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In short
‘Almost half of the cyclist between the ages of 15 till 25 do not use bike lights when cycling through the dark’. This was stated by an expert from Kragten, an organization motivating young cyclists to use bike lights. “My bike lights got stolen”, “Cycling to the nearest shop takes too much effort or they are already closed”, all common reasons for having no bike lights, which usually results in cycling home unsafely without using one. Moreover, broken bike lights are commonly thrown away in the environment, increasing plastic waste. We recognized this and felt the importance to develop a solution.
grade
collaboration
course
COACHES
Excellent
Izabela Boloz
Koen van Os
Iliya Dichev
Lara Hekma Wierda
Dave van Zon
Project 1
Interactive Lighting
Therefore, during a semester-long design project in the first year of my bachelor's in Industrial Design, we designed a bike light service which makes sure that cyclists have access to charged biking lights at the sudden moments they are most likely to realize that they are in need of one, such as at train stations and the university campus.
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Other than taking away the effort of going to your nearest shop, it also makes the use of biking lights more sustainable as the lights are rechargeable in the dispensers where you can take, and eventually, bring back your lights. To make the use of bike lights even more effortless, the lights are designed to allow you to lock them to your bike with a bike lock, preventing theft. So, let’s cycle safely!
MORE SUSTAINABLE
24-hour service
OPTIMAL ACCESSIBILITY
ANTI-THEFT DESIGN
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ReCycle Website
In order to interact with the service, ReCycle makes use of a web application. Is it your first time using the service? Simply create a personal account in seconds to make payments easier in the future, order your lights, and you are good to go! Other than using the application for payment purposes, it also contains features such as a map on which you can locate the various ReCycle dispensers. Furthermore, you can keep track of the amount of battery your ReCycle light used, how far it is to the nearest dispenser, and the number of lights available in each dispenser.
ReCycle Dispenser
To retrieve a light from the service, you take a light from one of the lit up slots located in the ReCycle dispensers. Lights are recharged when stored in the machines by green energy which partially results from the solar panel located on the top of the dispenser. In order to give more value to the dispenser and the environment in which it is placed, other than just being bike light providing service, we designed the dispenser in combination with a spot to take a rest.
ReCycle Light
Other than just providing you with light, the ReCycle light can both be used as a front and taillight due to its colour changing feature, where the light smoothly changes from white to red. On the side, there are 3 LED's indicting the battery level of the light, from which the last LED starts blinking when the battery level has dropped to a certain level, alerting you that it is time to return your light. Moreover, when using ReCycle, you will only be paying for the amount of power your light uses. In order to realize this, the battery level is analyzed when being retrieved from the machine and will be compared to the left power when returning the light. To make sure you bring the light back to the service, a small deposit is asked in advance which you will get back after returning the light.
Learning points
Throughout the project, I fulfilled various roles. By doing so, I learned the value of carefully reconsidering design choices, seeking open-minded feedback, and embracing the iterative design process. For the latter, it has become apparent that iterations utilize decision-making and daring to kill your darlings to fuel concept development. In addition, I realized the importance of minimalism and simplistic designs, focusing on core problem-solving rather than adding unnecessary features. Due to first encounters with and valuing the benefits of user involvement, I recognized the need to involve users actively in the early stages of future design
processes to align decisions with user needs and desires. Through first encounters with business strategy models near the end of the process, I experienced the value these models can serve for enhancing the concept design and communication, inspiring the employment of such models in earlier process phases in the future to guide the project development. Overall, the project provided valuable insights into effective design decision-making and the importance of user involvement and business considerations.