Luma
Luma is a portable ambient color-based timer designed for creatives who lose track of time in their flow. Instead of disruptive alarms, it offers a gentle 30-minute timer: tap to start, and the default glow shifts to a contrasting color when time is up. Subtle and unobtrusive, Luma respects the user's rhythm, making time a choice, not a constraint.
Participants were asked to identify what emotions they associated with red, yellow, and blue. Group consensus resulted in red being associated with stress, blue with relaxed and easygoing, and yellow with focused and energetic. Then participants were asked to match those colors with their feelings about specific types of activities. Results showed how creative tasks fostered a much more positive response emotionally from this user type.
I went a day without any time keeping device to understand the user on a deeper level. The detachment from a formal sense of time resulted in activities extending much longer than usual, but I felt less rushed and more present during those activities.
Research
Research activities identified a user who was deeply creative but time blind. The results showed an easily distracted person that fidgets with something to maintain focus. They feel stressed by formally planned activities and tend to ignore time regardless of what they’re doing.
Ideation
The idea was for an ambient color-based timer which the user could activate in 30-minute intervals. A consistent color chosen by the user would change to a contrasting color after the 30 minutes to lightly nudge the user with an awareness of time passing. Sketches formed a wearable device that operated on tactile and sensory interaction to compliment the users need for hand-held items while also providing access on the go.
Leather stood out as a natural choice for the wearable material as it provided a needed warmth and comfort to an often cold electronic device. The final material selected was layered suede and leather with metal snap buttons for adjustments.
A final prototype was 3D printed but preferred materials in a fully manufactured product would be a two-part injection molding of polycarbonate and thermoplastic elastomer to provide the diffusion for the ambient light and soft texture for the tactile response.
An initial round of prototyping focused on finding a form that felt comfortable in the palm or within a wearable.
Prototyping
Digital renders helped visualize the product in its intended context and environment.