Project Plan
To approach this blog post of brainstorming a wildly different aesthetic and sketching it, I needed to have an idea of what I was going to do for my project. In this brainstorming phase, I didn’t constrain myself to only thinking about the aesthetic or only thinking about the project idea. I began perusing Google, Pinterest, and projects from previous years in this class and kept looking until something interested me. Much like for the upcycle project, my intention in coming into this project was to make something that would be functional or that I could enjoy once this course was over. As I browsed online for something that fit the preference I had for this project I stumbled across three ideas that stuck out to me: a wristwatch, a speaker, and a walking cane. Of the three I was most interested in the wristwatch and the walking cane mostly because after hearing a professor from my System Dynamics class discuss how he built a speaker from scratch it seemed a little too intimidating. But I have always been interested in watches in general in terms of appearance and how their styles adapted with time but also how they functioned. But I also am currently recovering from a broken leg so there would be nothing more functional for me to design right now than a cane to help take some of the weight off my leg. However, incorporating a dynamic or moving element was a key part of this project and not something I thought would be easy when making a walking cane. Thus, a wristwatch made the most sense to create an aesthetic around it and have it contain moving parts.
Project Aesthetic
While looking at watches online and thinking about watches that have caught my eye throughout the years the trend in wristwatches can vary drastically. Some of the aesthetics that have stuck out to me the most are minimalistic, “Open-back” or “skeleton” and luxury. Of these aesthetics, I have decided to brainstorm by sketching some ideas of what they could look like and from there determine what I like most about them and you can see the minimalistic aesthetic on the left of the sketch and the skeleton aesthetic on the right. The luxury aesthetic can be seen in the photos above.
Aesthetic Alternative
I have brainstormed so very alternate aesthetics for wristwatches that one might not even want to wear or wouldn’t think would fit with a wristwatch. One aesthetic that really interested me was the “gaming” aesthetic and making the watch the design of a roulette table that was capable of spinning a little roulette ball around the dial of the watch. And another aesthetic that was right out of left field was a concept watch. Both of these ideas can be seen in the photos below.
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Hey Maddox, I am curious how you are planning to create the movement of the watch. I think the small form factor packing of a watch makes this a particularly hard problem to solve. Do you plan to use a printer to print the watch face design and then put the hands of the watch on top of this? I could also be cool if you made a watch face that is “melting away”. This way you could have the hands loose so when you move your hand around the watch hands can spin freely around. It would add to the melted away aesthetic. Just an idea! Good luck on your project.
Maddox, I really liked how you are incorporating your other classes into this project, I always find it exciting when I am able to do that. I personally quite like the roulette watch and think that would make for an interesting aesthetic, maybe casino? One question I have is how do you plan on creating the actual moving components and mechanisms? I know this can be quite complex.