LIVEN
Sunrise alarm clock concept (2026)
Sunrise alarm clock concept (2026)
Liven up your mornings. Liven helps you wake up refreshed, more naturally, especially during the low-light months. The concept originated from a desire to create a sunrise alarm clock that fits real interiors, rather than imagined futuristic space stations. Designed for lounging, reading, and gentler wake-ups, Liven aims to be an unassuming hero of the bedroom.
Work on Liven began in late October, when Jordan from Vizcom reached out with a proposal to contribute to Vizcom’s Hold Your Ideas campaign. I had been developing an idea for a more bedroom-friendly sunrise alarm clock and pitched it as a potential direction. Daylight saving time had just ended, marking the darkest period of the year in Finland, and we agreed the concept was a natural fit for both the collaboration and the underrepresented sunrise alarm clock category. This conversation marked the starting point of the Liven project.
The primary design driver behind Liven was to create a smart sunrise alarm clock with a distinctly Scandinavian character, in contrast to the space-age aesthetics that dominate existing products in the category. The goal was to find a balance between a smart tech product and a design object, a quiet harmony between aesthetics and technological function.
Ideation
This process started the usual way, with ideation sketching. I had an overall idea of combining a traditional dome shape with a simplistic geometrical base shape. Thinking behind this choice was to employ traditional shapes present in modern and contemporary interior objects, to set a limit for the product's complexity. The product should fit seamlessly into a bedroom, not to a high performance workspace. With this idea in mind, I produced plenty of sketches, some highlighted here.
I intentionally kept the stylizing of the sketches to a minimum, and skipped the hand rendering part, knowing that I can render, and variate the renderings in Vizcom within minutes.
Forming
Having these images as a reference, I had the overall idea of the shape. However, these images alone didn't show all the details of the surfaces in three dimensional space. I opened my CAD of choice (SolidWorks) and started experimenting and refining the shape.
Having these images as a reference, I had the overall idea of the shape. However, these images alone didn't show all the details of the surfaces in three dimensional space. I opened my CAD of choice (SolidWorks) and started experimenting and refining the shape.
REFINED MAIN FORM (SW+KS)
After this hard to document era of iterative keyboard smashing, I found a pleasing combination of form and surfacing. I 3D printed scale mockups of this version, and tweaked some dimensions to look and feel better when presented in the physical world.
After finding the main shape, it was time to flesh out the design with details. I created various cuts and grooves to make the object manufacturable. A good alarm clock also needs a speaker, and preferably electricity. In designing these details, I decided to try "sketching" the ideas with Vizcom again.
DETAILS ADDED TO EARLY HERO RENDER IN VIZCOM
I picked some of the best ideas from a vast amount of these generations, re-designed them to fit my design intents, and proceeded to modelling a polished version of the design.
DETAILED MAIN BODY PARTS ASSEMBLED
The project's final process story is currently being crafted...
I'd estimate the update to be completed and polished by the end of January. If you're burning to know more right now, please schedule a meeting and I'll tell you all the secrets (related to the project).