Your alarm is the first thing you experience in your day – It should be pleasant, polite and seamless. When Hello came to us to rethink the way alarms should sound, we saw this as an opportunity to reinvent the conventional by creating dynamic soundscapes that are more pleasant for the end user. The end result changed the way designers think about designing auditory alerts, notifications, alarms and ringtones by addressing them in a more considerate, polite manner.

From the get go, we knew we wanted to use dynamics as a driving principle to express the seamless transition between sleep and waking moments. The idea of waking light sleepers at the beginning of an alarm with a softer touch was a new and fresh approach that had rarely been designed for alarms to this point. Each alarm takes a considerate approach to design that evolves and develops gradually in order to address the wide user base of light to heavier sleepers.

During our process we worked closely with the design and engineering team at Hello to ensure the design system was not only on brand, but also functioning properly on device. During user testing, we discovered that users appreciated the dynamic design system of alarms so much that we also created a suite of sleep tones to help people fall asleep.

The sounds we created for Sense spanned alarms, sleep tones, ui and sound logo for marketing and served as some of the most loved moments in the product – Even The Verge gave us a glowing review of our work. Unfortunately the device is no longer in production, but the design system we helped to create influenced how composers and designers think about designing more pleasant sound experiences for connected home devices the world over.