walkers who frequent our quiet street. Marking time is a social act.

There is something to be said for communal observation of the passage of time, but I would argue that marking time is a solitary, not a social, act. Each individual marks time by his or her own life, and the demands and schedules set for it. For example: I am fortunate enough to be able to operate on a somewhat nocturnal schedule, working late into the evening and sleeping in the next morning; yet those with obligations (such as jobs) that require them to be up very early cannot operate on the same schedule. The way I pass time does allow me to fall in with others who operate similarly, but we do not choose to pass time communally.

Yet from a design standpoint, it would be possible to create different forms of watches or clocks for those on certain schedules. For example, for those students who stay up late and sleep early, there could be a modified version of the Onomatopoeia Watch, perhaps with a cup of coffee (or a Red Bull) at the 12hr mark, and a computer at 3. Just as different people choose different calendar or planner formats, why shouldn't they also be offered different ways to observe and mark the time?