Design Brief

Client Company: App Stores

Target End User: People who have trouble waking up in the morning

Designers: Dew Crew

Problem Statement:

A survey from 2020 reports that 52% of Americans still wish that their parents would wake them up in the mornings. On top of this, it takes the average American around 24 minutes to get out of bed after the initial wake-up, often because they are too comfortable in bed. So much time is lost in the morning, there's a lack of structure in their lives, and there's not enough emphasis on well-being. As a result, Americans live with decreased moods and decreased work performance throughout the day. We need a solution to fix all of the above, one that gets people out of bed and into an effective routine at the desired time in order to create healthier schedules and healthier days.

Design Statement:

Design, market, and test a modular device (or devices) that personalize your waking up experience. The design will provide excitement by surprising the user because the user can try different ways to wake up and find the right one for them. Different experiences are created through different combinations of dew blocks and the dew app. By experimenting, the user can find what they value in the wake-up experience: emotion, speed, or quality of sleep(syncing to the sleep cycle). They can also combine these with the dew system.

Design Criteria:

We want a design that is effective and easy to use. The design has to be something that is compatible with all phones and doesn’t exclude a group of people for any reason. We can achieve this inclusivity by adding enough customization to the app that would allow any user to use it effectively.

The waking up experience should also be affordable and not include useless in-app purchases, it should be a one-time purchase, meant to help people and not exploit them.

The app should be compatible with other machines like a coffee machine, skylight, or a home lighting system so that they can be utilized to wake the client up.

Design Constraints:

1. Budget

2. Size of blocks/modules

3. Ease for user

4. Time

5. Skills

Initial Research

Problem Statement

A survey from 2020 reports that 52% of Americans still wish that their parents would wake them up in the mornings. On top of this, it takes the average American around 24 minutes to get out of bed after the initial wake-up, often because they are too comfortable in bed. So much time is lost in the morning, there's a lack of structure in their lives, and there's not enough emphasis on well-being. As a result, Americans live with decreased moods and decreased work performance throughout the day. We need a solution to fix all of the above, one that gets people out of bed and into an effective routine at the desired time in order to create healthier schedules and healthier days.

What solutions are already out there? How will yours be different?

• Apps that play animals sounds to wake up the user

• Apps that make you do a quick puzzle before shutting off the alarm

• Sleep Cycle trackers

• Alarms for heavy sleepers

• Loud alarms that would jolt you up

• Physical alarm that rolls away from the user to force them to run out

• Pad that feels if you got out of bed

• Alarm systems that turn the phone screen on to create light and naturally wake up the user

• Apps that connect to fitbits/apple watches that track how much sleep you get

• Alarm that makes you take a selfie

• Putting your alarm clock on the other side of the room so that you have to get up out of bed to wake up

• Vibrating module that shakes you awake

• Yoga wake up

All these existing ideas might not work for everyone and you might not know if it would work for you. Your system would let the user try out different systems and find what works best for them. By trying new things it also helps them be excited when waking up. No other existing solution values excitement.

Who will be your Target End User?

• • What is your plan to find people to interview and potentially work with?

  • What is your “Empathy Plan?”

• Our target end user will be people who wish to personalize their wake-up experience

  • Anyone who struggles with sleep schedules, waking up in the morning, or who wants to improve their well-being

• Empathy Plan: wake up, test out existing solutions, interview more people who have various perspectives and wake-up/sleep routines

What do you see as a realistic target goal for your project this year? (i.e., proof of concept, working prototype, etc.)

• A working app on the app store and a prototype of one of the modules.