We had the distinct pleasure to interview award winning designer Daniel Lau about their original and creative Kids Alarm Clock design work. Daniel Lau is an award-winning industrial designer, that makes our world a better place with their original kids alarm clock works.
Daniel Lau ("DL") answered Design Interview ("DI") questions about their award-winning work Tick Tock Turtle Kids Alarm Clock. Interview questions prepared by Frank Scott.
DL : The design firstly needed to meet our product goals which was to be a highly functional sleep aid for children. The core functions required it to be a portable design with a large illumination surface and at the same time have buttons hidden away from younger children. Our goal was to design a modern and child friendly form to have not only children, but parents use it in their beds.
DL : Our goal was to achieve a design that would be the all in one solution for a child’s sleep companion. This meant integrating as many features possible while keeping the user experience simple. Our removable shell design enabled us to hide all of the parental buttons inside the product while displaying a fully illuminated shell. The shell itself also acts as a push button for kids to turn on and off the lights on the design. The gyro sensor used for sleep cycle detection is also used to turn off the alarm. When the alarm is ringing, the child picks up the turtle and shakes it to deactivate the alarm. An added level of interaction.
DL : We would like to continue developing new features while at the same time make this design more accessible to parents around the world. We would also like to further explore eco-friendly designs.
DL : As a new father of two, I could see many new concepts being developed for adults, however nothing was out there that addressed the issue of sleep for children. As many know, sleep is one of the most important activities for young children. Especially with the rise in usage of electronic devices and bedtime being pushed later, children who are on a schedule of day care or school in the morning need every bit of help they can get.
DL : We are currently producing ourselves
DL : Toddlers all the way up to adults
DL : Tick Tock Turtle is a fun name that we thought would really stick. The turtles Kai, Leilani and Makani were named with a Hawaiian theme in mind where green sea turtles are prevalent. We chose this because Hawaii and the turtle represents the beauty of the ocean, but also sea turtles have been a big topic of conservation. With our future designs, we hope to be able to raise awareness and make strides to provide a better environment for future generations.
DL : Besides all the technical design features, we feel the most unique aspect of our design is the asymmetrical sleepy head. Although it poses more production challenges, it gives the turtle character and symbolizes our products core function to give a good nights rest.
DL : Our design is one of the most advanced alarm clock for kids on the market. We have spent thousands of hours testing and fine tuning our sleep cycle detection feature. We also integrated many other features such as long wave sleep enhancing night lights, visual timer display, sleep training queues and sunrise light alarm.
DL : With all commercial products, it is always a challenge during design to keep production costs at an acceptable level. We originally hoped to use recycled or sea plastics however there were cost constraints as well as material safety concerns that could not be addressed.
