A few days ago I happened to talk to Kevin Fox (former Netwon and former Yahoo, now at GooglePlex) about online calendars and about the fact that they’re all the same. But here’s a very different idea…

This post focuses on two questions Kevin Fox asked me. The first was: “what do you think about the new Google Calendar?”

What do I think?
I think online calendars have their own template, i.e. that part of the interface where you can see the DAY, WEEK or MONTH, which is basically the same for all recently developed software.

It’s clear that if you choose that template you already have a working object but at the cost of 70% of the screen. It’s a shame that in the end – as it often happens with usability when standard archetypes are applied – the products are all the same or they only have different low-use features…So, in the first instance, there’s no use talking about a better and different calendar.

Obviously, the Google Calendar has a few advantages: an internal SEARCH (which should be faster and more efficient than elsewhere) and a POTENTIAL integration with Gtalk, Gmail, Gmap and others.
The problem is that this integration is more potential than real, because at the moment there are too many people working for Google on different projects without thinking about how to integrate them in the future.

In conclusion: I do like Gcalendar. Why should I deny it? But I won’t use it because I already have my iCal on the Mac and I can export the data everywhere in the web.

Then Kevin asked me if I had an idea about how to create a “different” Calendar. and I, what the hell…no, wait…actually, I do have an idea!

note: click on this image to see it larger and read comments!

Most things I do during the day call for interaction with other people: sending an e-mail to X, writing a document for Y, calling Z, etc.
Here’s the idea: to visualise the tasks on a single timeline, using the faces of people. This way, I could always have my index book at my fingertips and I could see whether or not I have a busy schedule. I would immediately understand WHO is taking me too much time and I could ZOOM to visualise on the screen the timeline of a quarter or even of a whole year. Just like zooming in on some massive crowd at the stadium.

Not to talk about the business or public calendar and the exchange of contacts I could make according to the events of a calendar FOCUSED ON PEOPLE/time and not on tasks/time.

Thinking about it…
The idea is not completely original. It reminds me of YackPack and of my old project on Future Libraries which allowed me to win the Apple Design Project back in 1997 (Kevin already worked in Netwon) but the application is new. So, the instrument archetype is saved and so is the diversity you MUST introduce if you want to become the number one in a stable and competitive market.
Of course, an instrument like my hypothetical calendar with people inside it DOESN’T seem a suitable instrument for the mass market. But considering it has been conceived in 5 minutes and only for the sake of argument, I’m getting to like it and I must admit it would be great to see it at work. So, if there’s some flash expert with a penchant for xml, we could try to see its effect.

Thanks a lot Kevin,
Without your questions I would never have had this answer. :)