Interface Design for the Perception of Event Time

Doctoral dissertation

Theoretical research and design case study

Findings: 

• Visualizing the quantity of time makes it easier to perceive time compared to numerical representations. It also allows for an intuitive understanding of the amount of time that has passed and the time remaining.

• Achieving accurate time perception requires appropriate abstraction. Representing very small time units at a 1:1 scale can make it challenging to perceive precise time.

• When it comes to simultaneously grasping the quantity of time and numerical values, a circular shape is the most suitable. Circles offer completeness in their form and make it easier to count compared to linear representations.

• Changes in size of area, whether increasing or decreasing, aid in perceiving past and remaining time.

• The arrangement of shapes also impacts the perception of time.

In order to comprehend the challenges people face when perceiving the organization of time, in-depth interviews were conducted as follows. This study targeted five individuals in their 20s to 30s, both men and women, who operate in an environment where they have the freedom to structure their time. 

The interviews were conducted online and lasted between 1 to 1.5 hours, with participants freely responding to several predefined questions. Interviewees were informed in advance about the purpose and method of the interview and the process was based on four prepared questions. 

• In your typical daily routine and when you're particularly busy, what activities do you engage in? 

• What are the difficulties you encounter in managing your time in your daily life? 

• Do you tend to make plans, and if so, how do you go about making them? 

• If you don't adhere to your plans, what are the reasons behind it?

In order to comprehend the challenges people face when perceiving the organization of time, in-depth interviews were conducted as follows. This study targeted five individuals in their 20s to 30s, both men and women, who operate in an environment where they have the freedom to structure their time. 

The interviews were conducted online and lasted between 1 to 1.5 hours, with participants freely responding to several predefined questions. Interviewees were informed in advance about the purpose and method of the interview and the process was based on four prepared questions. 

• In your typical daily routine and when you're particularly busy, what activities do you engage in? 

• What are the difficulties you encounter in managing your time in your daily life? 

• Do you tend to make plans, and if so, how do you go about making them? 

• If you don't adhere to your plans, what are the reasons behind it?

Findings: 

One common issue was the difficulty of determining when to end a task rather than when to start it. This challenge arises because individuals often develop a desire to continue working or feel compelled to work indefinitely even after the predetermined time has passed. This problem is related to their ability to estimate how long a task will take based on their past experiences, which is referred to as "time perspective".

In this study, the aim was to enable individuals to gain time perspective by visually perceiving their daily schedule.

The evaluation was conducted with the same 5 individuals who were previously interviewed to derive design directions. The method involved showing design concepts to the participants and conducting interviews in an online setting, with each session lasting between 30 minutes to 1 hour. 

The following were the questions used during the interviews: 

• Is this clock interface useful? How do you think it would be useful? 

• If not, why do you believe it wouldn't be useful? 

• On which devices do you think you would primarily use this clock interface? Are there any additional features or improvements you would like to see in this clock interface?

Findings: 

• First, individuals who typically found time management challenging reacted more positively to the new clock interface prototype.

• Second, when time units were represented as tasks in the schedule, users perceived time as something they needed to actively fill through their actions rather than as a passive flow independent of their behavior.

Additional insights for potential future development were also gathered. 

• For instance, a 30-year-old female graduate student in design (C) revealed her preference for a more flexible time setting to cater to her sometimes unpredictable daily routine. 

• Both C and E mentioned the idea of incorporating different senses, like auditory or tactile cues, to enhance time perception beyond visual cues. 

 Read more about it in my doctoral dissertation: 

신수현. (2021). 일정 시간의 시각적 인지를 위한 인터페이스 디자인, 서울대학교 대학원

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