gabriel stacey-chartrand
gabriel stacey-chartrand
Ha. You thought this would be populated?
I'm getting there.
This documents my exploration as I start defining my final project concept. At this stage, I’m not trying to lock in a final idea. The goal is to clarify what I want to explore, what questions I’m interested in, and the type of experience I want to design.
For me, good design sits between aesthetics, usability, and inclusivity.
Aesthetic quality matters. Beautiful objects can improve everyday wellbeing and quality of life.
User experience is equally important. An object should be intuitive and enjoyable to use (low cognitive load).
Accessibility is essential. The experience should be just as meaningful for someone with visual impairments as it is for a sighted user. This could mean using touch, sound, and physical feedback.
I want this project to be:
Much of this project is informed by my experience with ADHD. Firstly, relating to time blindness and difficulty sensing the passage of time. Secondly, the difficulty of staying focused, moving between tasks, and not being sucked in by distractions (a phone, for example).
Smoking is a useful reference here, not for the act itself, but for the ritual it creates. A cigarette segments time. It has a clear start, duration, and end. I often found my best creative ideas during smoke breaks. It allows you to take a break, forces a change of scenery, and gives you one specific thing to focus on. There’s also a ritualistic element in the tactile aspects of smoking a cigarette.
I started questioning traditional clocks and alarm clocks. They are precise, but often stressful. I’m interested in a relative-time object that communicates a finite experience without numbers. The kitchen timer is a source of inspiration for the mechanism and form of the object, but the goal would be more to emulate the ritualistic experience of having a cigarette.
Tech as ritual: "the goal would be more to emulate the ritualistic experience of having a cigarette"
Time could be communicated physically, through the position of a dial or mechanism. Sound and haptics could accompany this, making the experience accessible to blind or visually impaired users.
A proximity sensor could detect someone approaching and draw attention to itself, encouraging interaction. I’d like to explore using PIR or mmWave.
The ritual should be finite. There is no snooze. Once it ends, you move on. Closure is part of the design.
The experience could also be analogous to striking a match.
I’m interested in a final, satisfying settling moment that combines movement, sound, haptic feedback, and light.
A stepper motor could be used for the rotation and mechanical functioning of the dial during the experience.
Ideally, the ritual begins automatically as you approach or touch the object.
Think:
“I step away from my desk and go to the object.”
The concept is still loose, but the core idea is a multimodal alarm clock that uses light, sound, and touch together. The time display is hidden behind a distortion grill: you can't just glance at it. You have to pick it up and wrestle with it to read the time or turn off the alarm. That friction is intentional. It also prevents you from glacing at the time while you're trying to sleep (that's the worst).