
The original prototype took me a couple of weeks. For example, the Clocky prototype was much bigger than the current version - what led to that design decision? Past the concept phase, tell us about the product development process and the iterations Clocky went through to finally arrive at the current version. It was very important to me to maintain a minumum of user interface controls so that anyone could use the clock almost immediately. During the design process, we tested the product out with potential customers and made changes to the program as well as the interface (including buttons and backlight) to ensure better usability. Over and over, I heard the same story of people repeatedly hitting the snooze button and never reaching a wakeful state. Did you study people sleeping? Can you share a little about the ethnographic steps to observing people sleeping and waking up - what insights did you gain? How did those insights evolve into your solution, Clocky?ĭuring the development time, we received countless emails from people who needed a better solution than their current alarm clock was providing. In addition to doing the job of an alarm clock better, Clocky is also an attempt to imbue alarm clocks with living qualities so that it is ultimately more fun to use. As a designer, it was obvious that the alarm clock needed to be improved, both in functionality and in personality. I had friends who told me that they would put the alarm clock on the other side of the room, but because they knew where it was, they would just sleep walk to it, turn it off and go right back to bed. When I was a student, I would hit the snooze bar repeatedly, never realizing how late it was getting. In this ‘hide-and-seek’ game, you wake up in the process! Because you don’t know where he’ll end up, you have to get out of bed, and find him to silence his alarm. He will jump from your night-stand and run around the run in random directions. He is an alarm clock that runs away when you don’t get out of bed on time.

Things that are at once both simple and exceptional.Ĭlocky is, quite simply, the most obvious way I could think to get out of bed. Our ideas come from ordinary questions like ‘Why does my alarm do such a terrible job of getting me up?’ and ‘Why can’t I find a bag that makes it easy to carry my heavy laptop around?’ Then, from these ordinary questions, we set out to create extraordinary products. Since graduating, I founded Nanda as a place to find things that are missing from our lives and create them. Because of all the interest surrounding him, Clocky gave me the drive to start a company. I have been designing products for a few years now, since I was a student at the MIT Media Lab researching the intersection of design and technology.

Today, we are speaking with Gauri Nanda, the inventor of Clocky and founder of .īe sure to read our other interviews in our leadership series. Product dimensions: Width: 13.5cm Height: 8.5cm Depth: 8.From time to time, shmula interviews companies that are disruptive 1, simple, and yet elegantly meets an unarticulated but dire customer need.With "disable wheels" button when you want him to keep still.

