Reimagining Familiar Tech:
Understanding Glance Clock’s interface

Since the invention of wall clocks, there has been only one interface that fits millions of these devices  - the clock face with two or three hands. Actually, at the time when clocks were first developed, people really only needed these simple hands that would point to particular numbers on the dial.

As we move into the “smart” age, full of connected devices, we have begun to  utilize digital interfaces even for ordinary things. You may already know that Glance Clock is a smart clock, meaning it requires an interface that is able to show information in a clear and understandable format. In one of our previous posts, we talked about new interfaces and how Glance Clock is adapting the glanceable interface. Let’s delve in deeper and explore why the Glance Clock interface is unique and how we created it.Since the invention of wall clocks, there has been only one interface that fits all these thousands of millions of clocks - the clock face with two or three hands. Actually, at the time clocks have been developed, people just needed simple hands pointing particular numbers on a dial that are related to minutes and hours.

 

A Familiar Look with Modern Features.

Some people asked us, why do we use clock hands, why not just show them on the clock’s display. Well, the reason is that the hands are the main part of the interface. All information that appears on the Glance Clock screen is related to the hands position that shows the current time. Here are several examples:

Timer
Calendar
Activity

Timer

Glance Clock shows set time intervals as colored segments that start from the position of the minute hand when there is a timer duration of less than 45 minutes and from the hours hand if above. The ticker in the center shows the exact time remaining in seconds. As the hand moves, the colored segment disappears by following the hand position, so you can visually see how much time is remaining. For example, the picture above shows the timer set up for 5 minutes

Calendar

The calendar interface is a combination of multiple time intervals that are displayed on a dial. The start and the end of a colored segment mark the beginning and end of an event, the segment size shows the duration of an event. Different colors represent different events or calendars. For example, the color green might be for  family events, and red for work meetings. The ticker shows the title of an upcoming event. The clock can also display travel time before a  meeting and notify you when you have to leave. The picture above shows three calendar events from 9:00 to 11:30, from 1:00 to 2:30 and from 4:00 to 6:00. Green sectors mean travel times before the event.

Activity

Using information from fitness trackers, Glance Clock shows your daily achievements and helps you to perform better.  You can see up to four days’ progress  from one tracker, or you can display up to four different data sources and see all inputs  simultaneously. The interface is simple; the whole circle is 100% of the goal, so it’s easy to understand the progress. You simply glance at the clock, see the current time and see your daily activity level. In the picture above, the clock shows almost 7 pm and the user has almost achieved his steps goal - which is AWESOME! You can also see your and your friend’s progress simultaneously.

 

Even One Bit of Information Valued

The whole concept of Glance Clock was created around the time meaning and clock form factor. The interface is circular and follows the hand’s movement, the hand’s position matches with the picture on the screen. We started from integrations such as Calendar and Timer because they are organically adding value to  conventional clocks by providing an additional informational layer to the clock face.

There are a lot of events and moments in our daily lives, such as current weather or Uber notifications,  that make sense at very particular times. The relevance of these types of information is related to very specific moments. For these types of notifications, we’ve developed a range of simple animations that can be quickly and easily recognized  without paying too much attention to the clock. You can select your favorite colors for different notifications so it will be much easier for you to recognize what is going on.

Uber
Weather
Incoming call

All these features make the Glance Clock interface glanceable. You can understand, at a glance, how your day is laid out: what the weather looks like, when your UBER has arrived and so on. By taking a familiar technology and reimagining it, we’ve developed a smart device that is both modern in its look, and highly prolific in terms of its function.

Stay tuned for more updates and in-depth features on Glance Clock.