The Making of my Memphis Clock

When given the opportunity to design and manufacture my own clock in the 8th grade, a Memphis design was where my mind went first. The characteristics of a Memphis design consist of bright, contrasting colors and simple geometric shapes. Being a big fan of the Pokémon series at the time, I decided to make a faithful recreation of an in-game clock and adapt it to the Memphis design.

 Digitally creating the clock face and hands using a laser cutter to manufacture them with acrylic was the main part of this project that I excelled at. However, feeling the need to prove myself at the time by going at this solo proved to be my detriment. The main challenge I faced was the wiring of the clock to the hands. I got so absorbed into designing the clock that I ended up spending all my planning time on the design and was dumbfounded when it came time to plan the clock mechanism—the main aspect that would make my clock, a clock. In order to meet deadline in this debacle, I had to accept my clock as one that wouldn’t work and was left disappointed.

I kept the clock despite its failure to keep time because I really like its design and the lesson it taught me. This feeling of pride with plenty of room for progression became a turning point for me. I now better understand the different roles of a project. Trying to do all of them myself wasn’t the best approach. I learned the purpose of working collaboratively with others on a passion project, to not become too absorbed in my design, and to stay realistic by not being blinded by one dream. Efficient time management of my projects since then has taught me the purpose of working collaboratively with others on a passion project, and to not get too absorbed into my design and stay realistic by not being blinded by one dream. Sticking to this has got me to where I am today, and the other projects seen in my creative portfolio have all been a result of this.