Brand Identity • Soft Goods • Pattern Making • Sewing
WIRED magazine is a digital and print publication catering to a young urban tech savvy audience. To cater to this audience’s desires of escaping the city for an afternoon, the team developed and modeled a picnic set. The set needed to follow WIRED’s design aesthetic, complement the magazine, and appeal to its subscribers as a potential product sold through their publication.
Insight
Stories on new technology, business, climate change, and AI, as well as advertisers like Canon, Dyson, Bose, Samsung, and GoPro, were used to inform what gear and topics WIRED’S audience value most. The fictitious Steve, 29, from Brooklyn, NY, works in tech and enjoys leaving the city on public transit to spend afternoons communing with nature in nearby parklands. Steve needs a picnic set that can be carried in a backpack, that is densely packed to minimize the overall size, and can be used regularly when Steve goes into the office without the other accessories inside. Based on the client’s needs and interests, it was determined the set should include a backpack, a vacuum flask, a blanket, and a set of food storage containers.
Customer Profile
Picnic Pain Points
Top Row (Left to Right): Erosion; Difficult to Transport; Inclement Weather; Waste Production
Bottom Row (Left to Right): Difficult to Organize; Uncomfortable Ground; Soil Pollution; Bugs
Exploration - Initial Concepts
Exploration - Refined Concepts
A range of product forms, including rounded and angular sets, were explored to determine the best balance between aesthetics and functionality. The team concluded that soft goods lent themselves to more compact storage and portability without overstating their presence on the user. Tightly packing the items in the bag added overall structure and acted as a reinforced soft good.
Exploration - Final Concepts
Solution
The Esky backpack stores all items in the set with minimal shifting and jostling. Webbing straps underneath the backpack secure the Esky blanket in a tight roll. The position of the blanket balances the overall weight without occupying volume inside the backpack, mirroring how backpackers pack for long hikes. Food is stored inside four storage containers (two modeled). A vacuum flask stands upright within the negative space formed by the containers in the middle of the pack preventing the flask from tipping inside. The backpack lends itself to day-to-day use even when not used for picnicking.
Credits: Jadus Combs, Tsuga, Helen Berry, Chloe Hyman, Matthew Hoogervorst, WIRED Magazine