Product Design
SlumberShip
SlumberShip is an award winning interactive bedtime product for young children designed to help them build a consistent, calming nighttime routine.
Year :
2023
Industry :
Early Childhood / Behavioural Design
Client :
Postgraduate
Project Duration :
3 weeks
Problem :
Bedtime is often a stressful and inconsistent part of the day for young children and their parents. Many existing solutions rely on screens or overstimulating interactions, which can make it harder for children to wind down.
Through research with parents and co-creation sessions with children, it became clear that two key issues were contributing to this:
Lack of a clear, repeatable bedtime routine
Overstimulation from existing bedtime products
This highlighted an opportunity to design a calmer, more structured approach to bedtime.
Research :
Research focused on understanding bedtime behaviours from both the child and parent perspective.
This included:
Interviews with parents to explore real bedtime challenges and routines
Co-creation workshops with children to understand how they engage with routines through play
Analysis of existing bedtime and sleep-support products
Key insights included:
Children respond more effectively to physical interaction than verbal instruction
Parents prioritise consistency and predictability over novelty or entertainment
Overstimulating products can delay rather than support sleep readiness
These findings informed a design approach centred on simplicity, repetition, and calm interaction.
Solution :
SlumberShip is an interactive night light that transforms bedtime into a structured, engaging routine.
The product includes five physical balls, each representing a step in the bedtime routine. As each task is completed, the child places a ball into the device, triggering a soft light response.
Once all five steps are completed, SlumberShip transitions into a calming night light mode, signalling the end of the routine and supporting sleep readiness.
This interaction encourages independence while helping children understand and complete their bedtime routine in a clear, repeatable way.
Challenge :
A key challenge was balancing interactivity with calmness.
There was initial pressure to increase features to make the product more engaging. However, research showed that additional complexity risked overstimulating children and undermining the intended bedtime experience.
This required careful decision-making to prioritise:
Simplicity over feature complexity
Calm interaction over entertainment
Routine reinforcement over novelty
Prototyping and testing helped validate that a minimal interaction model was more effective in supporting the desired behavioural outcome.
Constraints :
This project was developed over a 3-week timeframe within a collaborative design context.
Additional constraints included:
Need for rapid ideation and prototyping
Physical manufacturing limitations for early-stage models
Balancing conceptual development with functional prototyping (Arduino-based interaction system)
These constraints influenced the decision to focus on a single, clear interaction rather than a more complex feature set.
Outcome :
SlumberShip was awarded Winner in both Product Design and Collaboration Design at the 2023 IDI Graduate Awards.
In testing and evaluation:
Children were able to independently complete the bedtime routine using the interaction system
Parents reported improved clarity and structure in bedtime routines
The product successfully supported a calmer transition from activity to sleep
The project demonstrated how simple, physical interaction design can positively influence behaviour and improve everyday routines for both children and parents.
More Projects
Award Winner
Read
Product Design
SlumberShip
SlumberShip is an award winning interactive bedtime product for young children designed to help them build a consistent, calming nighttime routine.
Year :
2023
Industry :
Early Childhood / Behavioural Design
Client :
Postgraduate
Project Duration :
3 weeks
Problem :
Bedtime is often a stressful and inconsistent part of the day for young children and their parents. Many existing solutions rely on screens or overstimulating interactions, which can make it harder for children to wind down.
Through research with parents and co-creation sessions with children, it became clear that two key issues were contributing to this:
Lack of a clear, repeatable bedtime routine
Overstimulation from existing bedtime products
This highlighted an opportunity to design a calmer, more structured approach to bedtime.
Research :
Research focused on understanding bedtime behaviours from both the child and parent perspective.
This included:
Interviews with parents to explore real bedtime challenges and routines
Co-creation workshops with children to understand how they engage with routines through play
Analysis of existing bedtime and sleep-support products
Key insights included:
Children respond more effectively to physical interaction than verbal instruction
Parents prioritise consistency and predictability over novelty or entertainment
Overstimulating products can delay rather than support sleep readiness
These findings informed a design approach centred on simplicity, repetition, and calm interaction.
Solution :
SlumberShip is an interactive night light that transforms bedtime into a structured, engaging routine.
The product includes five physical balls, each representing a step in the bedtime routine. As each task is completed, the child places a ball into the device, triggering a soft light response.
Once all five steps are completed, SlumberShip transitions into a calming night light mode, signalling the end of the routine and supporting sleep readiness.
This interaction encourages independence while helping children understand and complete their bedtime routine in a clear, repeatable way.
Challenge :
A key challenge was balancing interactivity with calmness.
There was initial pressure to increase features to make the product more engaging. However, research showed that additional complexity risked overstimulating children and undermining the intended bedtime experience.
This required careful decision-making to prioritise:
Simplicity over feature complexity
Calm interaction over entertainment
Routine reinforcement over novelty
Prototyping and testing helped validate that a minimal interaction model was more effective in supporting the desired behavioural outcome.
Constraints :
This project was developed over a 3-week timeframe within a collaborative design context.
Additional constraints included:
Need for rapid ideation and prototyping
Physical manufacturing limitations for early-stage models
Balancing conceptual development with functional prototyping (Arduino-based interaction system)
These constraints influenced the decision to focus on a single, clear interaction rather than a more complex feature set.
Outcome :
SlumberShip was awarded Winner in both Product Design and Collaboration Design at the 2023 IDI Graduate Awards.
In testing and evaluation:
Children were able to independently complete the bedtime routine using the interaction system
Parents reported improved clarity and structure in bedtime routines
The product successfully supported a calmer transition from activity to sleep
The project demonstrated how simple, physical interaction design can positively influence behaviour and improve everyday routines for both children and parents.
More Projects
Award Winner
Read
Product Design
SlumberShip
SlumberShip is an award winning interactive bedtime product for young children designed to help them build a consistent, calming nighttime routine.
Year :
2023
Industry :
Early Childhood / Behavioural Design
Client :
Postgraduate
Project Duration :
3 weeks
Problem :
Bedtime is often a stressful and inconsistent part of the day for young children and their parents. Many existing solutions rely on screens or overstimulating interactions, which can make it harder for children to wind down.
Through research with parents and co-creation sessions with children, it became clear that two key issues were contributing to this:
Lack of a clear, repeatable bedtime routine
Overstimulation from existing bedtime products
This highlighted an opportunity to design a calmer, more structured approach to bedtime.
Research :
Research focused on understanding bedtime behaviours from both the child and parent perspective.
This included:
Interviews with parents to explore real bedtime challenges and routines
Co-creation workshops with children to understand how they engage with routines through play
Analysis of existing bedtime and sleep-support products
Key insights included:
Children respond more effectively to physical interaction than verbal instruction
Parents prioritise consistency and predictability over novelty or entertainment
Overstimulating products can delay rather than support sleep readiness
These findings informed a design approach centred on simplicity, repetition, and calm interaction.
Solution :
SlumberShip is an interactive night light that transforms bedtime into a structured, engaging routine.
The product includes five physical balls, each representing a step in the bedtime routine. As each task is completed, the child places a ball into the device, triggering a soft light response.
Once all five steps are completed, SlumberShip transitions into a calming night light mode, signalling the end of the routine and supporting sleep readiness.
This interaction encourages independence while helping children understand and complete their bedtime routine in a clear, repeatable way.
Challenge :
A key challenge was balancing interactivity with calmness.
There was initial pressure to increase features to make the product more engaging. However, research showed that additional complexity risked overstimulating children and undermining the intended bedtime experience.
This required careful decision-making to prioritise:
Simplicity over feature complexity
Calm interaction over entertainment
Routine reinforcement over novelty
Prototyping and testing helped validate that a minimal interaction model was more effective in supporting the desired behavioural outcome.
Constraints :
This project was developed over a 3-week timeframe within a collaborative design context.
Additional constraints included:
Need for rapid ideation and prototyping
Physical manufacturing limitations for early-stage models
Balancing conceptual development with functional prototyping (Arduino-based interaction system)
These constraints influenced the decision to focus on a single, clear interaction rather than a more complex feature set.
Outcome :
SlumberShip was awarded Winner in both Product Design and Collaboration Design at the 2023 IDI Graduate Awards.
In testing and evaluation:
Children were able to independently complete the bedtime routine using the interaction system
Parents reported improved clarity and structure in bedtime routines
The product successfully supported a calmer transition from activity to sleep
The project demonstrated how simple, physical interaction design can positively influence behaviour and improve everyday routines for both children and parents.
More Projects
Award Winner
Read