# Timely Alarm Clock demonstrates how Android design guidelines can support creative interactions

DevFeed: [Timely Alarm Clock demonstrates how Android design guidelines can support creative interactions](<https://devfeed.tech/articles/the-new-yardstick-for-the-best-android-design-is-here-timely-alarm-clock-22707.md>)

Original publisher: [Read original article](<https://medium.com/android-ui-patterns/the-new-yardstick-for-the-best-android-design-is-here-timely-alarm-clock-a67d4ebbda17?source=rss----75dfb6474397---4>)

Author: Juhani Lehtimäki

Published: 2017-09-02T19:32:10Z

Content type: opinion

Language: en

Sources: [Android UI Patterns - Medium](<https://devfeed.tech/sources/android-ui-patterns-medium.md>)

Topics: [Android](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/android.md>), [App](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/app.md>), [Google Play](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/google-play.md>)

Tags: [android](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/android.md>), [app](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/app.md>), [components](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/components.md>), [context](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/context.md>), [design](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/design.md>), [google-play](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/google-play.md>), [icons](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/icons.md>), [innovation](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/innovation.md>), [patterns](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/patterns.md>), [standard](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/standard.md>)

## AI overview

The article praises Timely Alarm Clock as an example of Android design that combines platform guidelines with creative interaction. It highlights a gesture-based method for setting alarms, contextual guidance for discoverability, and the use of standard components and icons where appropriate.

## Source excerpt

Tasks app is something I've been using as an example of great and simple Android app in many occasions. It's one of the apps that took the new Android design and implemented it in it very basic and in the simplest form possible. I've used it as an example what to do when you don't have access to a lot of design resources. Now, the same team has released their next app. And it is beautiful! Before reading further get the app from Google Play for free. There's so many things in the app that can't be shown in screenshots. Many seemed to think that following design guidelines somehow limits creativity or makes all apps look the same. That's absolutely not true and Timely Alarm Clock app is the best example of this ever released. The Timely Alarm Clock app follows the Android design guidelines on every screen. Any Android user feels home in the app from the initial launch but it is beautiful. It most certainly doesn't look the same as other apps. Another misconception about the design guidelines is that if you follow them you're bound to using only the standard components provided by the platform. That's not true either. The Timely Alarm Clock app team has created a new and novel way to set the alarm time. On the app's main screen user can pull from the left-hand-side time bar to create a new alarm. This is not done in any app in the Google Play (as far as I know). It's a new idea and it works. There's absolutely nothing wrong in creating this kind of new interaction. There's, however, an issue when it comes to new thing. Discoverability. If you do things that are common on the platform you can trust that users know how to use them but when you're creating something completely new you have to guide users a bit more. The app team does this perfectly as well. I've seen apps that try to explain how their app works by using popups. Never do that! Guide in context instead. Do what this app team has done. The available actions are explained in context and user is not blocked b