Day and Night

My Role(s): Brainstorming, Bridging gap between Artists and Developers, 3D Asset Creation, Animation, Programming

Introduction

It is usually the case that one’s daily rhythms are guided by the movements of the sun – the regularities of sunrise and sunset working as templates for our everyday activities. It is also true that once dark, the world goes into a slumber, certainly in the countryside. And with some regularity even in the city. Our habits form from largely daytime rhythms. And with nightfall we lose our bearings with the outside world.

Just as the sun works like a clock in the daytime, is there something that could work at night? Like the sun, which is Nature’s gift to all living beings, can we find something that could work like a night clock?

The concept

The owl is a nighttime time-keeper who unfailingly wakes up with dark. It is the bird we forget to remember because it stays out of sight.

The Owl Clock’s appeal lies in its being a binary opposite to the sun. When the sun is up, the owl is asleep. When the sun sets, the owl wakes up.

Being in the domain of tangible interaction, the user interacts with a physical globe, lit by a light source (the sun). And then, based on the touch and rotational gestures on the globe, the owl changes behaviour. In the process, the user interacts with the owl, understanding its behaviour revolving around its sleep cycle.

Cultural reference

This highlights the importance of body clocks bred by Nature’s rhythms. By presenting the owl, iconic in its appearance with those large round eyes, we tap into the culturally mediated place that the owl has in our pantheon of birds and animals, not forgetting that it is also Goddess Laxmi’s consort.