Is Bike Riding "Research"?

In previous blog entries I have focussed on the historical research I have undertaken into bike culture and design.

As an introduction to some product testing I will shortly undertake, I thought I’d set out a basic introduction to the notion of “experiential learning”, and put forward some research strategies to empower the designer.

Is riding a bike research? What about paddling a kayak? Or experiencing a new café or bar interior? Or is research something we do in a library on the internet, or out in the street collecting data with questionnaires and surveys? And do designers need to research anyway? The answer to all of these questions is “yes”. Research underpins everything we do in our practice as designers.

Put simply, we research so that that we can design better.

We research empirically by physically exploring design objects and interior spaces. We conduct product evaluations, “reverse engineering” and dismantling products to learn how they were manufactured. We conduct SWOT and PESTE analyses to measure the merit of a design. We take inspiration from films and popular culture and learn from the examples of those who have designed before us. We allow the history of design to inform our design decisions. Wonderful interior spaces, colours and textures are noted and discussed. Even the smells and sounds of the design are explored - we can be guided by all of our senses. We document our world with camera, with video, with our eyes open for new opportunities.

As a part of our design strategy we ask a number of questions. Has our intended design idea been attempted before? We don’t waste time “reinventing the wheel”. We ask ourselves - in what way is our imagined design outcome different than others on the market? Who owns it? – we do a patent search to see whether someone already owns an idea we’d like to explore. What material is it to be constructed from and what size should it be? – there might be an Australian Standard or Building Code governing these physical considerations. What is the potential market for our space or product? – we do an Australian Bureau of Statistics search to access population figures.

We read the current literature in our field, beginning with “primary” information. Site visits are made visiting new housing developments and company showrooms and factories to collect brochures. Sometimes it is necessary to collect evidence from consumers who are currently using a similar product to the one we are attempting to design. We seek ethics clearance within our University allowing us to conduct a survey with consumers and we incorporate their feedback into our design. We consider the needs of our imagined users. Designers are service providers and the needs of the client and the user and the environment are our responsibility. We ask other questions. What “secondary” information academic writings already exist on the subject? Books and journal articles keep us abreast of the latest scholarly debates. This list of research strategies is just a beginning.

Design is a cross-disciplinary activity and it is often necessary to engage with information from Business, Science, Engineering, Psychology and other fields of human endeavour

Then we take a pencil and draw a line and continue to “think” on the sketch book page. Remember - research underpins all design activity.

Velomania

I recently attended a stunning exhibition tracing the evolution of the
bicycle.
Here is the exhibition description from their website:

Velomania ! Centuries of Cycling was held at Vapriikki in Tampere Finland.
Museum Centre Vapriikki is housed in what used to be the engineering works of Tampella Ltd. In addition to exhibition spaces, Vapriikki provides facilities for collections, preservation, photo archives, a reference library, an auditorium, education of school children as well as space for research and offices.

The Velomania! exhibition takes us on a fascinating journey through the history of cycling, from the first attempts to the modern day. Cycling is seen as part of people’s everyday lives. On this journey, visitors will learn about the first cycling pioneers on their high-wheeled bicycles, as well as ordinary factory workers and country boys and girls riding their bikes to dance pavilions. The exhibition also displays the cycling activism that emerged in the 1960s, cycle racing, and the bicycle as a means of transport used by postmen and cycle couriers in their work.

Famous cycles and cyclists
The bicycles on display in the Velomania! exhibition come from Vapriikki’s own collections, Finnish cycling aficionados, and leading international museums. The more than 90 bicycles on show cover the whole range of bicycles in existence, from the first ‘running machines’
– the draisiennes and hobby horses – to modern racing cycles.
Many special models are displayed also: three-wheeled models from the 19th century, low recumbents, tandems, and even the giant bike of tallest man in Finland Väinö Myllyrinne. The bikes owned by the well-known cultural figures I. K Inha and Samuli Paulaharju at the beginning of the 20th century are also on show. More recent samples include singer Siiri Nordin’s tuned-up chopper and the YleX presenter Mikko ‘Peltsi’ Peltola’s children’s bike on which he learnt to ride.


At Vapriikki 1 April 2007–24 February 2008
Admission 5/1 €, groups (over 10 people) 4 €
Museum Centre Vapriikki
Opening hours
Tue, Thu-Sun 10-18, Wed 11-20, Mon closed.
Exceptional opening hours:
5.12. open 10-16
Closed 6.12. and 23.-26.12.2007

Australian bike enthusiasts in Europe, Summer 2007

Simon in Velomobile belonging to Markku Lahtinen, Chairman, Finnish veteran cycle association Vanhat Velotry.

Photo by Markku Lahtinen

In the European Summer of 2007, while Mc Ewan, O’Grady and Evans were successfully adding to Australia’s bicycling success, several other Australians were also in Europe contributing to another aspect of our sport - it’s history.

The 18th annual International Cycling History Conference held in Tampere, Finland, saw several Australian attendees with three of these giving papers. In fact, the Australian representation was fourth only after the host nation, Germany and the UK. Like our sportspeople, it seems Australian historians, too, are overachieving against bigger nations!

The International Cycling History Conference is an annual event and has previously been held in several European countries, South Africa, the USA and Canada, Britain and Japan and was held in Australia at the Canberra Bicycle Museum and Resource Centre in 2003. In Finland this year, experts from 10 nations from three continents gathered together for four days of discussion.

This year’s conference was organized by the Finnish veteran cycle association Vanhat Velot ry by Chairman Markku Lahtinen and co-ordinated by Mikko Kyllianen. Topics discussed ranged from Inventions and manufacturing, bicycle touring, bicycle organisations, racing and competition, and social research into types of bike users.

The three Australian presenters were as follows.

Annemarie Driver from The Canberra Bicycle Museum and Resource Centre, gave a paper entitled “Early cycle tourers in Australia”. At the conclusion of the conference she and her husband left after to cycle to Russia.

Melbourne based bicycle collector Paul Farren spoke of Bicycle manufacture in the Australian Colonies during the 1880’s and early 1890’s. The focus of his paper was to show that Australia has always loved new technology and especially in gold-rush enriched Victoria, ‘keeping up’ with what was happening in British cycling circles was considered important and possible. Before 1882 all cycles were imported, however a small number of manufacturers began producing high class machines in Victoria and South Australia from then onwards although probably no more than two per cent of machines were constructed in Australia during the period 1880 to 1890.

Charlie Farren also attended the conference having previously led a group of Australian cyclists in the footsteps of the Tour de France marvelling daily at the feats of strength and stamina by the Tour riders.

Simon Jackson, design historian at the Faculty of Design, Swinburne University of Technology considered the role of sport and bikes in particular in the construction of Australian national identity in a paper entitled Boxing Kangaroos on Wheels – Australian Design, sports technology and national identity.

Velomania ! Centuries of cycling
The conference coincided with a bicycle exhibition, a co-operation of Museum Centre Vapriikki and Vanhat Velot ry. The Velomania! Exhibition presented a fascinating journey through the history of cycling, from the first attempts to the modern day. Visitors learned about the first cycling pioneers on their highwheeled bicycles, as well as ordinary factory workers and country boys and girls riding their bikes to dance pavilions. The bicycle has provided new opportunities for moving from one place to another. It has been used for shopping trips, courting, and transportation in times of war. The exhibition also displayed the cycling activism that emerged in the 1960’s, cycle racing, and the bicycle as a means of transport used by postmen and cycle couriers in their work. The bicycles on display in the Velomania! exhibition came from Vapriikki’s own collections, Finnish cycling aficionados, and leading international museums.

The more than 90 bicycles on show covered the whole range of bicycles in existence, from the first ‘running machines’ – the draisiennes and hobby-horses – to modern racing cycles. Many special models are displayed also: three-wheeled models from the 19th century, low recumbents, tandems, and even the giant bike of tallest man in Finland.

Cycling in Tampere
The City of Tampere in Finland was an appropriate venue for a bike conference with a long history of involvement with the sport. The first bicycles were seen in Tampere in 1869. In the beginning of the 20th century, there were already several bicycle tradesmen in Tampere manufacturing their own makes from foreign and domestic components. During the 1930’s, Tampere became the other centre of Finnish bicycle industry as bicycle frame production started. In 1950’s, the cycle make Jaguar produced in Tampere was most popular of the Finnish makes. At the same time, many of the most successful Finnish competing cyclists came from Tampere. Nowadays bicycles can be seen everywhere in Tampere. People use bicycles in their every-day life. Children cycle to school and 40 000 students to the two large universities and other educational establishments. Many people cycle to their working places, too. Bicycle paths connect all city parts and city centre. The length of the cycling paths covers several hundreds of kilometres. The City of Tampere is also a member of the Network of Finnish Cycling Municipalities.

Cycling in Finland

The next International Cycling History Conference is being held in St. Etienne, France.

Welcome to Design Thoughts

"Design Thoughts" is about ideas and images. The bike is often used as a focus of discussions as it is a design object in which all design issues are easily understood: history, engineering and materials, marketing and user experience.