The Discreet Window: Publicly Showing Work Activity to the Outside

The Discreet Window: Publicly Showing Work Activity to the Outside - information aesthetics

The Discreet Window [ishback.com] is a window blind that provides visual feedback for a home-office environment about a user's work activity. As an ambient display, The Discreet Window acts as a membrane that communicates the work intensity to both the home-office space and the outside. The more the user works, the less light is coming inside the room. Thus, the less visual contact there is between both sides of the window.

In practice, this means that when the shade is all the way open, one has not been working, and vice versa. The graphing function then shows the historical data. Most of the current tools of self-monitoring provide intrusive alerts, bringing the risk of disturbing the optimal work pattern of the individual. Instead, the same information has more attractiveness and influence to the user when presented to him on demand as a summary over time.