Design an alarm clock for the blind.

Question

Design an alarm clock for the blind.

Asked at Google over a year ago

16.3k views

Product Design category

& 1 other company

Asked at

& 1 other company

16.3k views

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Santhosh Kumar · Answer 1 · 2021-12-26T07:09:21+0000

Approach that I would use

1. Follow up questions to understand problem better and establish the business goal and define user segments

2. Map out the user journey and pain points

3. Brainstorm solutions

4. Prioritization

5. Success metrics

Follow up questions and business goal

Candidate: Are we looking at the physical or digital product?

Interviewer: Upto you

Candidate: Should we focus on the standalone product or product integrated with existing google apps

Interviewer: Upto you

Candidate: I assume the business goal is create a product that is accessible and equitable for the underserved customers in the market.

Interviewer: Sounds good

User segments

Color blind

Fully blind

Visually capable caretaker

I would desgin a product that is suitable for fully blind users, by virtue of which the product can be accessed by other user segments as well.

User journey

A. Access the physical/digital product

B. Select a date and time for the alarm

C. When the alarm goes off, snooze or turn-off the alarm

D. Repeat steps A-C

Pain points

A. Unable to use the visual cues to access the alarm

B. Unable to see and select the date and time

C. Difficult to use the visual cues to snooze or turn off the alarm

Solution

Since the visual sense is impaired for the blind people, I would create a product that can operated by the voice and touch (gesture) inputs.

A. Create a wrist band that can be easily worn by the user. Blind user can easily use the touch and voice to interact with the product. Blind user can wake the alarm just by a little tap.

Wrist band will send a haptic signal to send a feedback to the user when it is awake.

B. Blind user can use a voice input to select the data and time of the alarm.

Wrist band will confirm that the alarm is set using the voice/haptic output signal.

C. When the alarm goes off, blind user can tap once to snooze the alarm and double tap to turn-off the alarm

Again, user will receive the confirmation signal through haptic and voice outputs.

Prioritization

Solution	Effort	Impact
Wrist band activated by touch to access the alarm	High, need to develop and manufacture new psycial product	High, will help underserved users in the society
Voice controls to set an alarm	Low, can easily integrate google assitant into the product	High, voice input method combined with haptic/voice confirmation signal is suitable for blind users
Gesture control to snooze/turn-off the alarm	High, need to build sensors to create gesture controls	High, gesture control is key to serve blind users.

Sucess metrics

A. No of units sold, and its trend over time; market share of the product

B. User adoption- no of users that use the product

C. User rentention- average number of weeks that a typical user uses a product for

D. Revenue from the product sales

E. Number of products sold through referral which is a good proxy of the user satisfaction

stashbag · Answer 2 · 2021-07-09T18:03:51+0000

Design an alarm clock for the blind

Clarifications

Why are we designing this? To make things possible
Who are we? We are a startup focused on helping blind people
What is our goal -> Improve the quality of life for the blind people
What is the definition of blind - Fully blind, partially blind --> Both

Problem space

Blind people have challenges with using existing alarm clocks.
They need help in getting tasks done

Goal / Mission

Improve the quality fo life for the blind folks
Drive unit sales / adoption of the product

Segments

Fully blind - these are people who cannot see anything and are unable to function
Partially blind - People who have some level of sight but

From the above two, I am going to focus on the fully blind folks because I feel that would impact and improve their quality of life more. Also, solutions for the fully blind would be workable for the partially blind.

Pain points

Setting an alarm is difficult for me and I need to ask for help
I want to change my alarm based on days of the week but it is challenging for me to do
My cellphone isn’t a reliable replacement for alarm clock as turning off the alarm is challenging and I dont always carry it with me
I want to be alerted at different times each day for different tasks at different times but that is not possible without setting multiple alarms

Most of these pain points are around interfacing with the alarm clock (seeing time, being alerted, manipulating the clock). To have the biggest impact on the user I am going to focus on solving for pain point #4 - Getting an alarm clock that manages time and alerts the users for tasks through the day.

Solutions

Phone Connected Alarm
Voice controlled alarm clock
Gesture controlled alarm clock

Thinking through these options, I am leaning towards solving for a phone connected smart alarm clock.

I believe that would have the highest impact on the user, aligns with our goal, and uses the information on the phone to notify the end user.

For instance, It would be safe to assume that most blind people have a smart phone. I would create an alarm clock that connected with the Calendar, Email and Maps app on the smart phone. The blind folks can use the smart phone via voice and all apps data would be in the alarm clock. This alarm clock would provide alerts based on events and tasks stored in the phone apps.

From the user perspective, it would give them an time keeping / alerting assistant for tasks and activities.

kuma0177 · Answer 3 · 2020-02-26T23:36:50+0000

Design an alarm clock For the Blind?

Goal: Design a clock that can be used by a set of blind people to set up times to wake up

Success: Blind users would be able to easily setup times to wake up and shut down the alarm. Allow them to easily discover the current time, reset the time to a different time, set the alarm to a different time.

User: Blind User and Non-Blind Caretakers

Constraints: Mechanical or Digital (assuming either or)

Key user problems for the primary user (Blind)

Can’t see
1. Can’t read regular characters and settings on the alarm
2. Can’t be sure if the alarm is set up correctly
3. Can’t reset the alarm, or set the time

Potential Solutions:

Discover alternative methods of interaction with the clock
1. Braille
2. Audio
3. NLU - Like Alexa

Potential Features:

Electro-Mechanical Design
Supports braille based key actions - set time, reset time, change alarm time, disable the alarm
Supports auditory feedback and comms - will speak as the time is being reset
Also supports regular visual features for alarm clocks
Fun Features - Records voice for a specific type of wake up, plays radio channel for wakeup

MVP

Start with mechanical design with braille signs
Add audio feedback to key actions (phase 2)
Add Alexa like integration (phase 3)

Kedar Prabhu · Answer 4 · 2024-02-24T09:20:40+0000

Clarifying questions:

Why are we building this
Is this product for Fully Impaired (FI), Partial Impaired (PI), color blind, or all 3.
Are we building a hardware company or a software company
Are we building just the alarm part in a clock or a complete clock
Are we building the alarm in a physical clock or the alarm functionality in a cell phone or other devices as well

Answers:
We are building a physical device/clock to improve the quality of life for blind people. All 3 user groups can use the physical clock.

Assumptions: Since we are building an alarm functionality the clock needs to be small can be held by the user in hand and should be within the reach of the user. The user should be able to place the clock as per their requirement with the ability to move the clock as required. The user may want to take the alarm with them in case of travel.

User Segments:
As mentioned, the alarm needs to be designed for FI, PI, and colorblind people

User Needs for Normal People (Sight-abled)

See the current time
Set an alarm
Stop the alarm

Pain Points for Fully and Partially Impaired and Colorblind
Determine the current time
Setting the alarm
Identifying the stop button for alarm
Moving the alarm from one place to another without damaging the alarm

Prioritization

Needs	Impact	Priority
Determine the current time	High	Must Have
Updating the time	High	Must Have
Setting the alarm	High	Must Have
Updating the alarm	High	Must Have
Snooze the alarm	Medium	Nice to Have
Stop the alarm	High	Must Have
Disable / Cancel the alarm	High	Must Have

Solutions

Needs	Solution 1	Solution 2
Determine the current time	Audio – The clock reads out aloud the current time when user presses a designated physical button on the clock. The designated button can be designed using braille language or should have a unique symbol so the FI/PI user can feel it.	Audio – The clock reads out aloud the current time when user presses a designated physical button on the clock. The designated button can be designed using braille language or should have a unique symbol so the FI/PI user can feel it.
	The clock can notify the user every 30/60 mins. This can be done via an audio that says the time OR It can be via a beeping sound that beeps based on the hour count and a special beep for 30 mins	The clock can notify the user every 30/60 mins. This can be done via an audio that says the time OR It can be via a beeping sound that beeps based on the hour count and a special beep for 30 mins
Updating the time	Implement a voice-enabled functionality to set the time as per user request User language could be a barrier. Supporting multiple languages might increase the product cost which may reduce user adoption	Provide physical buttons to set the time. The physical button should have a symbol designed using braille language The clock says out aloud the time before the new time is set. Inconsistent symbols and change due to wear and tear, and physical damage may impact this functionality and user adoption.
Setting the alarm Updating the alarm	Implement a voice functionality to set the alarm Challenges for updating the time apply to this as well	A dedicated button with symbols designed using braille to set the alarm. Audio output to indicate the user has pressed the button to set the alarm The physical buttons to set the time can be reused to set the alarm as well. Placement of setting the alarm and updating the time should be strategically placed to avoid accidentally pressing the incorrect buttons. Inconsistent symbols and change due to wear and tear, and physical damage may impact this functionality and user adoption
Snooze the alarm	A physical button having an appropriate symbol (designed using braille) to snooze the alarm	A physical button having an appropriate symbol (designed using braille) to snooze the alarm
Stop the alarm	A physical button having an appropriate symbol (designed using braille) to stop the alarm is more convenient than voice-enabled functionality	A physical button having an appropriate symbol (designed using braille) to stop the alarm is more convenient than voice-enabled functionality
Disable / Cancel the alarm	Voice-enabled functionality to disable the disable/cancel alarm	A physical button having an appropriate symbol (designed using braille) to enable/disable the alarm

Since the focus is on user acquisition, we can go with Solution 2 as it seems to be a cost-effective and cheaper than Solution 1

Metrics:
Considering this will be built in a physical clock
# of purchases made
# of items returned as physical damaged
# of complaints due to alterations in button symbols due to wear and tear, extensive use

Himant Goyal · Answer 5 · 2022-04-05T06:16:06+0000

How would you design an alarm clock for a person with a visual impairment?

Alarm Clock features

1. Set frequency-based alarms for X activity, wake up, reminders etc.

2. Set alarms for a one-off activity

User personas:

1. Visually impaired – fully

2. Partially impaired

3. Color-blindness

Market Size in the USA

1. 330MM USA population, 1 in 1000 faces a visual problem,

2. 330,000 users are visually impaired

Pain-Points

1. User is not able to locate the clock in the house

2. User is not able to operate the alarm, because of being visually impaired

Solution -

1. Develop a voice-assistant Alarm clock along with the manual operation, which can operate in a range of 60-75 ft

2. Configure voice identification for a specific user

3. Moon-shot -> Set white noise, sleep assistant Music. IoT enabled to capture of the data with user preference.

4. Add world clock features, time in London? time in New-Delhi

5. Set Stop-Watch/Timers

6. Customer support

Prioritization

Solution	Level of Effort	Level of Impact	MoSCoW
1. Basic clock with Voice assistant	High	High	Must DO
2. Voice auth/config	Medium	High	Must Do
3. Whie-Noise	Medium	Medium	Could do
4. World clock	Medium	High	Should do
5. Stop watch	High	Medium	Could do
6. Timers	Medium	Low	Could do

Metrics

1. Number of clocks sold per year

2. Clocks sold via referral (user satisfaction, referral)

3. Buyer’s reviews on Amazon/ebay/ and other marketplace, product rating

4. Market penetration

5. Number of times clock used per week.

Summarize

To summarize, I was tasked to design the clock for the visually impaired, my recommendation is to build a voice assistant clock that shall be authenticated to a specific user when operated via voice.

Deepika Roy · Answer 6 · 2020-03-10T17:03:22+0000

Initially I have a few questions
1. Is there any constraint on if this need to be digital one or analog one?
2. Can this watch be electro-mechanical?
3. Source of energy for this device?
4. Who will be the primary users for this device?
  1. Population with 100% visual disability
    1. Can they have other kinds of disabilities like hearing, speaking etc?
  2. Partial visual disability
  3. People who are born with visual disability
  4. People who were not born blind
5. What are the current solutions that I am aware of?
  1. Braille watches, mechanical
I will primarily focus on a user group with following characteristics:
1. Population with 100% visual disability
2. People may or may not have the visual disability by birth
3. I am focusing on the population who are visually disabled and may or may not have hearing and speaking disabilities as well
Needs of the user
1. Need to know the time
2. Set alarm
3. Reset/ Change Time in watch
Solution(s) and Feature(s)
1. Mechanical watch with some digital features like talking watch mode
2. The watch can operate under 2 modes:
  1. Braille watch mode
    1. This feature will help the visually challenged users to read the time in hours and minutes using braille letters
    2. Based on the time the digits will keep changing
    3. The time in braille letter will show up to be felt by the tactile senses of the user, only if they request for the time. May be they will need to press a mechanical button.
      1. This can be even voice enabled
        Voice enabled mode cannot be utilized by visually challenged population with speaking disability
  2. Talking watch mode
    1. This feature cannot be used by visually challenged users with hearing disabilities
    2. Even the visually challenged population with no hearing disabilities may feel uncomfortable to use in situations when silence needs to be maintained