Time is an endless circle

I am currently working on my first metaphor – time is an endless circle. There are many ideas that can fit into this metaphor.

Some ideas are:

  • Rings of the tree
    • the inner part of the ring is the oldest, while the outer part is the youngest
    • example website that my professor pointed me to
  • Nautilus
  • A pie chart
  • Atoms/Molecules
  • Clock

It has not been an easy task because I would start working on something that would flow as a clock and then as I start working with the idea I end up with the rings of a tree.

One of the ideas that I was working with ended up combining the ideas of the atom, clock, pie chart, and the tree ring. Who knew it would be so difficult? I think it’s time to rest the circle metaphor and start with something else. Hopefully, the next metaphor won’t be as tough. If I could just get the ball rolling, then the ideas will start flowing.

The hiatus and reading

The past few days, I have been on hiatus with Christmas shopping and all.  Even though I didn’t do that much work on my capstone, I have been doing some.  I’ve been reading and figuring out what books to buy.  Why?  Well, they have to be returned to the library.  I’ve already received a request to return “Beautiful Evidence” by Edward Tufte by the end of the month.   So now I am currently reading the book.

Building an image library

I’ve started to work on a couple of metaphors (Life is a Highway and Time has a circular motif).  As I was working on sketches- I realize I would need some images to represent the events so that I can move things around on paper.

Here is my list so far that I have come up with (any ideas is greatly appreciated!) (Please note: I will not necessarily use everything, it’s a list to get the brain going):

  • birthday
  • wedding
  • funeral
  • doctor
  • appointments
  • work
  • movie
  • concert
  • coffee
  • class
  • trip
  • grocery shopping
  • shopping
  • meeting
  • anniversary
  • holiday
  • music
  • dinner
  • shows/entertainment
  • workout/exercise
  • games
  • sports
  • date as in romantic date
  • clubbing
  • bar
  • class
  • visit
  • book club
  • family-related??
  • graduation
  • conference
  • vacation

Alright let’s break these into the 3 categories that I have come up with (time, all day, span/range):

Time

  • appointment
  • meeting
  • wedding
  • funeral
  • doctor
  • work
  • movie
  • concert
  • coffee
  • class
  • grocery shopping
  • shopping
  • music
  • dinner
  • shows/entertainment
  • workout/exercise
  • games
  • sports
  • date as in romantic
  • clubbing
  • bar
  • book club
  • graduation

All day

  • birthday
  • anniversary
  • holiday

Span/range

  • conference
  • vacation
  • visit
  • trip

Hmm…seems good for now.  Anyone have suggestions?

Scannable

Two books that I’ve been reading/skimming called “Information Dashboard Design” by Stephen Few and “The Elements of Graphic Design”by Alex W. White seems to share a common theme which involves the presentation of information to the user.  Both authors talk about (in their own way) about how people view information and that it should be (essentiall) scannable.

This idea is very important to me and I personally use this idea.  When I am looking at information, I scan quickly and I despise having to spend unnecessary time to filter the unnecessary data.

One of the reasons, I chose to work with the calendar is to improve the presentation of information quickly to the user.  I like using my Google Calendar but often find it frustrating due to not being able to easily scan and absorb the necessary information that I need.  There are certain information that I need which is different from the information that someone that I am sharing a calendar may need.

For an example, I only need to view events that are non recurring.  But someone else may need to see that to see if I am busy/available.

One key aspect that I will be designing in my metaphor and in the prototype, is the ability to view various types of events.  For example, you can see all types of events, see only recurring events, or just view birthdays.  I believe that by offering this option, the user can quickly view and absorb the information that is most important to him/her.

Purging

Since Wednesday (12/5), I’ve been going through a purging of books that I have checked out. The reason for this is because well frankly, the books are due soon.

Take a look at my resources page, to see what type of books I will be using.  I will be updating the page with additions and or deletions.