Narrated Morning Alarm
Design an alarm that reads a short, user-controlled morning briefing after the user wakes.
The brief
Understand the problem
Background
A spoken briefing can reduce the urge to open several apps first thing in the morning, but it should not turn a critical alarm into a long or unreliable media experience.
User context
Grace wants a weekday alarm followed by the weather, her first calendar event, and one personal reminder. She shares a room and needs control over volume and private content.
Product problem
The alarm must remain dependable while narration sources can be unavailable, stale, too long, or inappropriate to read aloud.
Objective
Design alarm setup, briefing customization, wake-up playback, and fallback states.
What to design
Define the experience
Required experience
- Set alarm time and repeat schedule
- Choose briefing modules and narration order
- Preview spoken content and privacy settings
- Snooze, stop, or skip the briefing after wake-up
Screens and states
- Alarm list
- Alarm and briefing setup
- Briefing preview
- Active alarm
- Unavailable content state
Core user flow
Follow the critical path
- 01
Grace creates a weekday alarm
- 02
She adds weather, calendar, and a custom reminder
- 03
She previews the briefing at a quiet volume
- 04
In the morning she stops the alarm and listens to the updated briefing
Product rules
Requirements and constraints
Requirements
- Keep alarm audio independent from briefing data
- Let users cap narration duration
- Warn before reading potentially private calendar details aloud
- Show when a briefing item could not refresh
Constraints
- The alarm must work offline
- Some briefing sources need separate permissions
- Briefing playback cannot delay the initial alarm
Reality check
States worth considering
Finish line
What to deliver
- Four core mobile screens and two wake-up states
Optional direction
Visual resources
Use these as a starting constraint if you want one. They are not part of the required solution.