Project Duration: 14 weeks, Group
Collaborators: Amber Li Tools: Solidworks, Production,
Station Design is a collaboration of three industrial designers and one graphic designer. As our senior capstone project we formed a design group and produced a line of products in multiple that we branded and sold.
We each produced a headline product and 1-2 smaller ones. My headliner was the Moiré Clock, using the eponymous illusion to reveal the current time as the numbers rotate through a filter. I collaborated with our graphic designer, Amber Li, who made a custom set of numerals for the face, while I led the physical design and manufacturing.
Check out the other products at stationdesign.co!
❷ How it Works
As time passes, the paper disk rotates and displays the current hour through the filter on the right.
As the hours tick by the number displayed changes in size using a moiré animation effect. The black minute hand will point straight down when the displayed number is at the middle of the filter, denoting the half hour.
❸ Materials Sourcing
Because of our small batch production model, we were able to make our products out of finite reclaimed materials. What wasn’t reclaimed was carefully selected to ensure it is responsibly American-made, and of the utmost quality.
For the clock, the metal was sourced from offcuts at the Metals Supermarket in Cranberry, PA. The paper was milled by the French Paper Company in Niles, MI. Finally, the quartz clock movements are from Takane, the sole manufacturer of American-made movements.
❹ Assembly
With the goal being ease of assembly and affordability, the Moiré Clock only uses 14 components.
The Main body, the dial, and the filter were completely fabricated by us from raw materials.
❺ Ideation
The early decision making process was mostly about how to showcase the moiré effect, whether the filter moved or the dial.
We decided to go with the sheet metal body because of its simplicity, trying to preserve the purity of the illusion.
❻ Prototyping
We wanted there to be a kinetic effect as the clock moved, as opposed to just a static image of the number. This process was in tandem with the ideation phase, as it was key to deciding the form.
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Production
Producing these quickly became a problem of accurately cutting circles of different sizes. The metal body was able to be automated easily with a milling machine and jig, but cutting the paper dial concentrically proved quite difficult.
After experimenting with several jigs using knives and the laser engraver, we ended up finding a die maker in Pittsburgh who would make us a custom Die (bottom right).
Metal Clock /3
As long as we worked on this project we wanted to make a metal version of the clock, but decided on paper to make our product more affordable.
After we sold everything we decided to do a small run of
all-metal clocks. The metal disks were made through SendCutSend, and we screen printed the pattern ourselves.
❽ Production pt. 2
We ordered the dials from Send Cut Send, and screenprinted the numerals ourselves using Plastisol ink on our porch.
Otherwise, the production was quite similar to the others. If we were to do a full line of clocks in the future, I think this would be an exciting route. Especially if we find a way to bend thicker metal, an all aluminum version would be ideal for sustainability and cohesion.
❾ Family Photos
Together, we made and sold over 100 products. It was truly a collaborative effort to unify ourselves and our work under one mission. I’m really lucky to have been able to work with such talented designers.