Airhead The revolutionary facemask

Impacting Business by Design has been working with Airhead to design a revolutionary Pollution Mask with an Airtight Fit.

Client & The Brief

We were contacted by Airhead to develop their newest cycling mask for high-end urban cyclists. There were two key points of emphasis:

The mask should be soft and leave no marks on the face. As the majority of masks on the market leave the user's face with a red mark..
A tight seal should be present around the user's face.

We could never have imagined the magnitude of the impact our project would have a year later!

Discovery

One of the challenges in this project was the amount of data that must be gathered. Here are some of the statistics that were examined and gathered to help us make design decisions:

Researching current market, sales methods, pricing, and the most popular masks right now
Using Secondary data about human face shape, types and dimensions in a purpose of understanding fit and size variations need to be created.
utilising 3D scanners to scan various individuals with various ethnicities due to various bone structures to be used in CAD systems for extensive analysis.
valuing the present solutions not just in the cycling masks market but also in other contexts where related functions could be used
Find out the most recent technology and materials that we might be able to employ by directly contacting filters, silicone and fabrics manufacturers.

On the parallel track, we were researching how urban cyclists behave (e.g. defining user personas, creating user journey maps, defining pain points, etc.)

Two reason for adding a new function:

It wasn't unexpected that purchasing cycling masks online was a common practice. However, we discovered that almost all the cycling masks make claims about how comfortable and effective their sealing is when it comes to internet marketing.Consecutively, the product that truly works perfectly would lose its competitive edge as a result, and the mask we were about to design would suffer the same fate. To offer us a marketing edge and set us apart from competing products on the market, we had to come up with a plan.

Additionally, after observing the users and doing some surveys, we found there are other issues, rather than effective filtering, that could be improved.

In order to offer the product a competitive advantage in the market and solve some of the pain issues we identified in our research, we decided to revise the design brief, after presenting our results to the client. We chose to introduce a practical feature in order to enhance the product's value (without over-featuring the mask).

Define

Our research showed that drinking water while you have the mask on, or talking to someone when you put on the mask are a big problem. Also building up of CO2 in the mask even when you pass an unpolluted area could make the experience unpleasant. For that reason we made the decision to design a mask to make those simpler.

Everything from sliding valves to a front section that could fully open was considered internally, and early concepts were evaluated. All trying to have at least one of the following functions:

Users may communicate while having the mask on, and without the need to fully open the straps.
Let the fresh air in when users need it or when traveling through a countryside or area that is not polluted.

The difficulty was doing all of those tasks with a single hand without endangering the cyclist's ability to maintain control. Additionally, it must maintain its airtight seal even after the user returns it to its initial position.

Develop

After presenting the concepts to the client and discussing the benefits and drawbacks of each concept, it’s been decided to go with a mask that allows the front half to fully open. The main bold portion of design was focused on designing a hinge and seal that allows the user to open the mask, without the need to adjust the strap. but there were other improvements in that piece, including a back facing valve

It was time to put the concepts to the test after adding more details. Foams and silicon might provide us with the finest sealing results, according to our preliminary research. However, each of the materials required quite a bit of skill and accuracy to model and work with. To produce our proof of concept models, we linked up with qualified model builders who were professionals in silicon and foam moulding.

We were able to create the prototype after conducting a number of tests and experimenting with the size, thickness, and positioning of the components and materials.

Delivery and Crowdfunding:

A series of videos and illustrations were prepared after our proof of concept for the crowdfunding campaign. This was a requirement that would aid the client in covering the production costs.

The campaign was extremely successful, and they hit their target in 4 hours. In 30 days, the product gathered around £400,000 through 2 crowdfunding campaigns.

After a successful campaign, the design was prepared for transfer to an engineering team for additional fabrication details and safety/standard tests. The mask later passed the testing and was prepared for manufacturing with assistance from the engineering team.

Thoughts on Solution

The Airhead asked us for a cycle mask with a great sealing. However there was little explanation or support from guidelines or their research. We accepted the challenge.

It's fair to argue that, in some ways, we underestimated the effort required to accomplish this aim. We didn't realise how much work goes into determining the form to fit the range of faces, or how silicone and textiles might interact in unexpected ways. However, we came through and provided not even what we had requested, but rather a product whose demand on the market has already been established through crowdsourcing campaigns.