DESIGN NAME: RYU Quick Pack
PRIMARY FUNCTION: Backpack
INSPIRATION: We discovered athletes needed a backpack that would work for all parts of their lives, 24/7 from home to the gym, to work, and home again. It had to be well organized and look professional enough to wear to work. We are inspired by the cultural bad boys that define cool, Steve McQueen, Muhammad Ali, and David Beckham. We are also inspired by “refined contrast” the aesthetic that emerges when you lay shiny leather over a dull canvas, or the contrast of a muted exterior and a shiny interior.
UNIQUE PROPERTIES / PROJECT DESCRIPTION: We reinvented the commuter bag with this stealth urban assault pack. Clean lines, genuine leather details and a sleek designer profile makes this your go-to bag for cycling to work, heading to the gym, walking around town or even wearing with business attire. Everyone is looking for the perfect backpack. This is it. This tough wearing fabric has an incredibly soft feel that gets better looking the longer you own it.
OPERATION / FLOW / INTERACTION: Smaller, lighter, lower profile. Front drops down to be a personal locker. Genuine leather lid and shoulder strap. Water and scuff resistant. Internal laptop sleeve. Functionally organized for an athlete's life. Zippered mesh pocket for incidentals. Strong liner fabric for extra protection. Great head clearance for cycling. Durable construction. Tough wearing fabrics that look better with age
Soft feel. Discreet RYU branding.
PROJECT DURATION AND LOCATION: The project started on Dec 18th 2014 in Vancouver BC and was completed August 15th, 2015 in Ho Chi Minh City and was at retail on Nov 15th, 2015.
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PRODUCTION / REALIZATION TECHNOLOGY: We have a hands-on design lab where we create products through model and sample development. Here we can make a sample in the morning and then head out and use it for the afternoon. This gives us immediate insight with respect to what works and what needs refining.
SPECIFICATIONS / TECHNICAL PROPERTIES: Volume: 17 L
Dimensions: H 51cm x D 16 cm x W 28 cm
H 20 in x D 6¼ in x W 11 in
TAGS: Quick Pack, workout, organized, cool, refined, computer sleeve, canvas, RYU, athlete, refined contrast.
RESEARCH ABSTRACT: We traveled around Vancouver and NYC to identify trends in the athletic space. We discovered that athletes were not being serviced 24/7 by the current players who only focused on the time spent doing the athletic activity, while ignoring the social and everyday life experience. We then corroborated our research with sales data from WGSN and independent research from Jack Knife. When then began to create the actual pack, which saw us develop 20 versions before we were satisfied. Throughout this process we subscribed to the mantra “less is more”. This meant removing more from the packs than we added, resulting in a product that was minimal, sophisticated and worked for the task at hand.
CHALLENGE: The most challenging part of the design activity was managing the human factor as RYU went from 4 people to 40 during this time. We were also under enormous pressure to perform due to our extremely tight self -imposed deadline, which created extra stress for everyone. New people, unique talents and big egos meant we all had to let go of our personal agendas and get aligned behind a common goal that entailed many real conversations and the will to succeed.
ADDED DATE: 2016-02-26 22:53:53
TEAM MEMBERS (6) : Damien Kelly, Tony Richardson, Nathan Kukathas, Trina Thompson, Erin McGann and Adriaan Kwon
IMAGE CREDITS: all photos
Photographer - Anthony Redpath
Editor - Cristiano Correa
PATENTS/COPYRIGHTS: We have a pending Canadian industrial design application, which is the Canadian equivalent of a pending US design patent application.
The application serial number is CA165,263.
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