Reverse Alarm Clock

In 2007, I co-authored Reverse Alarm Clock: A Research Through Design Example of Designing for the Self, published in DPPI '07: Proceedings of the 2007 Conference on Designing Pleasurable Products and Interfaces. This work explored how product design can help people move closer to their idealized sense of self by shaping their everyday interactions. Specifically, we designed a Reverse Alarm Clock to support dual-income parents in managing bedtime routines and early-morning wake-ups with their young children.

Designing for the Self: A New Approach

Traditional product design often focuses on functional efficiency and usability, but this project took a different approach—designing for the self. We explored how products could reinforce a person’s values and aspirations, helping them perform their ideal role more effectively. In this case, the Reverse Alarm Clock was designed to support parents in fostering responsibility and independence in their children, while also helping them manage their own energy and sleep.

The Reverse Alarm Clock: A Behavioral Design Tool

The Reverse Alarm Clock was developed with four key goals in mind:

Making Time Comprehensible for Children

• Young children struggle to understand conventional clocks, leading to unpredictable wake-up times.
• Our design used a simplified color-coded display to indicate when it was okay for children to get out of bed.

Giving Parents Control in Absentia

• Parents often want to set boundaries while also encouraging autonomy in their children.
• The clock allowed parents to remotely shape their children’s sense of time without constant intervention.

Integrating into Bedtime Rituals

• Sleep routines are one of the most intimate and emotionally charged moments between parents and children.
• The Reverse Alarm Clock was designed to be part of the bedtime experience, reinforcing expectations in a gentle, reassuring way.

Reducing Parental Fatigue

• By keeping young children from waking their parents at unpredictable hours, the clock helped increase parents’ emotional reserves, making the morning routine less stressful.

Research Through Design: Process and Insights

We followed a research through design approach, combining theories from consumer behavior and interaction design with iterative prototyping and user testing. Through field studies with parents and children, we identified key behavioral patterns and refined the product to balance authority, playfulness, and routine-building.

Key takeaways from the project:

• Products can reinforce aspirational behaviors. Parents want to raise independent, responsible children, and well-designed tools can help them guide that process.
• Context matters as much as functionality. The success of the Reverse Alarm Clock wasn’t just in its ability to display time—it was in how it fit into existing bedtime and morning routines.
• Behavioral design enhances everyday life. By shaping small, repeatable interactions, products can help users move toward their ideal roles with minimal effort.

Broader Implications for Design

This project set the foundation for my continued interest in experience design, behavioral design, and human-centered innovation. The principles of designing for the self, embedding tools into daily rituals, and shaping human behavior through subtle interventions continue to influence my work in enterprise design, AI interfaces, and beyond.

By blending interaction design with behavioral psychology, we can create products that don’t just solve functional problems but also support people in becoming who they aspire to be.

See the research article here.