Why we started Circadian
Four years ago, Matt, Lauren, and I teamed up to work together on our senior design thesis. We chose to redesign the household carbon monoxide detector, an important and ubiquitous device that had been largely ignored by product designers (this was pre-Nest Detect). The three of us clicked immediately and the resulting product, a simple CO detector called Canary, reflected just how well we all worked together.
We built a product for the families who would actually live with the detector — something that was both functional and well-designed. The positive response from our teachers, users, and press was an affirmation that we could take a mundane, under-designed experience and build something that people loved. That project, more than any lecture or case study, showed us the importance of user-centered design. By deeply listening to the people we were creating for, we could make an incredible object that would improve lives.
While we considered having a go at turning Canary into a real product, the three of us had full-time jobs lined up by the time graduation came around. We went our separate ways, knowing that there would come a time when we’d come back together for a new project.
Now, a little more than a year after we quit our jobs, founded Circadian and moved into our new office space we are taking the same lessons we learned with Canary and applying them to a much bigger (and even more exciting) problem.
P.S. You can read about Canary in the Core77 piece that was written about us below:
