Bird-Inspired Speaker Wakes You up to the Sounds of nature in your Urban Homes

Doesn’t your jarring smartphone alarm annoy you every morning? Don’t you just want to throw your phone away and wish we were on some vacation in some peaceful cottage? We always crave some hint of nature and serenity in our urban lives. Imagine waking up to the soothing sounds of birds singing, creating a serene and refreshing atmosphere that instantly lifts your spirits. Whistle, a revolutionary speaker, aims to turn your mornings into a delightful experience by replacing mundane smartphone alarms with the sweet serenade of nature.

Designer: Eunsu Lee

The inspiration for Whistle came from a personal experience of the designer, during a trip to Singapore. While staying at a hotel, he had the pleasure of waking up to the gentle melody of birdsong. This unique encounter left a lasting impression, as it offered a refreshing and invigorating start to the day. It was this memory that led to the creation of Whistle, a product designed to bring the joy of waking up to the sound of birds singing to everyone’s mornings.

The conventional smartphone alarms we rely on often shock us awake or force us to engage in a battle of snoozes, making it difficult to start the day on a positive note. Amidst all the preexisting stress for the upcoming day, we surely don’t want our very own smartphones to add to it. In contrast, the sounds of nature, particularly birdsong, have been proven to have a calming effect and alleviate stress-related anxiety, OCD symptoms, and depression. Whistle aims to harness the power of nature sounds to provide a more peaceful and pleasant morning wake-up experience.

Whistle offers a range of four product lineups, each designed to create a harmonious mood while considering user experience and various usage scenarios. The flagship product is the Whistle Speaker, a smart device with a detachable battery. Its versatility allows it to be easily attached to other products in the lineup, such as the Branch LED light, enhancing convenience and functionality.

Whistle speaker & battery

Setting alarms with the Whistle speaker’s application is a breeze. The intuitive user interface allows you to select your desired bird sound, ensuring a customized and enjoyable wake-up experience. The beak-shaped silicone button, known as the Action button, enables seamless operation for functions like pairing, power on/off, and play/pause. The hidden LED inside the fabric filter provides intuitive feedback on the speaker’s current function.

Equipped with three built-in speakers, the Whistle speaker delivers a rich stereo sound experience. The speaker’s back features touch buttons for volume control and a pairing reset button. To ensure portability and extended usage, the bottom battery pack securely attaches to the speaker with magnets, transforming the unit into a wireless Bluetooth speaker. It can be conveniently charged via USB-C cable or wirelessly on the bottom of the battery pack.

The design of the Whistle products draws inspiration from the vibrant and natural colors of birds. The minimalistic white packaging incorporates color stickers for indications, reducing waste and promoting environmental consciousness.

Whistle Nest

In addition to the Whistle speaker, the product line includes Whistle_Nest, a wireless charging pad resembling a bird’s nest. It allows for easy charging of the battery pack and features a hidden LED indicator that fills the space with an EGG icon when charging is complete. The Nest has a vent hole with a patterned bottom to prevent overheating and includes rubber pads to ensure stability and prevent slipping.

Whistle Branch

Another member of the Whistle family is Whistle_Branch, an LED lighting fixture designed with a bird perched on a tree branch as its motif. The Branch lighting can function independently or be paired with the speaker, creating a synergistic effect. This versatile product is suitable for both indoor and outdoor use, bringing a touch of nature-inspired ambiance to any space.

The Branch lighting features an electrode on the top, allowing it to connect and dock with the speaker. Users can easily control the lighting through the application. Manual control of the on/off and brightness is also possible using the dot located on top of the light. The stand base doubles as a tray, showcasing the cute logo, and the power supply is via a Type-C connection.

The Branch can be used as a standalone lighting fixture without the stand, making it ideal for various settings. The components of Branch include the main LED, a stand base, two stand poles, and a camping stand pack pole, ensuring flexibility for different scenarios.

Whether you use Whistle in your bedroom or take it on outdoor adventures, it seamlessly integrates into your daily routine. Combined with the Branch lighting, it creates an inviting ambiance for your home or serves as a perfect companion on camping trips. The versatility of Whistle enhances your picnic experience, allowing you to enjoy a relaxing and fun time with minimal baggage.

Whistle has reimagined the morning wake-up experience by incorporating the soothing sounds of nature allowing you to start your day feeling refreshed and uplifted. Embrace the joyful serenade of birdsong and make every morning a delightful experience with Whistle, your faithful morning mate. However, the core idea of replacing it with smartphone alarms cannot be a selling point as the sounds can always be downloaded on any smartphone without an extra expense. Having said that, the visual appeal and thought would surely attract the majority of the population.

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Just like clapperboards, this multifunctional alarm clock is designed to keep us on top of our daily agenda

Slate is a multifunctional alarm clock that hosts an organizational system for users to keep track of their daily agendas.

Getting out of bed is personal business. Morning rituals vary from person to person and set the tone for the rest of the day. We wouldn’t be anywhere without alarm clocks, but as soon as they wake us up, we don’t have any need for them.

Designer: Hyunbin Yang

One product designer, Hyunbin Yang, saw the potential for alarm clocks to take us through the day with the same productive energy they have when waking us up. Slate, an alarm clock dressed as a clapperboard, functions as a conventional alarm clock would and hosts a series of organizational systems to keep us on top of our daily agenda.

Designing Slate, Yang hoped to provide a visual for time itself. A digital time display is located at the top of Slate right beside slightly smaller displays that host the alarm function and date. Just below the digital time display, users will find a steel plate with features like a notepad and magnetized corkboard. When Slate’s alarm clock wakes users up, they can look to the steel plate to keep track of their day. Along the side of the Slate, users can find dial adjustments that can set the time, date, and alarms.

Clapperboards are those black and white rectangles used on film sets that audiences usually don’t see until the blooper reel. Mostly used for syncing audio with visuals, clapperboards are essential for filmmakers during the editing process. Keeping everything in time and check, it’s no wonder the clapperboard inspired Yang to design Slate.

As Yang says, “When the starting slate comes down, the actors act and shoot with a serious look…When the ending slate is down, they turn back to who they are. Likewise, Slate is designed with the intention of being an actor and actor in his world faithfully doing and completing one’s goal.”

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This grenade-shaped compact lamp + versatile alarm is an EDC for every backpack

At first look, this accessory would not give off the right vibe, but it has multiple utilities that are well tailored for varied situations. Dubbed Grenade this is your alarm clock, outdoor lamp for camping, and even your productivity-enhancing gadget.

In the current turbulent global situation, words like grenade don’t send the right signal to the readers. But this concept has much more to it than just the explosive name. It’s an everyday carry for your backpack that’ll come in handy anytime during the daily routine or on extended hiking trips or camping escapades. Of course, you can use it for more situations too as they come up.

Designer: Wonjun Jo

Alright, coming straight on to the Grenade outdoor lamp designed for Claymore by Wonjun Jo – it is a small package with big features. The timer on the gadget can be used for setting morning alarms, scheduling tasks, setting up goals, or simply setting up countdown timers for cooking food. The alarm function is quite unique as you go on turning the middle section of the grenade to set the timer limit. The chick accessory can be hung onto wires or any tether to provide ambient lighting inside the tent, outdoor space, or even for your work-from-home desk setup.

Wonjun doesn’t stop at just designing the main product but also gives it a very attractive casing in stainless steel finish to carry along safely. He believes the package is reminiscent of a flower pot with a cactus growing inside. That analogy is a bit hard to comprehend, but then I’ll not be judgemental since that’s the beauty of creativity.

Grenade is designed in a way to hang by the pin which is a cool visual element to keep buyers interested. The form factor is the main selling point here, and I wish this concept design turns into a real product to carry around in my backpack – that’s going to be so bragging-worthy.

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Sleep better with these product designs to get a productivity filled morning!

Working from home has disrupted the precarious balance of our routines in ways we could not have thought of before. Whether we realize it or not, we all have a ritual that sets us up for the day – may it be traveling to work, reading the paper or browsing news on your favorite app, all these little rituals have gone for a toss with us jumping out of bed to the screen every morning. And our nights suffer too – without an out time from the office, days just merge into the night and we truly don’t know where the day has gone, frustrating, isn’t it?! The impact of all these disruptions is felt at night when we try to sleep. We are here to help you create the perfect environment for a great, peaceful, and relaxed sleep. Each product showcased in this collection takes care of your sleeping needs to ensure you start your new day recharged and ready to face whatever comes your way!

An unlikely area of intervention for an automotive company, Ford’s now designing self-adjusting beds! Designed as a part of the Ford Interventions series, which uses automotive technology to remedy everyday problems, this is the Lane-Keeping Bed. As its name suggests, it prevents bed-space-hoggers from occupying more than half of the bed’s space. We move around a lot when we sleep (some more than others). This often results in inequality when it comes to bed-sharing. That’s where Ford’s quirky Lane-Keeping Bed helps bring back the balance. It uses Ford’s Lane-Keeping Aid technology, which monitors road markings to help guide the driver back into the appropriate lane, and a conveyor-mounted mattress that can roll/shift to always make sure your partner (or you) occupies the correct amount of bed-space.

The secret to a good night’s sleep also depends on how you finish that sleep marathon, aka the morning ritual. The Bariseur by designer Joshua Renouf is a pretty neat alarm clock that doesn’t jolt you awake with the radio or the annoying/disorienting buzzing noise. It brews you your favorite brew and wakes you up with a soothing alarm noise and a fresh beautiful wafting aroma! The Bariseur comes in a strangely comforting retro chemistry-set avatar that rests on your bedside table. Its carefully calibrated design ensures that your brew every morning is set to perfection because of the difference between a good and great day us usually in the taste of your first cup!

The napEazy was designed by Arvind Kumaran, Pradipta Sahoo, Soham Patel and Shanavas MS to be the one go-to pillow you could use when you’re away from your own bed. Whether at work for those quick power naps, or during your long commute, or even while traveling, the napEazy’s all-in-one nature makes it, well, as the name suggests… easy to nap. The concept was incubated at Airbus Bizlab, before evolving into its own independent company. The napEazy’s two-part design uses a dual-layer memory foam that’s just the right amount of soft while also being water-repellent and hypo-allergenic. A travel-case-inspired telescopic rod allows the napEazy to split into two, turning it into a prop-up pillow you can use to help you sleep forward or sideways while sitting, keeping your spine straight to avoid aches or posture-related problems.

Equipped with a built-in 4K projector that can be synced with a series of devices to binge-watch movies/TV shows on a 70-inch retractable screen, the HiBed by  Fabio Vinella (for Hi-interiors) is the epitome of in-bed relaxation. A built-in surround sound system with invisible speakers makes the bed feel more like a movie theatre. The bed is connected to an app and monitors our sleep pattern and movements, adjusting the temperature according to our comfort. It also records body weight, air quality, and noise level to provide a foolproof check on our health. Some good news for the late risers, the HiBed comes with an inbuilt smart alarm system that wakes us up with loud recitations of the weather and daily news.

During the day, the Circular Ring by Amaury Kausman captures your activity, blood oxygen levels, energy levels, calorie burn count, among other metrics, while at night, the ring ambiently tracks your circadian rhythm and records your sleep quality, heart-rate variability, sleep disturbances, REM cycles, and sleep and wake times. Using pretty state-of-the-art data processing and machine-learning technology, the ring, its app, and the app’s assistant Kira help you collectively better understand your health and give you bespoke advice on how to improve it. Additionally, the app even has its own smart-alarm function that calculates the best time to wake you based on your sleep cycles, so you’re well-rested and energetic throughout the rest of your day. The ring uses subtle vibration pulses to coax you out of your sleep.

Nikola Tesla, Leonardo da Vinci, Salvador Dali, Thomas Edison, Napoleon Bonaparte, and Buckminster Fuller. Do you know what all these geniuses had in common? They all mastered the art of productivity by hacking their sleep cycles to the fullest extent. Every single person has a different sleep requirement. Sleep assistants can be an app, or a wearable, but nothing is quite as effective as a smart headband. Designed for the explicit purpose of giving you precise control over your sleep, the Neuroon Open by Kamil Adamczyk is an open-source headband that can be used for effective sleeping, smart waking, deep meditation, polyphasic sleep, and lucid dreaming. The wearable comes in two parts, an EEG (electroencephalogram) that measures brain-waves, and an eye-mask that has LEDs within it, to help you wake up, or to trigger a lucid dream.

Imagine a place where everything is designed to help you fall asleep…Caspers’ Dreamery is designed by New York-based architecture firm HWKN, and is situated in the heart of New York’s most hectic neighborhood; SoHo. The Dreamery offers a tranquil escape through a 45-minute nap session in a private suite outfitted with their trademark mattress, pillows, and sheets (that are changed every session).

Nothing is more annoying that missing out on quality sleep because you left the drapes open last night. Designed to universally retrofit onto most curtain rods, Wonder Tech Lab’s SwitchBot comes with two hooks that hold it in place and a wheel that moves the bot left or right. Place the SwitchBot between the first and second loops of your curtain or blind, and the bot can now, on command, run up and down the curtain rod, maneuvering your curtains open or closed. SwitchBot runs on an app, but even supports voice commands via your phone or smart speaker, effectively allowing you to have your own “Let there be light” moment by commanding the curtains to open at will. IFTTT and shortcuts support even lets you sync SwitchBot with your alarm, or with the time of the day, thanks to the bot’s in-built light sensor.

Sidekicks, developed by Bandi during his MA at the Royal College of London, is a series of electronic devices and appliances that literally use your phone as their on/off switch. Designed as a desk lamp for working, a speaker for leisure time, an alarm clock for the end of the day and a projector for watching a movie, Sidekicks literally need you to dock your phone in them to work. Place your phone in the designated area and your gadget powers to life, allowing you to use it. The phone’s screen turns into the product’s interface, allowing you to control it, while limiting your use. By confiscating your phone in order to work, Sidekicks offer a much more ‘cold turkey’ solution to our smartphone addiction problems, punishing us at first, but eventually allowing us to consciously live in the moment

Still unhappy about having to wake up? Now you can channel your inner Thor superhero every morning with the Hammer alarm clock! That’s actually not far off from what the inspiration was for this clever clock. Designer Jorge Ros Gisbert wanted to create a way for people to wake up feeling strong and motivated each day instead of feeling defeated and irritating by annoying smartphone alarms. Your face is already buried in your smartphone enough as it is, but at least now interacting with your phone doesn’t have to be the FIRST thing you do each day. Instead, you must grab the hammer and slam it down on the rubberized base to shut off the alarm.

Falling asleep is asking your mind to let go of the thoughts plaguing it and to rest. Granted not all of us fall asleep with ease, but logic dictates conditioning your mind to sleep is better than to fall asleep with your phone throwing an onslaught of images at you while you drool on your pillow. So tonight, take some time to relax and soothe yourself in falling asleep for a better tomorrow!

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