ECG Digital Clock
This sketch visualises time by creating an interactive ECG monitor that pulses with each passing second and a clickable heart that beats every second if triggered. I chose this because I haven’t seen anyone using ECG diagram to represent time yet.
- Context: This is designed for hospital wards. It serves both as a functional clock and a calming visual element that aligns with the medical environment, helping patients and visitors track time while providing a soothing, rhythmic animation.
- Design decisions:
- Three-tier vertical layout: Time display at top, scrolling ECG in the middle, and pulsing heart icon at bottom creates clear visual hierarchy that's readable from a distance, important for waiting rooms where viewers may be seated far from displays.
- Soft medical color palette: Light blue-gray background (#F5FAFC) with gentle red accents (#DC3234) evokes medical equipment while remaining calming and non-alarming—crucial for reducing anxiety in healthcare settings.
- Amplified minute pulses: Making the pulse 1.8x larger at minute intervals provides clear time markers for patients tracking appointment times or medication schedules without adding visual clutter or numbers.
- Future work: We could maybe add hourly chimes or gentle notification sounds for medication reminders that can be customized per room.
Sketch evolution
Replace these images with your own sketch evolution images.
Reflection
The ECG Digital Clock represents time through the rhythmic pulse of an ECG monitor, blending medical symbolism with functional design to create a calm, context-aware display. Initially, the design only featured a scrolling ECG line, but feedback revealed that viewers found it difficult to interpret time precisely. In response, I added a clear digital time display at the top, integrating representation and encoding by combining numeric time data with the visual rhythm of a heartbeat. Later, I incorporated a clickable heart icon at the bottom to enhance accessibility and user interaction, creating an emotional and perceptual link between time and life. The three-tier vertical layout (time at the top, ECG in the middle, and heart at the bottom) improves readability from a distance, important for hospital wards. Using a soft medical color palette with subtle red accents supports the healthcare context, maintaining clarity without triggering stress. This iterative process transformed the design into both a functional clock and a visually soothing element for medical spaces.
Hospital Clock
This is a classic square clock but designed with some hospital themed animation. I chose this because it can be customised with fun healthcare themed elements along with bg colour that will change based on the hours.
- Context: This clock is designed for hospital environments like nurse stations, or patient rooms. It functions as both a timekeeping device and a subtle visual display that reflects the rhythm of hospital shifts and patient monitoring systems.
- Design decisions:
- Ambulance center icon:The traditional center dot is replaced with a minimalist ambulance icon, symbolizing emergency response and hospital readiness—serving as both a branding and contextual cue.
- Shift-based color transitions: The clock color changes its tint to reflect shift times (day, evening, night), to help hospital staff subconsciously track time cycles within long shifts.
- Red cross background: The medical symbolic background gives it the feel of a Red Cross hospital wall clock.
- Future work: If there're more time, we can try making the ambulance moves following the pointer to make it more interesting.
Sketch
Reflection
This hospital-themed square clock integrates functional timekeeping with meaningful visual design to support contextual representation and perceptual clarity in healthcare environments. Designed for spaces like nurse stations or patient rooms, it uses familiar medical symbols to reinforce its setting while maintaining readability and simplicity. The ambulance icon at the clock’s center replaces the traditional dot, symbolizing emergency response and constant readiness, connecting visual form with institutional identity. The background transitions through color gradients that represent day, evening, and night shifts, subtly encoding time changes to help staff track hospital rhythms intuitively. The red cross background grounds the design in a recognizable healthcare aesthetic, supporting quick perceptual recognition. Based on feedback, I refined the color contrast to maintain visibility under different lighting conditions and reduced visual clutter for calmer readability.
Hospital Clock
This is a heart-shaped digital clock that beats in rhythm with each passing second. I chose this because it’s simple and clean so this will be easy enough for encoding process.
- Context: This clock combines timekeeping with a visual heartbeat metaphor, creating a connection between the passage of time and the rhythm of life. It could serve in wellness spaces, healthcare settings, or personal devices where emotional connection to time matters..
- Design decisions:
- Heart shaped:This is to create a smooth, symmetrical curves that give it an authentic appearance.
- Heartbeat animation: This shows a smooth heartbeat that synchronizes with each second.
- 12-hour format: Using am/pm is more intuitive and familiar to most users.
- Future work: We can add heartbeat sound effects to enhance the heartbeat experience.
Sketch
Reflection
This heart-shaped digital clock represents time through both visual and rhythmic cues, linking the concept of time to the rhythm of life. The design emphasizes representation and perception. The heart form symbolizes vitality and emotion, while the pulsing animation encodes the passing seconds in an intuitive, sensory way. The 12-hour format with am/pm enhances accessibility, ensuring users can easily interpret the display without cognitive strain. During development, I focused on balancing simplicity and symbolism, creating smooth, symmetrical curves for visual harmony and a consistent heartbeat motion that conveys calmness. Feedback from peers suggested that the animation speed should align precisely with the ticking seconds to strengthen the metaphor and prevent distraction. I refined the timing and reduced excessive motion for a more natural pulse. Overall, this iterative process helped me create a clean, emotionally resonant, and perceptually meaningful timepiece that connects digital function with human experience.
Adapted from Golan Levin, 2016-2018