S5 & A5
VanMoof
What I did
- Team management
- Industrial design
- Project management
- Brand identity
- Prototyping
Project
- 2 year timeline
- 8 ind. designers (Taipei)
- Red Dot Design Award
The S5 and A5 models were the culmination of our previous bike projects. We had received a lot of feedback from the SX3 bikes, and along with user studies, we concentrated on some key areas to improve. Our goals were, first, to make the bikes more inclusive (S3 was too tall in particular), find new avenues for modularity (adapting the bike to different user needs), improve parts compatibility between the bikes and to overall have a stronger base to work from for the future.
Just like the SX2 was a stepping stone for the SX3 models, we hoped that the SA5 would be our first step to creating the ultimate commuter bike. I started this project as industrial design lead along with Marjolein Deun. Halfway through the project I was appointed as the manager for the ID team in Taipei. We were a team of 8 industrial designers with different areas of expertise.
R&R
Role & responsibility
My role and responsibilities for this project consisted of; sketching, concepting, 3D modeling, prototyping, creating and maintaining ID project briefs, leading the ID team in Taipei, bridging departments in Amsterdam with Taipei, hosting monthly company wide R&D presentations, helping the ID team to align and be on track with our brand identity + vision, helping ID team communicate ideas to the mechanical team, purchasing and maintaining tools for ID/ME development (3D printers, software) and trying to bring a positive atmosphere to our office.
For these bikes, I played a role in all of the design decision making. I specifically developed the front and rear lights, the halo lights (handlebar), the frame, the front carrier and some of the electronic modules.
Work
Process
The original roadmap called for replacing the SX3 bikes completely with something that we could develop for the long term. The SX3 was not designed to scale up; the growth we had because of it was unexpected. With the SA5 concept, we focused on bringing the key brand features into full view such as the lights, handlebar displays, side view silhouette, and the integration of the chain cover.
After the SA5 project was completed, we turned our heads to the future. Marjolein Deun and I focused on creating an updated and comprehensive roadmap for VanMoof's products, we created design/brand guidelines, updated our design process and created a new mission statement to reflect our personal goals and vision.
