On Monday I made a trip to Greenwich to visit the Maritime Museum and the Royal Observatory. It's a place very dear to my heart as I lived in Greenwich and Deptford for four years and studied Astronomy at the RGO. The purpose of the trip was to examine their extensive collection of clocks, timekeepers and vintage scientific instruments. Sadly the Harrisons were not on display as Flamsteed house is being refurbished but H4 can be seen at the Maritime Museum for the time being.
While I was there I made a series of drawings that helped me work out how the user interface might work. I also gave a great deal of thought to how the main timekeeper should work as this is the first thing I'm going to build. What I mainly came away with though was the inspiration and palpable feeling of living history you get when surrounded by these arcane and beautiful instruments. I want the graphic design of the Computus Engine to feel like a natural part of this long and fascinating history.
