Designing Sustainable Alpine Skis Combining user needs with ecological, social, and economical sustainablility Tom-Oskar Barreflod Matilda Nilsson Industrial Design Engineering, master's level 2020 Luleå University of Technology Department of Business Administration, Technology and Social Sciences Designing sustainable alpine skis Combining user needs with ecological, social, and economical sustainablility Tom-Oskar Barreflod Matilda Nilsson 2020 SUPERVISORS: Patrik Sannes (Norse Skis) & Eva-Leva Bäckström (LTU) REVIEWER: Erika Möller & Ylva Jersenius CIVILINGENJÖR I TEKNISK DESIGN EXAMINER: Åsa Wikberg Nilsson Master of Science Thesis in Industrial Design Engineering Designing sustainable alpine skis Combining user needs with ecological, social and economical sustainability © Tom-Oskar Barreflod & Matilda Nilsson Published and distributed by Luleå University of Technology SE-971 87 Luleå, Sweden Telephone: + 46 (0) 920 49 00 00 Cover: Render by Tom-Oskar Barreflod Printed in Luleå Sweden by Luleå University of Technology Reproservice Luleå, 2016 Acknowledgment First of all, we would like to thank Norse Skis for giving us the opportunity to conduct this master thesis project together with them. Thank you for your time, welcoming atmosphere, and providing us with a place to work. We would also like to give a huge thank you to our supervisor Patrik Sannes at Norse Skis, for all the knowledge, endless answering of questions, and great discussion. Thank you for the great skiing in Sälen, we hope that we get to ski with you again soon! We would also like to thank Eva-Lena Bäckström, our supervisor at Luleå University of Technology. Thank you for your great inputs that have helped us think outside the box and challenged us through the design process. Thanks to all of you that have taken part in our surveys and provided us with invaluable user data to build our design from. This ski is made for you! Lastly, we want to thank our family and friends who have believed in us and supported us through the whole project. You have stood by our side through the highs and the lows. Again, thank you to all of you that have been a part of this project! It has been a pleasure. We have learned so much from you and we hope that our paths will cross again anytime soon. Tom-Oskar Barreflod Matilda Nilsson Gothenburg, Sweden, June 2020 Abstract Sammanfattning As alpine skiing is becoming more and more popular three concepts were created which eventually resulted Samtidigt som skidåkning blir mer och mer populärt Projektresultatet är ett par 90 mm breda skidor med the need for sustainable products are increasing in in one final design. för var dag som går så ökar behovet av hållbara fokus på hållbarhet som är högpresterande och lekfulla order to enable great skiing and snowy winters in the The project result is a pair of 90 mm wide skis produkter som möjliggör framtida snöiga vintrar och i pisten som även ger en härlig åkning utanför. Ur den future. The ski industry is unfortunately far behind with focus on sustainability that are high performing bra skidåkning. Tyvärr ligger dagens skidtillverkare sociala aspekten är de gjorda för skidåkare istället för many other industries when it comes to sustainability and playful in the piste while providing a nice off- långt bakom många andra branscher när det kommer enbart män, kvinnor eller någon specifik åldersgrupp. and the shift towards sustainable skis is going slow. piste ride as well. From the social aspect, they are till hållbarhet och skiftet mot hållbara skidor går Genom användning av material som är miljövänligare Norse Skis is a unique ski manufacturer as they have created with the skier in mind instead of either men, trögt. Norse Skis är en unik skidtillverkare då de har än de som Norse Skis tidigare använt och antingen a sustainable profile and are always in the lookout for women, or some specific age group. By using materials en hållbar profil och ständigt letar efter möjligheter har samma eller lägre pris så är skidor både hållbarare new possibilities to take that forward. The goal in this that are more environmentally friendly than what att komma ännu längre fram i utvecklingen. Målet i ur både ett ekologisk och ett ekonomiskt perspektiv. master thesis project is to develop a pair of sustainable is used in Norse Skis’ skis today and that either have detta examensarbete är att utveckla ett par hållbara Designen har bekräftats av användarna vilket ledde skis that will widen Norse Skis’ product catalog. The the same or lower price, the skis are more sustainable skidor som kan bredda Norse Skis produktkatalog. till att rekommendationen att bredda Norses Skis project was conducted in collaboration with Norse from both an ecologic and economic perspective. The Projektet utfördes i samarbete med Norse Skis som produktkatalog med skidorna som var resultatet av Skis as a master thesis project within the degree of design has been approved by the users which led to the ett examensarbete på Civilingenjör Teknisk Design detta examensarbete. Industrial Design Engineering at Luleå University of recommendation of broadening Norse Skis’ current med inriktning produktdesign vid Luleå Tekniska Technology. product catalog with the ski that was the result of this Universitet. NYCKELORD: Produktutveckling, Produktdesign, During the development of the skis, the user- master thesis project. Under utvecklingen av skidorna användes den Civilingenjör Teknisk Design, Hållbarhet, Hållbar centered design process Design Thinking Process användarcentrerade designprocessen Design Thinking Produktutveckling, Användarcentrerad design, Alpina was used. The process was divided into three phases; KEYWORDS: Product Development, Product Process som är uppdelad i tre faser; Inspiration, Ideation, skidor, Normkreativ design. Inspiration, Ideation, and Implementation. During the Design, Industrial Design Engineering, Sustainability, och Implementation. Under designprocessen låg fokus design process, most of the energy was put on creating Sustainable Product Development, User-centered på att skapa en skida som uppfyller användarbehoven a ski that meets the user needs and is as sustainable Design, Alpine Skis, Norm-Creative design och samtidigt är så hållbar som möjligt. Genom att as possible. Through constant dialog with the users, hela tiden återkoppla med användarna för utvärdering feedback and evaluation were gained to customize och feedback kunde produkten anpassas efter deras the product to the needs and opinions of the users. behov och tycke. För att utveckla en så hållbara To develop skis that are as sustainable as possible, skida som möjligt har projektet utgått från de tre the project has had its base in the three aspects of perspektiven av hållbarhet; ekologisk, ekonomisk, och sustainability; ecological, economic, and social, social som identifieras i Brundtlandsrapporten (World which are defined in the Brundtland report (World Commission on Environment and Development, 1987). Commission on Environment and Development, 1987). I projektets startskede införskaffades en djup At the beginning of the project, a deep förståelse alpina skidor och alpin skidåkning. Detta understanding of alpine skis and alpine skiing was följdes av djupdykning i användaren genom enkäter gathered. This was followed by a thorough examination och användarobservationer. Det identifierades att of the users through surveys and user observations. användaren spenderar mest tid i pisten, men har It was identified that the users spent most of their en vision om att vara en off-pist åkare. Detta ledde time skiing on the piste, but had a vision of being an fram till slutsatsen att designa en skida som är off-piste skier. This led to the conclusion of designing högpresterande i pisten med också ger användaren a ski that is high performing on-piste but also gives möjlighet till bra off-pist åkning. I en benchmarking the user the possibility to great off-piste skiing. In a jämfördes sedan Norse Skis nuvarande skidor med benchmarking, Norse Skis’ current skis were compared konkurrenternas för att identifiera Norse Skis styrkor to their competitors’ to identify Norse Skis’ strengths och vad som kunde göras bättre. När en förståelse över and what could be improved. When an understanding produkten och användarna skapats gick projektet in i of the product and the users was gained, the project idégeneringsfasen. Där skapade olika lösningsförslag proceeded into the ideation phase. In the ideation phase på längder, former, namn, färg, grafik, och material. solutions on lengths, shapes, names, colors, graphics, Genom användarundersökningar kunde tre slutkoncept and materials were created. Through user surveys, tas fram som slutligen resulterade i ett slutgiligt resultat. Contents List of appendices Appendix A: External benchmarking - skis 1 Introduction . 1 4 .4 .2 Brainstorming . 37 Appendix B: External benchmarking - companies 1 1. Background . 2 4 .4 .3 Creative Workshop . .39 Appendix C: Survey results 1 .2 Stakeholders . 2 4 .4 .4 Mock-up . 39 Mood board - gender design - good examples 1 .2 1. Internal stakeholders . 2 4 .4 .5 vALUe . 40 Appendix D: 1 .2 .2 External stakeholders . 2 4 .4 .6 Dot voting . 41 Appendix E: Mood board - gender design - bad examples 1 .3 Aims and purpose . 2 4 .5 Implementation . 41 Appendix F: Calculations of lengths 1 .4 Project scope . 3 4 .5 1. Digital prototyping . 41 Appendix G: Lengths of skis 1 .5 Thesis outline . 3 4 .6 Method discussion . 42 Appendix H: Names 2 Context . 5 5 Results . .45 Appendix I: Colors 2 1. Skis . 6 5 Results . .45 Appendix J: Graphics 2 1. 1. Ski terminology . 6 5 1. Inspiration . 46 Appendix K: Final Evaluation 2 1. .2 Slopes . 6 5 1. 1. User survey . .46 2 1. .3 Skiing terminology . 7 5 1. .2 Persona . .47 2 1. .4 Ski profiles . 7 5 1. .3 Mood boards . .47 List of figures 2 1. .5 Types of skis . 9 5 .2 Ideation . .50 2 1. .6 Ski construction . 9 5 .2 1. Lengths . .50 Figure 1: Picture of Norse Skis's The Enduro . Photograph by: Matilda Nilsson 2 1. .7 Ski characteristics based on the shape .