Today while listening to NPR, I heard a wonderful interview with an Italian industrial designer, Giorgetto Giugiaro (I think that’s the name — although that name seems male and the interviewee was female — hmm???).  I’m trying to find a podcast or a transcript of the interview.  When I do, I will post a link to it within this entry.  Anyhow, what was great about this interview was how much the designer enjoyed her job and how much thought she put into everything she did.  She really thought about potential customers, how they act, and how what she designed would fit into their life.  The Interviewer asked her about how she would design an alarm clock and she she said it wouldn’t go “beep, beep.”   Instead she said she would do research to find out how people more naturally wake up and if she couldn’t come up with anything better than the beeping alarm clock, then she wouldn’t design anything at all because there’s enough stuff in this world.  Hahaha!!!  Thinking about the alarm clock myself, my husband leaves the blinds open at night so the sun will wake us up.  I guess that’s the natural way since the body synchronizes with day and night — I think there are some chemical responses to the sun that happen that keep you awake.  So I guess, a starting point would be to think of how to use light that is like daylight to naturally wake people up.  Maybe it’s as simple as tilting the blinds or lifting the window shades so the sun can come in at an appointed time 🙂  If it’s still night, then maybe a light that is like the sun comes on away from the bed so you have to get up to deal with it.

Here’s a link to the press release for her company.