Teen Sleep Solved — PHILIPS Sleep Design
Summary: In a 4-week challenge, we designed a user-centered teen sleep product for PHILIPS through a design thinking process. I led the initial research and ideation stages to effectively propose a hardware-software solution. One of the major learnings was the fact that — “ Productive conflicts lead to better solutions than silent agreement “. Read on for a brief journey of our process!
In September 2018, Philips came to CMU with a unique problem statement -
“What products or services can Philips offer specifically for teens that are customizable, tailored to their needs, and will both raise awareness and improve their sleep”
Throughout the early 2000s. Philips has been slowly transitioning into the healthcare sector in the US market through a series of acquisitions. Philips Respironics designs products ranging from ‘In-Lab Diagnostic Systems’ that are sold directly to hospitals to ‘Respiratory Drug Delivery and Monitoring Systems’ which are meant to be used at home by individuals. I analyzed their product portfolio which also includes a multitude of sensors and accessories, and realized that they have managed to cater to the most part of the population suffering from sleep-related problems except for teens (Ages 10–19).
According to the Centre for Disease Control, nearly 41 million teens (ages 10–19) in the US are affected by problems related to poor sleep, some of which include obesity, mental disorders, and substance abuse.
Initial Research
We gathered insights from an online survey where 129 respondents of our key target group answered, along with in-depth personal interviews of 5 high-school students, 4 parents and a UPMC sleep medicine doctor. Through user-empathy, I got a better understanding of the real spoken and unspoken needs of the user.
Ideation Process
The research made it clear that there are a bunch of external distractions that prevent teens from sleeping. How do we get around that? — By making the environment more conducive to sleep.
I did some Competitive Analysis and found tons of fancy products in the market — Essential Oil Diffuser, White Noise Sound Machine, Temperature Regulated Pillow Pad, Allergy-Fighting Air Purifier, Weighted Blanket, Feather-Free Pillow promising the best night’s sleep. However, how do you convince teenagers that they need a 300$ white noise sound machine that might help them sleep better?
The biggest challenge here is the specific target audience we are looking at.
We cannot make products for teenagers look like the ones above! The offering should resonate with them. Something cool?
I also understood that Philips promotes itself as a healthcare company, so for teens to buy one of their products, we have to make them believe that they have a health issue and need to buy a specific product for that. Good luck convincing the stubborn ‘Generation Z’!
So we came up with a plan, to begin with, a lifestyle product — Soleo
When I sat with the Mechanical Engineer to design this, I had two things on my mind — It should be something more than just a sleep product and that it should look classy but not flashy. It is partly inspired by Philips Somneo Sleep & Wake Light which makes it easier to incorporate in the current manufacturing ecosystem.
It’s got additional functionalities of wireless charging, music and light but why would they use it?
We decided to tackle this problem by playing by the teenager’s rules, gamifying their sleep.
I collaborated with the design members on our team to develop a concept mobile application, focusing on tailored experience for teenagers. To see their ‘Avatar’ grow in the morning is psychologically rewarding, similar to when they see someone like or comment on their Facebook picture. The parents and school also have the ability to monitor their child’s sleep, and possibly adapt home and school schedules to be a better fit, enhancing the overall health and productivity of the child.
Now, the question remains — How do we sell this?
In one of our brainstorming sessions, an idea of using a B2B2C approach popped up. Applying Apple’s successful education strategy of promoting their products early on and integrating them into the school’s ecosystem, looked like an interesting way of targeting a sizeable share of the $70B+ global sleeping aids market.
But, this is where the team had a difference in opinion.
Me, including a few other members, felt that it would be too radical an approach for Philips to adopt as the only B2B strategy they utilize is with hospitals. It would have to be a heavy initial investment to develop a similar network with schools. I made the team divide into two segments on the basis of opinions so we could build up a clear argument instead of directionlessly debating. The conflict was very productive and took us to a midway solution of first testing the B2B approach in the smaller private boarding school market while keeping the usual B2C channel alive. The discussion ran up to 4-hours but in the end, everyone agreed that Philips should take the leap. No personal relationships were strained and I learned an important lesson -
“ Productive conflict delivers better solutions than silent agreement “
Closing note
I am a student of Product Development at Carnegie Mellon University’s Integrated Innovation Institute and all the thoughts and opinions expressed in this article are developed through my personal experiences. I would also like to extend my gratitude to my teammates Gaurav Asthana, Chi Chi Bello, Yool Park, Ranveer Katyal, and prof. Jason Smith, without whom any of these learnings would not have been possible.
If you found this article helpful, please feel free to like and share, make suggestions for helpful resources that I missed in the comments, and reach out to me on LinkedIn!
