Customer & Market Research
CuSTOMERS & BENEFITS
Embedded Files
MEET KRYSTAL, A COMMON COMMUTER.
"It's a pain to bring around when I'm traveling from place to place, and my helmet just doesn't really fit how I need it."
Krystal is a 25 year old and is considered an urban young professional. When she's not in her graduate school classes, she's always on the go, traversing across campus to get to her part time job and commuting across the city to visit her partner who lives about 5 miles away.
To get from one place to the next, she rides her bike almost every day. And while safety is her biggest concern, she's often without a helmet.
BUT ... KRYSTAL ISN'T ALONE, MANY COMMON COMMUTERS Don'T WEAR A HELMET.
While some common commuters simply forget to sometimes bring their helmet with them, a majority have pointed to the following pain points with as reasons why wearing a helmet becomes a lesser, forgettable priority.
UNCOMFORTABLE
Helmets aren't comfortable to wear and aren't always easy to put on
BULKY
Helmets are difficult to bring around on the go, and they don't fit in bags or backpacks
INCONVENIENT
Helmets put constraints on attire and packing and aren't accessible for e-bike riders
MAINTENANCE
From keeping the helmet clean and dry to ensuring it still holds durable protection is a nuisance
Krystal feels many of these pain points during her daily commute. While she feels hesitant and concerned while riding her bike throughout the day, she also feels that the discomfort and inconvenience of carry a helmet is sometimes too much of a cost. It makes head safety an unfortunate afterthought.
SO...HOW DO WE ADDRESS THESE PAIN POINTS?
INTRODUCING BENEFITS TO OUR PROBLEM SPACE
Based on the pain points we identified, we honed in on the following benefits we wanted to ensure our solution focused on:
COMFORT
Breathable, pleasant for everyday wear, and adaptable fit
Because bike riders currently feel discomfort wearing a helmet at least x2 day for 15-30 minutes at a time.
PORTABLE
Compact, light weight, easy to pack, and not a hassle to carry
So common commuters can get from place to place without having to worry about carrying a bulky helmet.
CONVENIENT
Easily accessible, securable to either a bike or belonging
Preventing people from forgetting their helmet at home or allowing it to be available on public e-bikes.
MAINTAInABLE
Easy to clean, durable, easy to install and reinforces safety
So that people are incentivized to use it and it doesn't get in the way of their busy routines.
KEY FACTORS WE ARE CONSIDERING
Beyond these benefits, we also recognize a number of key factors we need to consider as we begin conceptualizing and designing our solutions.
User Experience
USERS: Students who have to travel from one place to another daily, people who commute with their bike day to day, city share bicycle and scooter users, and general bicycle and scooter users.
As the concept of green travel becomes more popular, micro-mobility is adopted highly across global. Especially in urban areas, the use of shared bikes and scooters is increasing every year. While reducing traffic emissions, new problems have arisen, the safety of riding the micro-mobility. In the U.S. nearly 1,000 people died from injuries caused by bicycle rashes and 550,000 persons are treated in emergency departments for injuries related to bicycle riding. Head injuries account for 62% of bicycle-related deaths, 33% of bicycle-related emergency department visits, and for 67% of bicycle-related hospital admissions (Injury-control recommendations: Bicycle Helmets). Although the rate of injuries caused by micro-mobility is increasing every year, the awareness of its safety is not. According to statistics, only 18 percent of people wear helmets when riding a bike, and wearing a helmet can reduce serious head injury by nearly 70% (2016). Solving the problem of difficult-to-use protective gear for micro-mobility users becomes urgent. Solving the problem of difficult-to-use protective gear for micro-mobility users becomes urgent.
From our survey results, it appears that most people are conscious of the safety of micro-mobility travel, but are willing to take the risk of using micro-mobility because of the difficulty of carrying and design, as well as aesthetic flaws of protective gear.
Business
We will set up a company to systematically manage our products, including marketing, production, sales and distributors sales, after-sales, etc. In the initial stage of sales, the purchasers of our products can be users. In the long run, combined with the market prospect, I think our products can become a popular trend. At that time, the buyer of our products can be any kind of people.
Social
Our helmets not only reduce the injury of non-users family members, but at the same time, our helmets will give priority to the use of sustainable materials or renewable materials. To ensure that when manufacturing helmets, the least amount of environmental energy can be used, and after the helmet is scrapped, the helmet can be disposed of in the least polluted environment.
Ecosystem/ Environment
The whole process of our products will be centered on environmental protection. The use of bicycles and electric scooters can reduce vehicle emissions and achieve zero emissions. Addressing the security concerns of people using micro-mobility is our main goal. Our helmets can address the safety concerns of people using micro-mobility and make people feel confident about micro-mobility.
Regulatory
United State: CPSC
Australia/Standards New Zealand: AS/NZS 2512.1:1996
United Kingdom: BS 6863:1987
Canada: CSA-D113. 2
European: EN1078& CEN/TC 158/ WG 4 N YY
Swedish: KOVFS 1985:6
Japanese: JIS T 8134-1982
Professional
We have a total of four members from the group with backgrounds in business, mechanical engineering, architecture, and communications; we came together for this project. We want to use the design knowledge we have learned to translate our theories into a physical product that will serve society without reservation.
Personal Value
Our value is to enable more people to choose the way they want to travel freely and safely.
Global
In the long run, we want to expand the market so that our products can have an impact on the global market and play a role in healthy competition, in order to stimulate more similar products to emerge and improve the awkward experience of using micro-mobility current protective gear with the ultimate goal of making micro-mobility available to more people safely.
Public Health and Welfare
Every $10 bike helmet saves this country $30 in direct health costs, and an additional $365 in societal costs. In fact, if 85 percent of all child bicyclists wore helmets every time they rode a bicycle for a year, the lifetime medical cost savings would total $109 to $142 million(Bicycle Helmet Key Facts).
Cultural
In developed countries, such as Europe and the US, micro-mobility is an option, but in African countries and other developing counties, micro-mobility is a form of transportation that most people can barely afford. In many developing countries, helmets are not as well defined, and most of them have one helmet for multiple uses. Our helmets will be designed to be expandable so that they can be used in a variety of cultures.
Report abuse