A blanket which wakes you up
Introduction
The way we wake up often sets the tone for the rest of the day. The better the quality of our morning routine, the better the quality of sleep the following night. Studies have shown that it is essential to have consistent sleep and wake-up time for optimal health.
This project was taken up as part of the Product Design edX course from TU Delft where I had to explore morning routines, understand relationships people have with their morning routines and try to design tools to better optimise the routine for a select group of people.
Morning routine
First in order to study the routine morning maps of the morning routine were made with indicators of how people felt during different parts of the morning routine
My morning schedule
Define
The first step I took was to to define what a morning ritual itself was by asking myself a few questions.
What is the morning ritual? How does one experience it? Why is it significant?
What?
It is activities done between waking up and going to work/destination I have to be at on weekdays. On weekends it is the activities undertaken between waking up and the last activity performed for maintenance of my body(eating, bathing).
Why?
Purpose is to get yourself prepared for the day ahead and gain momentum for performing the tasks of the day ahead
How?
I experience the process as a typically is repetitive event with variations which make it stressful
Weekdays
-
Structured
-
Short and hurried
-
Stressful
-
Unconscious
Weekends
-
Unstructured
-
Longer and Relaxed
-
Lazy
-
Deliberate and concious
Interviews
I interviewed a few people to understand in depth about their morning routines. My user need asessment process consisted of making and validating assumptions about people, a detailed interview process, making a mind map, and timeline of the user's morning to understand pain points and how to better improve the process. Below I have outlined one full example.
Most certain assumptions:
-
Routine not dependant on people around - No dependants like children or anybody to take care of
-
Unstructured routine
-
Wake up time late - Sleeps late at night
Least certain assumptions:
-
Distant relationship with routine on weekdays - Weekdays, the focus is on the task to get to after getting out of bed and hence not much thought is given to the morning routine
-
​Is stressful on weekdays
In order to understand other's routines and their relationships with it I interviewed them by focusing on what their idea of a routine is, how it made them feel and why it did delving into the root cause and effect of the routine. I used these inputs to create timelines for the morning routines and mapping moods to understand potential problem areas they may have
Timeline
Mind Map
A social map also was creeated in order to understand who the main influences on the interviewee's morning routine and the experience of the routine
From all of the data aquired the insights drawn are illustrated in the diagram below were drawn about the participant.
Social Map
I focused on the aspects of the routine which were dissatisfactory. The participant was dissatisfied with the lack of structure in the morning routine, this insight was noted in several other participants as well. I hypothesisided based on other public health studies and articles that that the lack of structure in the morning routine arose from a ripple effect of having an inconsistent sleep schedule which led to lack of energy when awake along with varying time slots available for the activites for the routine which made
I attempted to test this hypothesis by attempting to wake up consistently for a week at the exact same time (I normally don't use an alarm). To notice changes in the way my mornings felt. Waking up at the same time felt unnatural on some days to me since I felt very tired waking up on somedays.
The alarm felt jarring and wasn't really effective since after waking up I was still tired and I did my activities in a slow and inefficient manner.
​
I wanted to try and see if I could make waking up an easier task.
Who has the problem?
Young adults who don't have a fixed morning ritual due to the nature of their job
Problem definition
Relevant context factors
Influence of people who live with you whose needs need to be taken care of.
Stress from external factors like work.
Messages/emails received cause users to check immediately, leading to inconsistent schedules.
Especially when work is from home and there is no fixed end or
Technology like mobile phones plays a significant role
Side effects to be avoided
Additional stress which causes the user to regress into old patterns.
What is the problem?
People want to follow a more structured morning ritual
In order to feel more in control of the flow of their lives and get
More things done once they have woken up.
Design challenge
I want young adults who have an unstructured morning routine wanting a structured one to be able to set and stick to a list of habits . Having a routine will allow people to get more done, allowing for free time to do things they want. It lets them feel more in control of their lives, makes them feel happier mentally.
Goals for design of the product
-
Intuitive - It should be easy to use and should not have a steep learning curve since it could add more stress to an already stressful morning routine.
-
Non-stressful - No additional stress should be created, should be relaxing if possible.
-
Insightful - Should allow the user to see some sort of progress which could serve as fuel to cultivate sustainable habits.
-
Affordable - Cost should not be too steep since it is meant for young adults who have a limited budget.
-
Sustainable - It should be something which can be used repeatedly over a long period of time.
-
Rewarding - It should reward the user positively for sticking to goals.
-
Accessible - It should be accessible easily both in terms of availability in general and also access during the morning routing should not be cumbersome.
-
Interesting (non-monotonous) - Since the aim is sustainability, the product will benefit from having a dynamic nature which allows the user to keep using it without getting bored of it.
-
Intimate - The nature of the product should have an intimate relationship with the user and allows the user to experience the morning ritual more mindfully and more intimately
Concept
sketches
Concept selection
I used a Harris profile in order to evaluate between the three concepts and concept 3: the blanket was selected
Prototype
References
-
Effects of an irregular bedtime schedule on sleep quality, daytime sleepiness, and fatigue among university students in Taiwan - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2718885/
-
An Official American Thoracic Society Statement: The Importance of Healthy Sleep. Recommendations and Future Priorities - https://www.atsjournals.org/doi/10.1164/rccm.201504-0767ST