Designing an Alarm Clock App

Earlier this year, we were asked to design an alarm clock that solved a few key issues for users– anxiety around getting to sleep, provide an alternative to a “snooze” button, and foster a regular sleeping schedule. The problem I set out to solve was effectively transitioning people into sleeping or waking head-spaces while living a busy modern lifestyle. Below is an overview of the product I designed to address this problem and these key issues in the form of an alarm clock app.

My goals for the project:

1. Discourage anxiety around getting to sleep
2. Provide strategies to counter restless nights
3. Foster a regular sleeping schedule with a healthy amount of hours
4. Interchange “snooze” with effective ways of waking
5. Integrate a brand that maximizes the product

1. Notifications

To create a regular sleeping schedule, one of the app’s primary features is a notification process that sends a reminder to the user to head prepare for bedtime. The notification is sent one hour before the user should be asleep to allow enough time for one to get through their evening rituals before settling into bed. The notification is timed based on the amount of hours the user has selected as their goal amount of sleep hours and the time their alarm is scheduled the next day.

2. Sleep Strategies

A key insight was that people often feel anxious about trying to get to sleep to reach a certain amount of hours. When one is thinking about how they are not going to get their full 7 or 8 hours of sleep, it leads to less sleep. As well, we all get restless some nights. To counter this, there are sleep strategies in the app. The library of strategies consists of different activities such as, breathing exercises, narrated stories and meditations, so one can transition into a sleeping headspace.

3. Morning Activities

A snooze button doesn’t make anyone less tired and it promotes lateness. Instead, the app provides the user with an activity to finish to reset the alarm. Once the morning alarm starts, the user is prompted to complete the morning exercise so that the alarm is reset. These activities are easy exercise meant to jog the brain into a waking headspace to ease one into the start of their day while actually waking them up. These activities are short and quick and a little fun. Now anyone can start their day with a win.

Takeaways

1. A brand extends a product, and vice versa
2. Some quick and small projects can become fleshed out and compelling pieces with a little work
3. When stuck, look at other products and see what they are doing right. Than make it better in your version.

To see the full project, you can visit it on my portfolio here!