Recently our class had whats called Guru's Day - a day where experts from a range of different industries come to give us their opinions on our products & research so far and any other thoughts they might have. For some people, this day proved positive, with Gurus loving their ideas and their research. For others, this day ended up being a bit of a downer - experts not understanding their plan at all, basically saying that all the work you'd carried out over the last nine weeks was fairly pointless. Luckily, I found it to be on the positive side. All 4 of the experts I spoke to had some experience on a motorbike, ranging from being a passenger once through to actually custom building their own as a hobby. This turned out to be a happy coincidence, but meant that I could get about as wide a range of opinions as I possibly could. I spoke to a Product Designer who designed pizza ovens, a UX designer, a neurosurgeon and a fashion designer. Despite the full range of expertise from what I would have initially thought of as completely unrelatable fields, each Guru gave incredibly valid feedback.
As I mentioned earlier, each had some sort of experience on a motorbike, but their feedback went much deeper than this. For those who had only been a passenger on a bike - my 'Blind Spot Detection' kit idea would reassure them if they were to take up biking themselves. For those who used to have a licence but gave it up to various reasons (partners not liking bikes, young child etc.) they said that my idea would be a big part on whether they got back on a bike or not. For the Guru who custom-built bikes as a hobby (the fashion designer), he said that he and his friends would love something like this - but that feedback didn't come without a catch. He mentioned how he wasn't a great fan of accessories for motorbikes. He, and other bikers that I've spoken to, have all said how they like the raw feeling of biking without technology ruining it all. Like cars have evolved over the last 100 years, biking is starting to do the same. Some technological additions are great, but some begin to diminish the fun and freedom associated with biking. Taking it to two extremes with cars, you have the Ford Model T from 1908 with literally no technology on board, not even power steering, and a Tesla which has enough technology where you have to do nothing. THE CAR DRIVES ITSELF?! Now whether or not that's a good thing is a different argument for a different day, but when put in terms of biking, it seems that technology being added to the ride is generally a bad thing.
He did mention, however, if I could adapt this kit idea for a helmet, that might be enough to change bikers minds on the technology. Bikers love their helmets, with some people splashing out the big bucks to get the one they want, and a kit that takes your helmet to the next level could be pretty appealing in some peoples eyes. For him and his friends, designing the equipment for a biking helmet rather than the bike would be the way forward, and he said if it were done right, it would definitely be a kit that he would buy for himself. So positive feedback overall - just need to adapt my idea, so it fits in with the research.
I'm planning on speaking to other bikers about this approach to my Blind Spot kit to see if they have the same concerns surrounding the design.
That's it for today's blog! If you want to keep up with the blogs please do subscribe and if you wish to contact me regarding anything, please do that here.
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Cover Photo Image:
Angela_Yuriko_Smith. (2017) God Grandparents Wise. Available at: https://pixabay.com/photos/god-grandparents-wise-wizard-2828951/ (Accessed:7/12/2019).
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