A bicycle helmet people want to wear

A bicycle helmet people want to wear

Hekkens, R.T.H.

Eissen, J.J. (mentor)

Industrial Design Engineering

Integrated Product Design

2012-06-08

Bicycle helmets have proven to make cycling safer. Helmets are frequently worn in sports on a racing bike, but not for daily trips in urban environment. People do not like to wear bicycle helmets, especially in Europe. They are perceived as ugly and uncomfortable. People tend to feel they look stupid wearing them, and can be safe without them. Recently, manufacturers have been developing urban or lifestyle bicycle helmets. These are bicycle helmets specifically targeted at the urban environment. They aim to be more fashionable than the sporty helmets used on racing bikes. However, the urban helmet has not yet proven very popular. In this project, a new urban helmet has been developed for people who cycle on a frequent basis in the age of 25-30 years old. The research conducted shows that this target group often finds the thought of carrying around a helmet inconvenient, and does not like the styling of the helmets currently on the market. For them, these disadvantages outweigh the plus of the extra safety which a bicycle helmet offers. Therefore, only few people wear a bicycle helmet. This project has focused on increasing the convenience of a helmet, and improving the aesthetics. The final design is a bicycle helmet with an integrated lock and integrated lights. The aesthetics have been designed according to stigma-free product design guidelines, in order to be more acceptable to the target group. The lock improves convenience, since the helmet does not need to be carried around anymore. Furthermore, it increases the security of a bicycle parked in the city. The lights improve visibility of the cyclist, and relieve him from having to wear clip-on lights. The stigma-free aesthetics liberate the helmet from its stereotypical look and integrate helmet and head better. The final prototype is perceived by users as more convenient and beautiful than helmets currently on the market. However, motivation to wear a helmet has not increased with the target group.

bicycle helmet
helmet
stigma
stigma-free

http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:d15fec5e-8ec6-4003-91db-4b0faf233788

2013-06-08

Campus only

Student theses

master thesis

(c) 2012 Hekkens, R.T.H.