CALYX

1 of 5 teammates, September 2023 - June 2024

Challenge

For young adults with thick and curly hair, finding a bicycle helmet that fits comfortably and securely is a challenge because the majority of current helmet designs fail to accommodate their unique hair type , leading to challenges in achieving a proper fit. This not only compromises their comfort but also undermines the helmet's protective capabilities. As a result, many avoid wearing helmets. altogether.

Skills

Technical: Primary and secondary research, journey mapping, Figma, testing protocol creation, rapid prototyping.

Management: Project management, conflict resolution, storytelling

Outcome

Our team is in the process of prototyping a solution; we will then apply for a provisional patent, design for manufacturing and assembly, and speak with potential manufacturers by June 2024.

Process Highlight

In order to gain a better understanding of our user needs, I co-led a user study with 25 participants all with thick and curly hair. Through a custom-designed testing plan with both qualitative and quantitive data analysis techniques, I translated these insights into user considerations and design considerations to drive brainstorming and––ultimately––the prototyping of our solution. The insights are included on the right side of the screen.

The most significant component of our tests including narrowing hair type and hair style, two of the largest determining factors in determining helmet fit. Once we reached critical mass in terms of user quantity, we were able to plot and analyze data to achieve tangible results.

Project Learnings

Working with so many talented engineerings in a year-long group project highlighted a few key learnings

About myself as a Designer:

  • Secondary research is the bedrock of innovation. Specifically, drawing inspiration from model products and biomimicry give invaluable insight to enable new design.

  • Leveraging simple tools like RAM and GANTT charts can streamline the organization process.

  • Building simple mockups, even extremely low fidelity ones, create learnings more valuable than I could have anticipated.

  • Designing for the user with the greatest challenge will implicitly result in solving the same problem for other user groups.