M1.2 · Solo project

Let's Talk About Helmets?!

Using design research to make helmets cool again for 12- to 17-year-olds.

U&SUser & SocietyB&EBusiness & EntrepreneurshipC&ACreativity & Aesthetics

The problem

Only 1% of Dutch teenagers wear a bicycle helmet, while fatbikes make accidents more severe. My research showed the barrier is not knowledge but social stigma, peer pressure, and discomfort. Denmark proved change is possible: helmet use rose from 6% to 50% in two decades without any legislation, through awareness campaigns, and not an innovative design.

A workshop, not a cooler helmet

I deliberately rejected designing a cooler helmet. The research pointed to behaviour, so I designed an awareness workshop in three parts: informing, interactive risk activities such as a reaction-time test with distractions, and a co-creation session where teens design the helmet they would actually wear.

Participants filling in workshop worksheets with colored pencils on a wooden table

Second workshop session with teenagers working on helmet design activities

Empathy map capturing insights about teenage helmet behaviour and attitudes

Stakeholder map showing relationships between organisations, schools, and campaign partners

Diagram showing the phased approach to the helmet awareness intervention

Sketches of helmet concepts created by teenagers during the co-creation session

Output materials from the completed workshop sessions

Grid of six early concept directions for helmet interventions

What the tests showed

I tested the workshop in two settings, classroom and home, with around twenty participants. The classroom worked better. It aligns with existing campaigns and with how the group communicates. The co-creation surfaced three needs for future helmet design: personalisation, comfort, novelty. My recommendation: narrow the target to ages 11 to 14 and embed the workshop in a national campaign.

What it taught me

This project pushed me furthest from my comfort zone. No sensors, no code, just behaviour and stigma. I learned workshop design, co-design with teenagers, research ethics, and that cold calls work: I contacted nearly every high school in Eindhoven plus VeiligheidNL, ANWB and Veilig Verkeer Nederland. Using the vastness of the stakeholder network in my advantage, acknowledging everyone has a different goal that should be met. The business lens, PESTEL, stakeholder mapping, positioning inside existing campaign infrastructure, is what made the outcome adoptable instead of just interesting.

Toward the FMP: the sensitivity for researching with a vulnerable group became the foundation for working with people with dementia. Creating approaches and acknowledging that design can exist outside of technology shaped my FMP. Moreover this project introduced me to the importance of stakeholders, and other actors that influence your design.