A big part of my major is learning design techniques, whether it is improving an already existing object or creating something from scratch. Yesterday in my Usability class we broke up into small groups and were told to redesign an alarm clock (since college kids generally use their cell phones as alarms instead of a traditional alarm clock, so we had to design an actual alarm clock that college kids could possibly use). Having this class at 9:30 in the morning generally entails that most of us are not awake. We are all usually riding the struggle bus in the mornings, shuffling to class with our coffees in hand. Anyways our alarm clock idea came from an already existing alarm clock and life alert. Some people may know that there are alarm clocks that are mats that you sit by the side of your bed. You have to stand on the mat to turn off the alarm, which in turns means that you got up to start your day. But what if you end up just falling back on your bed and going back to sleep, then the alarm clock defeats its purpose.
But wait "I have been launched on my computer and can't get up." Alarm clock 2.0 is being introduced with a version similar to life alert, "Help I have fallen and can't get up." Kevin, a senior, and one of my group members came up with this idea and it only continued to get funnier as we developed it.
So here is how the new and improved alarm clocks works. First your bed starts blasting music in the head board to warn you that you are about to woken up and sprung out of your bed. Then you are launched from your bed onto the alarm clock mat (or your computer, depending on the force of the springs). To make sure you don't go back to bed after this has happened, the mat gives you a slight shock and you have to call a service aka "life alert" to let them know that you are awake (please refer to image posted above as a visual element on the workings of this alarm clock). How funny would this be if you were actually woken up like this every morning. Okay, so it probably wouldn't be funny to you but if it was your roommate then it would be a different story. I know I would try to get up before my alarm clock went off so I wouldn't be scared to death every morning. There is definitely no need for a snooze button on this alarm.
I wonder how it would work for naps though, would you still have to call in to "life alert" to let them know that you are awake from your nap? I nap all the time and they are usually longer than what I intended. Don't take naps away from college kids, there would be a lot of grumpy people and nobody has time for that.
But wait "I have been launched on my computer and can't get up." Alarm clock 2.0 is being introduced with a version similar to life alert, "Help I have fallen and can't get up." Kevin, a senior, and one of my group members came up with this idea and it only continued to get funnier as we developed it.
So here is how the new and improved alarm clocks works. First your bed starts blasting music in the head board to warn you that you are about to woken up and sprung out of your bed. Then you are launched from your bed onto the alarm clock mat (or your computer, depending on the force of the springs). To make sure you don't go back to bed after this has happened, the mat gives you a slight shock and you have to call a service aka "life alert" to let them know that you are awake (please refer to image posted above as a visual element on the workings of this alarm clock). How funny would this be if you were actually woken up like this every morning. Okay, so it probably wouldn't be funny to you but if it was your roommate then it would be a different story. I know I would try to get up before my alarm clock went off so I wouldn't be scared to death every morning. There is definitely no need for a snooze button on this alarm.
I wonder how it would work for naps though, would you still have to call in to "life alert" to let them know that you are awake from your nap? I nap all the time and they are usually longer than what I intended. Don't take naps away from college kids, there would be a lot of grumpy people and nobody has time for that.
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