Industrial - Bachelors
Sleep-Q is a small, table-top appliance designed to create a systemic solution to sleep issues in the target audience via habit regulation and routine building in the hours leading up to sleep.
Sleep issues are a common issue among broad adult demographics but see little attentiveness and proactivity in the way of sustained combatting. Many issues arise in users who have tried a solution only to have it fail or to struggle to sustain efforts in maintaining good sleep. One such reason can be found in a lack of extended routines in the lead up to sleep whether due to a lack of self-control, priorities or pure distraction. This formed the basis of the following research and subsequent design solution.
The download below is my initial research report and what informed the design development going forward. The report was focused on a broader demographic prior to initial concept presentations
Ideation revolved around prioritising different portions of the identified opportunities. Ultimately, I opted for a focus on the habit regulation aspect. The above image shows a summary of the key concepts I came up with initially.
Functional and Aesthetic prototypes were made for testing the product in a real world context. Testing sizing, geometry and the cue functions allowed me to confirm the efficacy of the product’s functions.
Sleep-Q is a routine-building, habit regulation device that sits in a surface near the target user in the last 3~ hours of their day. When setup, it will countdown and every 30 minutes, alarms will go off, with the Sleep-Q indicating to a Cue that the user must adhere too. The idea is to create a consistent routine the user can adhere to in an effort to better prepare them for sleep at a desired time, creating a systemic change in the way the user deals with sleep scheduling.
In its limited, direct interactions with the user, the Sleep-Q is of adequate size for extreme-end users as seen above. The check-off system is a low actuation travel and force button that effectively acts as a touch sensor and so the product lacks interactions that could realistically strain the user in any way.
The soft-touch, HDPE comes in 3 colours and was chosen to suit the aesthetic of sleep-related device. 3 sleeve options are available in all the colourways to increase personalisation. Translucent components are frosted to diffuse harsh lights from hurting the user’s eye or becoming too distracting in its use-case. The soft-glow lamp also uses RGB LED’s to further personalisation.
The storyboard above shows the Sleep-Q in a typical use-case with the twist function setup and how the Cue and check-off interaction would typically play out.
The Sleep-Q is designed with standard parts creating the majority of the internals. Custom parts use readily-available materials, finishes and manufacturing methods. This allows for ease-of-production.
Thomas is a designer who aims to create recognisably unique designs. Using a multidisciplinary skillset, Thomas focuses on combining a background in both Industrial Design and Graphic Design to create well-rounded designs with unique angles of approach on form, function and personalisation.