TEMPORA
Your world, in sync.
Case Study
6 minute read
Users check for the time
143x
per day
yet still miss what matters most: the moments outside of the numbers.
EVERY CLOCK ASSUMES
you know what time is is elsewhere
you'll remember everyones' locations
you enjoy mental math at 6 AM
but, of course, this isn’t true...
WHAT ABOUT…
Social awareness?
like knowing when your team sleeps or when Mom's free
Biological rhythms?
by respecting your jetlag or night shifts
Accessibility neeeds?
adapting not just to day/night, but to migraines, aging eyes, and glare
The Insight
We’ve been solving the wrong problem.
In our hyper connected world, we’re not just designing for time, but for the relationships that time governs.
THE CHALLENGE
How might we design a clock that feels personal and unobtrusive while adapting to users’ daily rhythms and environments?
not only accurate, but emotionally intelligent
time feels meaningful rather than just measured
Success is measured by the following:
WHO
family, team, friends
WHERE
without having to
memorize
WHEN
is it truly a good
time to connect?
Macbook Pro
off
off
off
Tempora Travel
Welcome to Hawaii!
12:30
HI
9:30
2m ago
Tempora is created to become our global awareness partner. By blending intelligent timezone guidance with vision-friendly design, it helps you stay connected with time and location. Tempora is a clock that adapts to your world, and not the other way around.
initial findings
affinity mapping
user personas
research insights
MAJOR PAIN POINTS
emotional toll
Misjudging others’ local time leads to accidental disruptions (e.g., waking someone at 3AM).
Missing important calls, events, or meetings due to incorrect conversion
Rare windows for communication are missed due to lack of real-time awareness
lack of context-aware tools
Users have to manually toggle dark mode or adapt to poor UX that causes eye strain.
Standard clock apps are static — no adaptive lighting, no social context, no reminders.
No proactive alerts about others’ availability or daily routines.
No adjustments to jetlag
high cognitive load
Spending unnecessary time each day doing mental timezone math.
Juggling multiple schedules, often across work, personal life, and special events.
Difficulty aligning personal routines with new local time after travel, night shifts, or jet lag
The glare from my screen triggers migraines when I work late
I wish I didn't have to spend so much time calculating when people were probably free to talk.
It’s tiring to check three different calendars just to send a message
NEEDS / FEATURES
coordinate across timezones
Users need a way to see everyone’s local time, schedules, and availability without doing mental math or risking mistakes
adjust personal routines
Users need quick, intuitive context (location, activities, time of day, personal routines) to make better decisions on the fly.
Travelers and healthcare workers struggle to align their body clocks with local time
intentional communication
Spending unnecessary time each day doing mental timezone math.
Juggling multiple schedules, often across work, personal life, and special events.
Difficulty aligning personal routines with new local time after travel, night shifts, or jet lag
FINAL DESIGNS
CALENDAR SYNC
Integrates with personal and shared calendars to overlay birthdays, anniversaries, holidays, and meetings directly onto Tempora’s timezone view.
Stops missed events, reduces scheduling errors, and takes away the constant mental juggling of multiple timezones.
WELCOME TO HAWAII!
Time moves 3 hrs behind home - which probably explains why you’re hungrier than usual at 9:30 :)
12:30
HI
9:30
Add location
Tempora Travel
Welcome to Hawaii!
12:30
HI
9:30
2m ago
TEMPORA TRAVEL
Tempora’s context-aware travel companion
Adapts to your body clock by suggesting optimal sleep, meal, and communication windows to help you beat jet lag.
TEMPORA TRAVEL NOTIFICATIONS
Smart notifications that adjust for jet lag, compare your current timezone to time at home, and offer quick-glance suggestions for adjusting routines.
Reduces confusion during travel, helps align body clocks faster, and minimizes accidental off-hour calls
off
Switch seamlessly between Personal, Work, and Off modes to view the schedules and availability that matter most in each part of your life—whether it’s keeping up with family and friends or coordinating with your team
“Cooking dinner ... send me any good recipes!”
Leave quick status updates like “In a meeting,” “Cooking dinner,” or “On a call” to give context before calls or texts.
available
Real-time toggle that shows when you’re open for calls, messages, or FaceTimes—helping everyone know the best time to reach you.
Reflection: What I've learned and Future Steps
This project began as an exploration of dark mode aesthetics and global timekeeping, but it quickly revealed something deeper: how time shapes our relationships, our work, and our sense of belonging across distances.
WHAT I'VE LEARNED
Design is About Emotional Gaps, Not just Functional Ones
The most resonant insights weren’t about timezone math—they were about guilt (waking loved ones), fear (missing critical moments), and isolation (feeling out of sync)
This pushed me to design for micro-interactions with macro-impact, like the "Tempora Travel" alerts that make time and life adjustments more intuitive
Constraints Breed Creativity
Balancing dark mode accessibility with weather/location data forced elegant compromises:
Example: Using subtle color temperature shifts (not just pure black) to maintain readability while displaying weather icons.
Desktop integration taught me to design for peripheral awareness—how little information someone needs at a glance.
The Best Tools Disappear
Users didn’t ask for a "clock app." In fact, they asked for the opposite of that — to stop checking the time, a product that diminishes the need for a "clock app".
This reshaped my goal: design something that fades into the rhythm and habits of their lives
BIGGEST TAKEAWAY
Creating Tempora taught me that when a product feels effortless, it’s not because it does less, but because it gives people the space to focus on what matters most.
WHERE THIS COULD GO NEXT
I’d love to explore...
01
"How might shared time spaces deepen relationships?"
02
"What does time look like for digital nomads vs. rooted families?"
and overall overlapping user groups and their differing needs.
Thanks for reading!