Designers love to travel. The more we travel the more our creative juices flow. Unhibited exposure provides insights that help us hone our skills and conceptualise unique products like Shard. 2017 is yet another year that we started with a memorable journey, and now, as we come closer to the middle of the year, this is us taking a pause to smile at what all we have done so far. Working with some of the best names in the industry, we sure are glad to be creating a roster of new and exciting clients and projects. The year began on a positive note with the announcement of a Merit Award win in the 21st International Bicycle Design Competition and an invite to present our concept, Shard– an exer-cycle that converts into a stand-alone lighting installation when not being used for workout, to an esteemed audience at the International Bicycle Innovative Design Symposium, 2017 held at Taipei, Taiwan.
The Artifact Design team received encouraging response from the audience at the Symposium that consisted of industry experts and government representatives, making the trip an inspiring and educational experience. Interactive sessions, luncheons and dinner meets with like-minded enthusiasts, designers, inventors and manufacturers, organised by the host committee provided excellent networking opportunities — not to mention how charged we feel in the company of friends from the Design and Innovation domain. The cherry on the cake was the city of Taipei itself — a city that delighted us by its love for design enveloped in a modern and organized lifestyle. The number of famous Arts and Design institutes and the annual hosting of Design Competitions and Symposiums such as the IBDC, clearly portrays the respect and passion that Taipei has for Design and its future.
We collated our trip memories at Taiwan into a clip that we’d love for you all to watch.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VUD9xxV5hzQ
The team had worked on three design concepts that focussed on a number of different consumer scenarios- one for ideal urban commute, one for kids and one for home use. While all concepts were innovative and inspiring from a product development point of view, Shard won recognitions owing to its ‘going-beyond-an-object’ functionality. The intelligent interactive abilities of Shard are a quality that we are very proud of. The design team for shard started working on 3 main directions. Anwesha Bangabash’s ideas for the exercise category evolved into the award winning entry, under the guidance of creative director — Vyasateja Rao and with the support of product designer — Rakesh Balekundri.
A unique blend of technology and premium art, Shard is a fresh take on exercising and ambient lighting bundled up in one visually stimulating experience. With keen and extensive research in Exercise Psychology, the team deduced that for a workout routine to be most acceptable, the communication needed to be non-controlling and the messages to be informative and flexible. In addition, the UI/UX had to be seamless, natural to any workout experience and integrated with the user’s sensory capabilities and control modalities. With this design inspiration in mind the team arrived at the delightful combination of Light and Colour to be the hero elements for Shard. Read more about Shard here.
