Transcript Alarm Clock Team - UC Berkeley School of Information

Team Alarm Clock: Final Report
Product Design and Development,
December 2, 2007
Outline
This presentation will explain…
• The design process that helped us reach
our final design
• The final design and specifications
• Our business plan for marketing and
selling the alarm clock
• Our next steps we would take to improve
the design of the product in order to take it
to market
The Original Concept
Selecting a User Group
• Users with uneven
schedules
– Travellers
– College Students
– NOT Olin Students
Identifying User Values
Packing space
Self Expression
Relationship with
Roommate
Saving Money
Reliablity
Enough Sleep
Pinning Down the Real Problem
• Waking up
• Setting interaction
• Trusting that the alarm will go off
Ideation
Evaluating
Design Evaluation
Designs
•
•
•
•
Was it a plausible idea?
Were we as designers excited?
Did it really fit with user values?
How well did it address specifically
identified values to both the designer and
the user such as ease of implementation,
and augmentation of trust between the
user and alarm?
Idea Down-Selection
Reviewing
Delving into
MainDesign
Designs
•
•
•
•
Physical Interactions
Nap Button
Color Coding to show state
Modularity
Physical Interactions
snapshot
Prior Art:
Clock
Price Alarm
Power Display
Use
Advance
Alarm Clock
$9.93
Beeping
Wall/
9V
Red LED
Standard bed
stand ; roll
through setting
Shake Awake
$24
Beep/
Vibrate
2xAA
Reflective
LCD
For use in pillow
case or pocket;
travel size
Timex Nature
Sounds
$80
CD/ preset
sounds/
radio/ beep
Wall/
3xAAA
Adjustable
light LCD
Set multiple
alarms with
individual sounds
Travel Alarm
Clock
$17
Beep
1xAA
Analog w/
backlight
Small and
portable – knob
setting
Flying Alarm
Clock
$25
Loud beep –
flying
propeller
Wall
Reflective
LCD
Must return
propeller to base
Alarm Clock
Projector
$20
Beep/ visual
Wall/
9V
LCD/ wall
projector
Few button –
cycle through;
measures temp;
M/D/Y
Cell phone
$50+
Beep/ music
Battery
LCD
Varies – difficult
to set/operate
Clocky
$50
Beep/
running
4xAAA
LCD
2 button – runs in
circles
Final Design and Justifications
Business Plan
Executive Summary
• We have designed a unique modular alarm clock which changes the
way people interact with their alarm and solves the annoyances of
other alarm clocks.
• The alarm clock has been designed expressly to respond to the
needs of our main customer group, college students. In testing it has
proved to be engaging to use and to fix former problems that are
universal to alarm clocks. Our clock consistently outperforms the
competition in feature quality.
• Projected profitability by year 3, with 5-year sales projections of
120,000 clocks and cumulative profits of 3.3 million by year 5.
• Our four point marketing plan will move our sales from the internet to
major customers like Target and WalMart while establishing our
brand identity and customer trust.
Business Description
• Management and Strengths
– Andrew Coats: Engineering experience, design skills and business savvy
– Connor Riley: Software and user interface design experience
– Avery Anderson: Mechanical engineering and multifaceted design skills
• Goals
– Distinguish our alarm clock based on form, interaction, and affordability.
– Provide products with the right features rather than the most features.
• Customers, industry
– Main customers are college students and their parents doing back-to-school
shopping
Product Description
• Modular alarm clock
– Base module displays time, cube module’s faces display alarm times
– When the cube is in the base, the alarm is set. To set the alarm time, pick up the
cube and use the sliding switch on each face. To snooze, hit the top of the cube.
– Features include: nap timer, multiple alarm sounds, pre-alarm snooze
• Competitive Advantages
– Unique interaction from start to finish
– Feature-rich yet simple to use
– High-end look and feel without high-end cost
Product Features and Benefits
Multiple alarms on individual faces
Customers with irregular schedules are freed from
constantly resetting the alarm
Nap timer
Taking a nap becomes as simple as setting a
timer
Alarm time and current time simultaneously
visible
Customer know exactly when alarm will sound
and can trust that the alarm is working
Wheel mechanism to set time
Customer can easily scroll backward and forward
in time
Different sounds for each alarm
Alarm variety helps customers awaken fully
Tap the cube at any time to snooze for an
additional 10 minutes. Adds up to an hour of extra
sleep with multiple taps.
Users can extend the alarm time before the alarm
goes off. Longer snoozes lead to more rest, less
annoyance.
After tapping Snooze, the new alarm time will
display on the cube face.
User is always informed of exactly when the
alarm will sound.
The battery in the cube is used as emergency
power for the whole clock.
Customer can trust that they will be woken up
even in the event of a power outage.
Customers
• College students
– 16.5 million people
– 50% 16-24 age range, 50% are age 24+
– 56% female
– Nearly half leave their home state
– Diverse backgrounds
This is a large market which is frequently moves house and is in need of
housewares, including alarm clocks. Back-to-school shopping is an 8.5 billion
dollar industry, and our product is ideally placed to appeal to college students
and their parents who are spending that money.
Industry Facts
• Size of potential market: ~2 million
incoming freshmen who live out of state
• Percent market captured: ~5%
• Trends in Growth: will follow college
growth trends
• Barriers: consumer acceptance/brand
recognition, high marketing costs
Competitive Analysis
• Highly segmented
• Low brand loyalty
• Key to success:
– Unique features
– Packaging/display placement
– Promotions
How We Stack Up
• Price - $25 – more affordable than many
specialty or novelty alarms
• Power – Wall/battery – the cube’s internal
battery is used for emergency power for the
base in the event that wall power is cut off when
the alarm is set
• Alarm – Various preset sounds – A step up from
most budget clocks
• Display – 5 LED screens
Marketing Strategy
• Target young tech-savvy customers
through ThinkGeek, BoingBoing and
internet sales
• Establish real-world presence at upscale
‘indie’ boutiques
• Advertise at colleges, sell in college
bookstores
• Target back-to school shopping ($8.5 bn)
at Target, WalMart
Projected Cash Flow
$4,000,000
$3,500,000
$3,000,000
$2,500,000
$2,000,000
Cumulative Net Revenue
$1,500,000
Revenue
$1,000,000
Costs
$500,000
$0
-$500,000
-$1,000,000
Year 1
Year 2
Year 3
Year 4
Year 5
Units Sold
120000
100000
• Year 1: Initial sales online
• Year 2: Selected roll-out (specialty retail) 80000
• Year 3: Initial commercial launch
60000
• Year 4: expansion
40000
• Year 5: expansion
20000
0
Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 Year 4 Year 5
Units Sold
Next Steps
• Proceed to design the clock for
manufacture while maintaining the
important pieces of the interaction
• Apply for foundry space and funding
• Deeper analysis of market space
• Continued prototype and user testing