Timekeeping Device for the Blind
January 23rd, 2007The ASSIGMENT
To build a timekeeping device for a user with sever visual impairment.
I started by experimenting with the idea of a tactile matrix of numbers. The user could feel the constantly changing grid to tell time. But I also like the idea of feeling something round to tell time. (SKETCH1) I thought about round wall clocks and the possibility of feeling the face of the clock. (SKETCH2)
I explored the relationships of numbers in telling time. My goal with this was to figure out a logical, intuitive, or at least easy-to-understand way of chunking the hours and minutes. (SKETCH3)
But why did the clock have to hang on a wall and take the same shape as a conventional wall clock? I sketched the round and cylindrical things around me for inspiration. (Terra cotta pot, coffee grinder, see SKETCH4.) If it were cylindrical then it could have different layers that rotated independently to indicate hour and minute. (SKETCH5, SKETCH6)
At the same time I did not want the device to be too large. Ideally, something that fit in the user’s hands when cupped. That’s when I noticed my roommate’s large bag of coffee cup sleeves. (They were left over from a sustainability project she did last semester.) They fit perfectly inside each other and would work great to help me mock-up my clock. And I’d be reusing materials in the process! Hooray, +1 sustainability point for me.
The MOCK-UP
I setup my workspace and begin to work the coffee cup holders. (I need to invest in a metal ruler, I kept slicing the flimsy plastic one I got as a gift from TIAA-CREF for attending a retirement planning seminar.)
The mock-up was built using three layers of cup sleeves. The outer layer has 12 bumps around to be used as hourly and five minute increments. The bumps are pieces of rubber underneath round stickers. The 12th hour (0 minute) marker is different from the other markers in that it extends the height of the cup. This way the user could feel the hour and minutes by counting from 12.
The middle layer had a wide cut in the lip to indicate hour. The inner layer has a less wide cut to indicate minute. To tell time, the user places his/her hands on the device, finds the openings in the two inner layers, and traces them to the bumps underneath the openings. Counting from the “12″ bump will tell time.
Satisfied with my mock-up, I proceeded to build the protoype. I used one piece of bristol board as the outer layer. I fished around the recycle bin for something to use as the inner layers. I used an old veggie burger box, another point for sustainability!
I used a long, narrow piece of rubber under duct tape as the 12 marker. In addition to being longer than the other markers, the duct tape gave it a different texture to help make it easier to locate. I used velum as adhesive for the hour markers.
Pollie made th suggestion of different lengths for the non-12 hour markers. She also suggested that the minute indicator not be an opening in the lip of the inner sleeve, but something that sticks out for ease of location.
I made the 3, 6, and 9th hour markers longer than all except the 12th. This hierarchy of marker lengths would help the user tell time more quickly as the device is used more.
(See PROTOTYPE revised– it’s 1:15!)
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