Remember how when you were a kid, you were rewarded with a gold star for a job well done in school? Well, this is a gold star reward system for grown ups. Created by everyone’s favorite geek girl, Simone Giertz, this device is nothing like Giertz other creations that were mostly wacky. This is one here, called The Every Day Calendar, is with a sense of purpose. The Every Day Calendar is a illuminated board with capacitive touch buttons, one for each day of the year.
Its goal is really very, very simple: it is designed to let you set a goal and stick to it. Say for example, you are determined to do yoga every day. Whenever you have made a point to do yoga, you go ahead and reward yourself a ‘gold star’ by pressing the hexagon button corresponding to the date that you did the yoga. In this way, you get yourself a visual cue that reminds of what you have done or have not done. It is like a personal achievement board, but one that is targeted at one simple goal.
The concept is exceedingly simple, but no less effective way of reminding of your one single goal. Speaking of ‘simple’, the engineering behind The Every Day Calendar is not quite simple. It is conceived in a way that it will remember the days that were lit up even if it loses power or if you turn it off. Here’s the magic behind it (which I, being half a geek, appreciate much):
“You know printed circuit boards, those things that are in every electronic product you’ve ever used? If you don’t, I get it. Printed circuit boards, or PCBs, are mostly tucked away on the inside, and you don’t really get to see or interact with them as a consumer. For the Every Day Calendar, we did it the other way around: we took the regular circuit board that everyone else is trying to hide, and designed it to be the front display. What ensued was a really fun design challenge that pushed printed circuit board technology to the limits in terms of size and functionality. The hexagon pattern is made out of gold-immersed copper, a common circuit board feature that’s not usually used for aesthetics, but things like solder pads and traces.”
The circuit board itself is translucent, thus allowing each of the 365 LEDs to shine through. Another interesting feature is, it is open source. It has a “secret programming port,” so you did be able to pull off your own hack and whatnot. Last but not the least, the gold-immersed touch pads, whether lit or not, are complemented by a frame that is made of a sustainable material – bamboo.
The Every day Calendar is a personal project of Giertz that has not only helped her achieved her goal of meditating everyday but also get through the most difficult time of her life. If you keen, you can learn more about The Every Day Calendar and the lady herself over on Kickstarter, where a pledge of 300 bucks will secure yourself The Every Day Calendar, destined for December 2019 delivery.
I am not going to lie. It is quite a wait, but I think it will be well worth the wait (and money). Oh, the campaign, btw, is well over its set funding goal of $35K. At the time of this writing, it has attracted over 1,200 backers who have contributed nearly $320K. But really, it is no surprise. Simone is a charismatic person who have over a million subscribers to her YouTube channel.
Images: Simone Giertz.
Source: Colossal.
