Project 3: Treasuring Time

The Prism Diary
Target Market:
This product is targeted for users who are working a typical 9-5 job. Typically business people which are put through a lot of stress throughout their day trying to meet deadlines or simply getting their tasks done for that day. People with stressful days under the same routine usually don't have much time for themselves. Their day passes by the same and asking for some time to relax and enjoy themselves is a far cry. I wanted to create a product which not only allows the user to remember time but to acknowledge that time is a wonderful thing. I want something in which the user can interact with but they can do so whenever they want. I didn't want them to feel obliged to do something on a daily bases to make the product work. This product should simply remind them of time even if they don't interact with it because they probably have more than enough problems to worry about.

Solution:
For this solution, i planned around a concept that i thought would relate to time and to the target market. Light plays a major role in the telling of time and it also plays a role in the lives of people simply because we wouldn't be able to survive without light. To create something that would be interesting to interact with but also be just as good as an object, i've created a prism diary. A diary is a good way for most people to record their lives in so people would usually write on them daily. A prism refracts light in a way that white light turns into a rainbow spectrum and the direction of refraction can be altered by where the white light is coming from. By combining these two things, i've made something people can record their daily events and remember them by where they've written it on the page.

The prism is just a way of creating an interesting way of light manipulation. The real concept behind this is how the sun moves across the sky during the course of the year. The sun rises and sets from east to west so the sun is constantly moving. The height of the sun differs from winter and summer months meaning if we put those two theories together with the sun moving from east to west and the position of the sun higher and lower each month, the intense light shone on the prism will come from different angles every day. From the beam of the sun to the prism, this will cause a spectrum to be formed on the other end of the prism projecting on to the writing pad. So if the user writes on it in the mourning on one day, it will be in a different spot from if they write on it in the afternoon. During the evenings, this can still be an interesting piece as when the light is turned on in the room, it will cause the prism to create shiny reflections on the wall.


The base pad is made of a dark timber while the top of it is covered in a dark leather. The leather creates an aristocratic feel for the user while also being soft to write on. The pad is slightly sloped for ergonomic reasons. This allows the user to write comfortably on the pad without the wood digging into their wrists while the slope is also there for comfort reasons. The shape of the pad is made to represent the sun charts. Through my research, the sun moves at an arch creating a tear drop look. So if the user was looking at the product from the front, the highest point of the sun would be directly under the prism. This just creates a simpler way for the user to learn how to use the product without having to do all the research themselves.

The tower holding up the prism is made of aluminium which is light but also sturdy. The metal in contrast to the dark materials makes the prism stand out even more. It creates sort of a pathway to guide your eyes to the prism. The small metal pegs near the edge of the pad is also made of the same aluminium but their purpose is there so that when the user changes paper, they will know the exact spot to put it in. It also helps keep the paper in position all the time. The pegs have been spaced so that an A5 piece of paper will fit between the space. The loop at the top of the tower holding the prism up also has 2 thinner pieces of metal which assists in holding up the prism.Overall, this product is meant to give the user the enjoyment of some time to reflect on their day or whatever they want. The concept of the prism just gives them something more to cherish their time because everyone always has time to look at a rainbow. It's just something that people can relax to because its something so naturally created by nature. If their busy and rushed lives can be put on hold for those 5 minutes, then i would want to do something that would make me remember that time so when they look back at that diary page and see that their note is written in the bottom write corner of the page, they will remember that it was around 4pm in July.