Malcolm McCullough is the author of Abstracting Craft (1996), Digital Ground (2004), and Ambient Commons (someday...). He has lectured widely on urban computing and place-based interaction design. He teaches architecture and information design at the University of Michigan.

DaylightCal visualises the duration, angle and quality of sunlight wherever you are. Using weather forecast data, DaylightCal calculates the distribution of daylight for any location and date worldwide. Find out how much daylight you’ve got left today and how much to expect tomorrow.

Now all of this may sound pretty familiar and we have seen a number of apps like this appear in the AppStore. What makes this slightly special is that the app has been designed by the UK based Bureau for Visual Affairs, a design consultancy with some pretty impressive past clients list. The list includes Designhotels so I can therefore also assume that the beautiful The Design Hotels™ iPhone City Guides is also the work of the Bureau (but I may be wrong – ) – *see below. The DaylightCal app in this case adopts the beautiful swiss helvetica aesthetic specific to the Bureau’s work, of course loaded with useful info about daylight and sunlight in your city (see screens below). Considering the app is also free, makes it a must without question.

Platform: iPhone
Version: 1.0
Cost: Free
Developer: Bureau for Visual Affairs

*UPDATE 2009.12.29 – the iPhone travel guide apps are the work of unlike – thanks Pieter

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