We had the distinct pleasure to interview award winning designer Albert Salamon about their original and creative Clock application. design work. Albert Salamon is an award-winning communication designer, that makes our world a better place with their original clock application. works.
Albert Salamon ("AS") answered Design Interview ("DI") questions about their award-winning work Dominus plus Clock application.. Interview questions prepared by Frank Scott.
AS : All my life I dreamt about designing my own clock. Thanks to Apple my dreams come true.
AS : My idea was to design something having a lot to do with ”digital matter”, with simple interface. Of course I also wanted to do something beautiful for everyday use.
AS : I am going to develop Dominus for other platforms such as Android, Windows Phone, Pebbe and Mac.
AS : I think it was growing for a few years and when the time came I drew it in an hour. Production, ergonomics and software adjustment took months.
AS : My inspiration was www.tokyoflash.com where i saw many original clocks. It encouraged me to realize one on my own.
AS : I designed it for myself hoping that other people will find it useful and that they will like it. They could support or reward my work with symbolic one dollar, which will help me realize my other dreams.
AS : I don’t really know - maybe my principle which is to make things as simple as possible.
AS : Yes. I like (have and wear) Lexon e8 watch from which i learnt that showing time could be smart and nice.
AS : Everyone who is looking for something new and likes sci-fi stuff - are they people from the Future?
AS : Most clock apps look like real clocks from the past (analogue clock, dixie, LCD matrix, flip) primarily designed for circle or square frame. Only a few apps try to adjust their design to ”digital matter” of applications and be proper for the mobile devices framework.
AS : Dominus is a game about time so its name originates from the Dominoe game.
AS : Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop, Soundtrack PRO and iOS device simulator.
AS : I think that it is the simple albeit not obvious comparison of AM and PM times to fruits. Green color corrensponds to time that is growing and yellow corresponds to the time that is already "mature".
AS : Łukasz Grzejek composed alarm tunes which took inspiration form American Beauty, he tried to make them apt for everyday use. Łukasz Hostyński and Robert Hnatyk from Concise Software did an excellent programming job. Thanks to them submission process was fast and smooth.
AS : Technology made this project possible - especially touch screen technology - it opens new field which enables us to design interactive reaction of ”digital things”.
AS : The project is based on my own iTunes Store research with conclusion that there are more than 2000 clock apps and most of them are ugly or imitative and only a few are nice and original. Because we live in the 21st century I think that apps could become something different from typical "textual menu" programs, on the contrary, they should explore new forms of interfaces and interaction with people.
AS : The most important challenge was raising funds. I gathered money for many months, doing some rather not satisfactory jobs. But it was worth it.
AS : I thaught that Dominus plus was a cool clock and that’s why I decided to find out what professionals think about such a new thing, do they like it as I am?
AS : I went through the whole process - from idea, through concept drawing, programming production, tests and improvements, than - iStore submission, choosing the name and identification, and last but not least - constructing webpage, writing promotion texts for portals and magazines. That's how I discovered that design is only 10% of the product and you must really believe in it and be patient. It was an important lesson.
AS : Now there are more than 2000 people using Dominus plus and this is my greatest reward. It satisfies me. Thanks to them I feel like doing more apps.
