A Post That's About Time

When I've been creating my Café Press shops, the software works by automatically adding a default image to all the products. That saves a lot of work, rather than having to do everything manually, but it leaves a little something missing when it comes to the clocks. Namely numbers!

A lot of people actually like minimalist clocks and it certainly hasn't stopped me selling any. Nevertheless I've decided to make them more usable and create some special clock designs for each store (except the Christmas images which will be added in the autumn).

Café Press have a free clock template to download, which allowed me to get the size and number positions spot on. I looked at how best to showcase each image on a clock and took every one as a different challenge rather than apply a "one design fits all" approach. How should the image be positioned? What font would complement it? Would it need a new background?

The apple, being the most solid design, benefits from being large and in the centre. A strong font in matching red makes this a bright, fresh clock that would look great in a kitchen.

I contemplated having the beachball large and centred too, but I also liked how the stripes framed the chosen font, so that's the look I went for here.

All the animals worked best just on one half of the clock, rather than being skewered by the hands! I chose a font with a lot of character to show off my cheeky cat.

For the dog I decided to have a bit of fun and created Roman numerals out of bones!

The elephant is accompanied by a font that matches its shape and colour.

A similar approach for the giraffe, with a font evocative of tall African trees.

My two aquatic animals called for an underwater theme. The goldfish has a lively, wavy, bubbly background.

The octopus gets a graduated dark blue to reflect its deep sea home, with a curly font to match its tentacles.

Hundreds of hearts come together for this big romantic explosion.

Each clock comes in three diameters, a 10" Wall Clock at £10.50*, a 14" Modern Wall Clock (£31.50) and a 17" Large Wall Clock (£28.50). The Modern Wall Clock has an aluminium body and glass cover, the others are edged in black plastic.

To see the clocks on the Café Press site, click on the design you like using the buttons on the left hand side of this page, then go down to the Home & Office section.

(*Prices are set in US$ and converted to other currencies, which may fluctuate due to the daily exchange rate.)