Design Concept for Thule Strollers- Improving the user experience in the dark

Abstract: For most people getting a stroller is an obvious thing to do when having a baby. It’s mainly used for transportation of the baby but has other functions as well. For example, it is used as a storage, serves as a shopping bag for groceries and makes a perfect bed for a baby nap. Using a stroller should be easy and safe, but when it’s getting dark outside it can be hard to see the road ahead and find things in the storage, especially if there are no streetlights. And in addition to this it becomes harder to detect the stroller which increases the risk of an accident to occur. 40 % of all accidents where a pedestrian is involved happens when it is dark outside, even though less people are out walking during this time. This master thesis is a collaboration with Thule Sweden AB and aims to improve the experience of using a stroller in the dark. To get information about the users’ opinions and experiences, a research and a user study took place. This gave knowledge about the existing market but also revealed what was important to focus on when continuing to the development phase. Several concepts were discovered through an iterative process including sketching, brainstorming and building mock-ups. In the end one of the concepts was selected for further development resulting in a prototype designed with high focus on safety, usability and aesthetics. The final concept lights up the inside and outside of the stroller and gives it an aesthetic glow which improves the visibility. It provides the user with a full overview of the baby, lights up the road ahead and makes it easy to find things in the basket. The solution includes one light diffusing fiber attached to the inside of the canopy through a meshed trail and two light diffusing fibers attached to the bottom of the basket through plastic trails. The plastic trails allow the light to act on both sides providing light both inside and outside the storage. The discreet and user-friendly design correspond to the values of Thule and the mission to help people live an active life with their kids safely, easily and in style.