WILLIAM VAN ZEE

DESIGN – FALL 09
PROFESSOR THAYER

ALARM CLOCK PROJECT

 INSPIRATION – WILL VAN ZEE

Inspiration
The character I chose to be my client for this
alarm clock design project is Clint
Eastwood’s character known as “The Man
with No Name” or “Blondie” from the film
The Good The Bad and The Ugly. My goal
was to study the traits, styles, and living
environment of this character and to use the
themes that I found to influence the concept,
form, and function of my final design and
model.

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 MOOD BOARD – WILL VAN ZEE

Mood
Board
The mood board was a tool to
start thinking about the kind of
setting this design would fit
into and the general design
aesthetic necessary to launch
this project in the right
direction.

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 STORYBOARD – WILL VAN ZEE

Storyboard
The storyboard was
a way of further
investigating the
attitudes and themes
represented by Clint
Eastwood as “The
Man with No
Name” by depicting
a scene that could be
from his everyday
life.

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 THEME SKETCHES – WILL VAN ZEE

Sketching
The three themes I drew from Clint
Eastwood’s character in the film
were: stubborn, nonchalant, and
daring. I spent two weeks
brainstorming these themes into three
sets of quick concept sketches that I

DARING NONCHALANT
could then select a favorite from.

DARING STUBBORN

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 CONCEPT SELECTION – WILL VAN ZEE

Selection
After spending two weeks developing the sketch concepts for
my chosen themes, I selected a simplistic sketch with a
cylindrical form that represented the word stubborn. The
original sketch was approximately three inches in diameter and
had a multiple-screen readout on the top face and a snooze
button on the underside.

Although this original sketch fit my theme development I

planned to integrate further designs into my chosen era more
suitably.

Th
 CONCEPT REFINEMENT – WILL VAN ZEE

Design
The next phase was to refine my
original concept sketch into more
detailed and thought-out clock designs.

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CONCEPT REFINEMENT – WILL VAN ZEE

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 CONSTRUCTION FEASIBILITY – WILL VAN ZEE

Feasibility
From my selection of designs I chose my final design that I
felt fit Blondie’s persona while also fitting into the era.
The next step was to figure out specific dimensions,
building materials needed for the design, and construction
techniques necessary to build the model.

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 FINAL MODEL – WILL VAN ZEE

Model
My final model was constructed of wood, brass flashing, brass wire, and
Plexiglas. The main clock body was turned on a lathe, and the revolver
barrel accents were done with a mill. The final design has a small sunken
analog clock face with quarterly roman numerals. The bottom of the
clock has a rotating snooze function and a time set screw.

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