My aesthetic was supposed to take on a contemporary design. I wanted it to have a mixture of futurism, surrealism, and modernism designs. The frame was meant to be modernistic in that it s squared, using straight lines and no extra artistic components. I planned for the wood to be stained a dark color and the numbers to be burned into the wood. The futuristic look was going to come from the use of multicolored LEDs. The effect that the infinity mirror produces is what was going to give it the surrealism aesthetic.

My clock turned out exactly how I imagined when designing it. The frame ended up being slightly thicker, but besides that, I followed my plan to a tee. The clock looks modern, futuristic, and surreal all at once, and that is what I wanted to achieve.

What I learned making this clock was that spending time to design components well will save a tremendous amount of time in manufacturing. I also learned that a lot of thought should be given towards the assembly of the product before anything is fabricated. If the components do not fit right or if there is no way to piece them together, then the project is doomed. Something I learned the hard way was that the quality of wood really affects how easy it is to work with!

From the class, I learned that an aesthetic is not simply how something looks. An aesthetic can serve a functional purpose as well as an artistic one. I also learned that there are a tremendous amounts of aesthetics and that there were periods throughout history in which different aesthetics ruled design. The main thing I learned from this course is that a great deal of thought, perhaps just as much as is put towards the designs functionality, should be put towards the designs aesthetic and what the designer wants to achieve with this aesthetic. The aesthetic cans dictate dimensions, colors, materials, and more!

Moving forward with my project, I plan to add some hooks to it so that I have the option to hand it or have it stand.  would also like to adjust the back panel to have a section stick out to make more room to accommodate for the circuitry. Lastly, I would like to add both a Bluetooth component to the circuit and a set of small speaker. The Bluetooth component would allow me to make and code changes and to set the time wirelessly so I would have to take the back panel off ever. The speakers would add sound to the alarms.

I wish I had done two things differently. The first thing is I wish I had used a better quality one-way mirror, rather than an acrylic one. That would have given the product a more professional feel and a better infinity mirror effect. The second thing is I wish I had left more room between the mirror and back panel for the circuit. The back panel is unable to be screwed on completely as of now.