How to understand time is one of the mysteries humankind had to face. There is no clear and definite answer to what it is and how to visualize it. Although we can get many answers to this question from the point of view of sciences such as physics, astronomy, philosophy, psychology, history, or anthropology, each of the answers will be different and, more importantly, each of us has his or her own perception and understanding of what time is and how we experience it.

By contrast, calendars (a tool which all of us are connecting with the idea of time and according to which most of us live) and attempts to keep track of our time and its planning have been developing over thousands of years, but modern calendars are visually still such a tasteless tool, with a huge disconnection from the meaning of time as such. What if we would try to connect our imagination of time and calendar systems into a single visual work? And what if the pressure on the visualization of time-planning tools such as a calendar were to be based on a subjective perception of time? On our personal rhythm, a cycle of life. What if a single tool could connect to an experimental calendar which would show your personal life rhythm at first glance, helping you to become more aware of your usage of time. These are the questions tackled by this graduation project.

New discoveries about time in science and our deeper knowledge about the psychological experience of time, which began at the beginning of the 20th century, created a huge gap between our understanding of time and its visual representation in calendars. How is it possible that even modern calendars are, due to their more in-depth visual concept, pretty much the same as centuries ago. It is necessary to tackle the important question of not only reforming our calendar systems but their visual representation in today’s world, now that we have so much knowledge and technological opportunities and are acquiring a more in-depth understanding of the mystery of time itself. We should make every effort to try and define what is actually necessary for us as individuals to be more aware of how we spend our time and how to be able to better plan our time – not only to become more effective but rather to be more conscious of our own needs.

This graduation project is creating several time visualizations, which are then connected within a calendar system with the possibility to plan our time and connect it with tools of physiological processes such as sleep tracking, physical activity, amount of stress, or happiness. The pinnacle of this graduation project is the creation of a concept for a digital tool able to combine all the aspects mentioned. With emphasis mainly on the new solution of the interesting representation of time and all its problems in connection with the basic elements of time such as hours, days, months, and years, and our position as its users within this concept. The possibility of planning our events while, at the same time, being aware of their impact on our biological needs is something we need in this accelerated time.