MAEER’S
MIT INSTITUTE OF DESIGN
Graduation Project 2018
Helmet Collection for Women Sponsor
Vega Auto Accessories Student
Pavini Chindak
Communication Design (Graphic Design)
Indusry Guide
Faculty Guide
Yasin Khalifa Mathew Kurien Yusuf Jakati
MAEER’S
MIT INSTITUTE OF DESIGN
GRADUATION PROJECT 2018 PROGRAMME: UG PROGRAMME The Graduation Project Evaluation Jury recommends PAVINI CHINDAK to be awarded the Graduation Degree of the MIT Institute of Design, Pune IN COMMUNICATION DESIGN herewith, for the project titled HELMET COLLETION FOR WOMEN NAME
Members :
ORGANISATION
on fulfilling the furthur requirements by *
(*Subsequent remarks regarding fulfilling the requirements )
Chairperson of the Jury
SIGNATURE
Vega Auto Accessories Pvt Ltd based in Belgaum, Karnataka India was incorporated in 1982 as the pilot entity of the Vega Group of Companies. Under the able stewardship of the team, Vega had powered its way to be one of the top leading manufacturers, competing with the world leaderswith respect to design, process, production and product quality. The companys ideology of Safety coupled with Fashion has become a pioneer in promoting helmets as ‘Designer Head Gear’. Vega’s vast range has been approved by the Bureau of Indian standards (ISI) 4151 - Standard and Specification vide 9526- 1980. We have added another feather in the cap by having passed the stringent test of the European Safety Standards - ECE 22.05 and Department of Transport - USA (DOT)
TABLE OF CONTENTS 01 +INTRODUCTION (A prefece of the project)
Range of helmet graphics
02 +BRIEF
(The initial design brief given for helmet)
03 +SURVEY | STUDY STATISTICS Primary Research Statistics Motorbike ridign Gearless bike riding
04 +DEFINING THE PROBLEM
( Defining the problem statement with precise research study)
05 +PERSONA STUDY
(Understanding the target audience and defining them)
06 +RESEARCH STUDY Helmet study (existing helmet models for women) Helmet model study
07 +DESIGING
(Study of aspects involved in designing the helmet graphics) Existing helmet sales Shopping psychology Gearless bikes
08 +PACIFIC Inspiration Design Description Specifications
09 +AEON Inspiration Design Description Specifications
10 +DAWN Inspiration Design Description Specifications
11 +FREE LOVE Inspiration Design Description Specifications
12 +RADIANCE Inspiration Design Description Specifications
13 +PRINTING Screen Printing Pantone Matching System
14 +INTERIORS Manufacturing process of interiors of the helmet (Documentation)
15 +SHELL Shell manufacturing process (documentation)
16 +COSTING 17 +DISTRIBUTION 18 +CONCLUSION 19 +RETROSPECTION 20 +ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
+ INTRODUCTION This document is a concise compilation of the collection that I worked on during my internship at Vega Auto Accessories, a brand known for it’s high quality helmets and designs. The collection has been designed in accordance with the design language of the brand and following a defined brief given to me at Vega. Following trends and using apt design inspirations, this project proposes to explore new design direction and design opportunities that I managed to develope while designing the collection and developing helmet graphics.
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+ PROJECT BRIEF INITIAL PROJECT BRIEF To analyze and comprehend the current scenario of bike riding and the use of helmet among women.
+ SURVEY | STUDY | STATISTICS PRIMARY RESEARCH
Riding in India among women, has been identified as two major category. Motor bike riding and gearless bike riding.
To understand helmets and its users, a survey was conducted among 135 individuals of different ages, gender, social background, income and profession. This survey was essential to understand and study the existing market and draw conclusions in terms of needs and demands of the users.
To understand both, I went out and studied the users individually. Interviews via email with the women bikers club and converstaions with the gearless bike riders on the streets helped me understand the thought process and need of the users.
The conclusions drawn from this survey are as follows. 1. 66.2% of the people riding a bike are of the age 19- 30. 2. 61 % of the people riding the bike are males and 36% are females. 3. 79.4% of the people ride gear less two wheelers. 4. 70.2 % of the people always wear helmets. 5. 1.1 % of the people find helmet stylish. After a brief study about helmets, I wanted to look into bike riding and helmets among women, since the ratio of users in females was considerably at par to that of men. After much study and analysing the existing helmets in the market, I realised that all these years helmet has pre dominantly been a product designed for men. Hence I wanted to undersand the scope of desiging women centric helmets and the need of the product among women of different ages and professions.
MOTOR BIKE RIDING Biking culture in India among women has seen a drastic growth in the last four years. Now, more women are starting to ride these machines, and a number of female-only clubs have helped kick-start this trend, and overturn widely held stereotypes India is the second largest motorbike market in the world, after China. Last year, 13.4 million two-wheelers (motorbikes, scooters and mopeds) were sold in the country, 14% more than in the previous year, according to the Society of Indian Automobile manufacturer, this growth demads for biking accessories to be designed specially for women. After Interviewing women bikers in the country, I concluded that these bikers prefer helmets exported by companies that focus on sport biking and design for long rigirous rides, where as Vega being a mass manufracturer of helmets focuses on the motor bikers and two wheeler riders of the counrty, is still trying to cope with the sport biking sector of riding and has emerged with a new brand in the name of Axor for the same. This research made it clear for me to understand the product and the target market with respect to the quality and quantity for production.
This was the prime reason I took to study women riders in India.
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GEARLESS BIKE RIDING Two-wheelers are one of the most versatile forms of transportation. The adaptive ability of a motorised two-wheeler can be characterised by its usage. The Indian two-wheeler industry since its beginning, has evolved many folds in technology and, in the numbers being manufactured and produced. From 13 per cent of total two-wheelers sales a decade back, scooters now command 32 per cent of the market share. According to JD power survey, one in every four scooter buyer is a women and majority of these women customers are young. Women customers behave differently because their requirements are different. According to survey, 64% of the women buyers are 30 years old and below while 53% of the male scooter riders are from this age group. On the contrary, 14% of the women scooter buyers are in the 36 years and above category, though a sizeable 33% of male scooter buyers are from this age. The customer base for scooters and motorcycles behave differently because their need is different and they purchase accordingly. In the scooter segment , comfort is very important ith 19% respondents saying it is No 1 reason for the purchase, while another 16% said looks and styling was the most important reason for purchase of the scooter. Scooters have become a top-growth segment in the Indian two wheeler industry colocking a 20% CAGR which is five times that of a commuter motorcycles over the past 10 years. They comprise one third of domestic two wheeler sales. Honda which leads the scooter market, the share of women is at 35% Furthermore, with increasing women working population, changing social philosophy and broad-mindedness, the penetration of two-wheelers in target population has increased significantly during last one decade especially in urban areas. Rural youth also are also very critical abut their buying preferences, when it comes to two wheelers. Lots of factors such as age, gender, education income and occupation have their impact on the choice towards two wheelers. The women youth today are definitely more conscious about the type of vehicle and accessories they use for riding.
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+ DEFINING THE PROBLEM Insufficient designs of helmet for women, in the increasing market and demand by the women riders in the country.
+ GUIDELINES CONSUMER Age : 16 - 30 years Location: Rural and Urban areas of India Gender: Women Income: Middle and Upper middle class ( 61,000 to 1,50,000) and ( 1,00,000 to 5,0,000 per month ) Education: Students and educated working women Marital or family status: Married/Unmarried Ethnic background: Indian Personality: Strong, Independent, confident and social Attitudes: Bold and Independent Values: Cultural roots and quality Interests: Riding, travelling, fashion Behaviour: Enthusiastic, thoughtful
The helmet must be designed to hold a womens daily essentials. Each type of helmet must suit the consumers style. They must be designed keeping in mind the necessities of a woman. The collection must consist of varity of colours, apt size, and comfortable interiors. The product must go well with any kind of look, western or indowestern. Consumers do not want to compromise the quality in the name of fashion. Looking for durable and long lasting product. Colours used for the helmets, as well as the inserts should be justified to the design. Usage of interiors must be kept simple and more emphasis must be laid on detailing. 6
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AAKRITI BHANSAL Age : 25 Location: Delhi Gender: Women Income: Middle class with an income of 1,00,000 per month. Profession: Working as a marketing associate for Tata Marital or family status: Unmarried Ethnic background: Indian Personality: Strong, Independent, confident Attitudes: Bold and Independent Values: Cultural roots and quality Interests: Dance, reading, travelling Behaviour: Enthusiastic, thoughtful
+ PERSONA STUDY Studying a particual scenario for the use of the helmet. Defining the persons social and cultural background and other aspects required to understand the market. =
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Aakriti bhansal is a graduate from Delhi university and is currently working as a marketing associate with the Tata group of Industries in the FMCG department. Coming from a middle class family background, Aakriti believes in being self sufficient and independent. She commutes to her work place in the Honda Activa, and says the reason for the same is value for time and reduce in travel expense. Safety being her prime concern while commuting, she says a helmet is very important to her. She is trendy and modern in her dressing and would like to use a helmet that would go well with her two wheeler and looks smart and stylish. She woud want to spend on a quality helmet that would last her for a long time.
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+ RESEARCH STUDY Research study about the existing scenario of helmet, including sales, studying the helmet models and detailed study of a specific model.
+ HELMET STUDY To understand the market and study the women segment in helmets, I looked at all the existing models under the brand Vega and studied each of them in terms of sales and distribution. I interviewed dealers and tried to understand the thought process of women on buying helmets. Their prefernece, their choice, what do they give importance to, the problems they face with the helmet etc. The three important criterias that women look into while buying a helmet are 1. Compact size and fit 2. Sunlight protected / skin care 3. Trend Out of a range of helmets available under the brand Vega, there are 3 major models that are used by women. They are cruiser, jet and Verve. Study says women generally prefer open face helmets, and these three models fall under the same criteria. The reason for this are, open face helmets are generally compact in size and can easily fit in the boot. A full face helmet as established over the years, is always considered to be a motor bike helmet and women do not relate to this. They believe it gives a very sturdy and masculine look. Full face helmets as a misconception is generally considered to be suffocating and causes difficulty in breathing. Although this is not true, people opt to buy open face. Make up is also a very important aspect when women buy helmet. They would not like to wear a helmet with make up on, and an open face helmet would solve this problem. Verve ( a model recently designed) is a helmet designed for women, in terms of the size, colours available, ponytail area at the backside and boot fitting size. It is one of the highest selling helmets among women. This was one of the helmet I wanted to develope with graphics, but after a lot of discussions and debate with the need, we came to a conclusion that the helmet would not need graphics, since the helmet is doing very well with the basic colours. The shape and the look of the helmet is favorable for a single colour and with the amount of production, the graphics did not have scope. The marketing team also believed that they did not need to design women grahics for a womens helmet, but rather do it for a model that could be made to look more feminine with the graphics and the colours. So, we were left with two options of helmet to design the collection. 1. Cruiser 2. Jet 10
Detailed study of Cruiser and Jet CRUISER : With a rustic look, cruiser is the perfect example of how we bring elegance to helmets. It is a master piece of simplicity. One of out major selling helmets, cruiser is a helmet well designed for meeting the needs of a woman. Its compact and open face. The price of this helmet ranges from Rs 1034 for basics to Rs 1178 for Graphics. This is a mid range helmet. The Movement analysis for cruiser ( July 2017- October 2017) Cruiser with peak : 71,011 Cruiser without peak (Graphics) : 7498 Jet with Visor : 6,315 Jet without Visor (Graphics): 7438
CRUISER JET
BASIC
GRAPHICS
71,011
7,498
6,315
7,438
Price range of the helmets Cruiser : 900 Cruiser with Graphics: 1178 Jet : 1250 Jet with Graphics : 1400
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The conclusion drawn from the study of the above two models is that, cruiser being a very basic helmet with regards to its cost and demand, it is unsuitable to deign a premium collection of helmets for women. The model has been established as a low price selling model and it is difficult to raise the prices to an extent that it loses its qualty as an average regular helmet. The numder of helmets sold per month between that of cruiser and jet graphics has a very low difference. It is about 60 pieces. Hence for the above reason, and with the trend of vintage and old fashion coming back, it was apt to design a collection with the jet helmet, which is an all time classic and has been in the market ever since its launched. The model did see a fall in between due to lack of new designs and graphics, and hence it was a great idea to revive this helmet with a premuim collection designed for women. VENTS
+ JET VISORS
Jet is a classic open face helmet. It brings back the all time helmet legacy back to trend and is a perfect helmet for cruiser bikes and gearless scooters.
BEADING
SHELL 270 mm
248 mm
DIMENSIONS and SPECIFICATIONS
INTERIORS
Height : 248 mm Width : 233 mm Length: 270 mm Weight: 850 gmn SHELL Shell size: 580 with interiors size S Shell made of ABS ( Acrylnitrile butadiene styrene) ABS is impact resistant polysterene
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Product features for jet helmet 1. Helmet with light weight, superior fit and comfort using advanced CAD technology. 2. This helmet comes with aerodynamic shell with large eye part for greater visiblity 3. Impact absorbing , multi-density, EPS liner helmet. Flushes heat and humidity out of the helmet. 4. Helmet which neatly secures chin strap. A small removal pack.
LIFE CYCLE OF THE JET HELMET Jet helmets is one of the first helmet to start, alongside two other models when the company was started. It was started in 1980. The helmet sold really well till the year 2000 and then saw a fall from 2000 to 2008. Then with the revival of the classic fashion, it came back to the market with new graphics and designs. This made the helmet one of the top selling helmets and till today the helmet has been one of the best ones. Since 2008, there have been a number of graphics. Due to the increasing demand of the helmet every year two new graphics are introduced, giving the consumer more options. They have also started manufactuing jet helmets in different single colours.
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+ DESIGNING RESEARCH, INSPIRATIONS AND DESIGNS Designing the helmets considering various aspects.
+ EXISTING HELMET COMPETITION
+ EXISTING HELMET SALES
The competition that exists for women helmets are with Studds and Steelbird. They have their own model for women, with women centric graphics.
Analysis of currrent helmet sales and distribution with respect to graphics and colours, to understand the demand of the market. It also gives a clear idea about the trend and the asthetics that are desirable buy the consumers.
STUDDS
JET BASIC COLOURS 1. Dull black - 1544 2. Dull desert storm - 540 3. Dull Anthracite - 276 4. White - 236
JET GRAPHICS 1. Jet Star dull black, silver - 1826 dull black, orange- 259 dull black, blue - 224 dull black, red - 213
STEELBIRD
2. Old School dull red - 1565 dull black - 1435 dull silver - 1256
Glamor Rs 1699
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+ SHOPPING PSYCHOLOGY
+ GEARLESS BIKES
Choice in clothing can communicate responsibility, status, power, and the ability to be
According to reseach, gearless bikes is one of the factors involved in making a decision of buying a riding accessory by women. Trend concious women would like to buy a helmet which would go well with their bikes in terms of design and colour. The colour of the bike will play a huge role in deciding the colour and the kind of helmet the user would like to use.
successful. Designer/name brand clothing also carries social perceptions related to status derived from multiple sources of social influence. Owning store brand jeans led to more negative person perceptions than designer/name brand jeans in a study of college students. Name brand slacks were also found to be rated as higher in quality and estimated to cost more, but only among individuals who identified the name brands on the products. These studies demonstrate how status and class may be associated with particular designers and name brands of clothing. Clothing itself can also be used to stereotype and discriminate. Shoppers wearing pro-gay slogan shirts were less likely to receive help than shoppers wearing unmarked shirts (Gray, Russell, & Blockley, 1991). Results such as these show how clothing styles can influence the behavior of others. However, past research has not specifically investigated the combination of clothing style, race, and SES in person perception, especially related to name brand clothing popular among students.
POVERY
MIDDLE CLASS
WEALTH
For the same reason, a basic study of sales and market for these bikes were done to understand the current scenario. Financial year 2017 sales figure of the top 6 best scooters in India. 1. Honda Active - 27,59,835 units 2. TVS jupiter - 6,13,817 units 3. Hero Maestro - 3,78,347 units 4. Suzuki Access - 2,65,181 units 5. Yamaha Fascino - 2,13,312 units 6. TVS Scooty Zest- 62,462 units Gearless scooters : Although motor cycles command major share in the market, the rise in the popularity of the gearless is astounding. This segment posted an astounding 25% growth from
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POSSESSIONS
People
SOCIAL EMPHASIS
Social inclusion of people he/she likes
Emphasis on selfgovernance and self sufficiency
Emphasis on social exclusion
CLOTHING AND ACCESSORY
clothing valued for individual style and expression of personality.
Clothing valued for its quality and acceptance into the norms of middle class. Label important
Clothing valued for artistic sense and expression. Designer important.
Things
One of a kind objects, legacies, pedigrees
such scooters are very popular among college going girls and working women. The most popular scooter is Honda Active followed by TVS jupiter and Hero Maestro. Growth story: The indian two wheeler market has grown 18 fold in the last 3 decades. condition of the indian roads, apart from rising fuel prices are responsible for their humongous increase. Top three reasons for ownership of two wheelers in India 1.Low cost of ownership and maintenance 2. Compact size 3. Ease of learning and use
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BASE COLOUR / GRAPHICS COLOUR 20
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+ INSPIRATION PACIFIC DEFINITION peaceful in character or intent. The mountains and the colour potray a sense of calm and peace. The gradual darkness in the tone, the magnificient mountains alligned with each other and the nature around encpsulates the whole experience of stepping into a peaceful environment, often what people seem to srtive for while travelling.
KEY WORDS
Peace, calm, travel, nature, gradual.
+PACIFIC DESIGN
SPECIFICATIONS
Taking inspiration from the image, the graphic has a gradual change in the colour, with a pantone solid coated colour on the shell. This base colour goes along with the colour of the design.
Helmet shell size : 580 mm Padding size : small / medium Shell colour: Pantone 627C
The lines of the graphics are at the fore end of the helmet with slight curves towards the side, which gives a feel of the layered mountains. The interiors are designed to go along the colours of the helmet to maintain the look
DISCRIPTION
The Pacific is a helmet designed for everyday use. It is a travellers helmet. The shell made of ABS with an EPS liner inside makes it stong and durable. This techonology is best for safety and keeping the helmet light weighted. The interiors of the helmets are designed to go along with the graphics. The interiors are made of lycra cloth alongside bird mesh fabric to facilitate ventilation.
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+ INSPIRATION AEON DEFINITION a power existing from eternity. Going back in time, this design has been inspired by the classic vintage style. The colours of the clothes, equipped with minimal leather accessories gives a strong sense of vintage style. Bringing back this classic style is the principal moto of this design.
KEY WORDS
Vintage, classic, vespa, timeless.
+AEON DESIGN
SPECIFICATIONS
Taking inspiration from the image, the graphic has a classic vintage look, with an overlap of the three colours. This colour on an off white shell brings out the vintage feel.
Helmet shell size : 580 Padding size : small / medium Shell colour: Offwhite
The colours of the graphics are at the fore end of the helmet with pointed lines facing upward. The interiors are made of tan leather to complete the vinatge look of the helmet.
DISCRIPTION
The Aeon is a helmet designed for everyday use. It is best suited with Vespa. The shell made of ABS with an EPS liner inside makes it stong and durable. This techonology is best for safety and keeping the helmet light weighted. The interiors of the helmets are designed to go along with the graphics. The interiors are made of lycra cloth alongside tan lather.
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+ INSPIRATION DAWN DEFINITION the first appearance of light in the sky before sunrise. The radiant shades on red in the sky potrays the vivid and beaming start to a fresh new day. The presence of grey and yellow also adds beauty to the sky. The colours give out bright and fresh vibes in their own distinct ways.
KEY WORDS
Radiant, striking, fresh, bright, new.
+DAWN DESIGN
SPECIFICATIONS
Taking inspiration from the image, the graphic has red base colour, potraying the red sky during dawn. It also has a spoke of yellow with lines of grey with a gradation to show the variety of form seen in the sky during dawn.
Helmet shell size : 580 Padding size : small / medium Shell colour: Pantone 202C
The graphics are at either sides of the helmet with a portion of it covered by the vent. The interiors are made of dark brown cloth and leather
DISCRIPTION
The Dawn is a helmet designed for everyday use. It is best suited with Pleasure or any other red colour gearless bike. The shell made of ABS with an EPS liner inside makes it stong and durable. This techonology is best for safety and keeping the helmet light weighted. The interiors of the helmets are designed to go along with the graphics. The interiors are made of lycra cloth alongside dark lather. 34
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+ INSPIRATION FREE LOVE Free love is a concept that accepts all forms of love The wings in the picture worn by the girl potrays freedom. Freedom in all aspects. The white colour here stands for purity and pride.
KEY WORDS
Freedom, Love, purity, pride.
+FREE LOVE DESIGN Taking inspiration from the image, the graphic is a minimal shape of a wing. It also has a thick stroke of off white on the outside. The base colour is pink with brown and white graphics.A portion of the graphic is hidden behind the vent.
SPECIFICATIONS Helmet shell size : 580 Padding size : small / medium Shell colour: Pantone 177C
The interiors are a made of lycra cloth along with leather/mesh cloth.
DISCRIPTION
Free love is a helmet designed for everyday use. The shell made of ABS with an EPS liner inside makes it stong and durable. This techonology is best for safety and keeping the helmet light weighted. The interiors of the helmets are designed to go along with the graphics. The interiors are made of lycra cloth alongside dark leather.
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+ INSPIRATION RADIANCE DEFINITION light or heat as emitted or reflected by something. The busy night life in the city shows various colours. These bright colours in the night sky stands out giving a spectacular contrast. It gives a sense of busy and fast life that dwells in the city
KEY WORDS
Fast, bright, contrast, urban
+RADIANCE DESIGN
SPECIFICATIONS
Taking inspiration from the image, the graphic is a combination of bright colours on a black base. The colour in the graphic overlaps to form new shades and colours. The graphic is at the forend of the helmet.
Helmet shell size : 580 Padding size : small/ medium Shell colour: Pantone 419C
The interiors are a made of lycra cloth along with leather/mesh cloth.
DISCRIPTION
Radiance is a helmet designed for everyday use. The shell made of ABS with an EPS liner inside makes it stong and durable. This techonology is best for safety and keeping the helmet light weighted. The interiors of the helmets are designed to go along with the graphics. The interiors are made of lycra cloth. 42
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+PRINTING SCREEN PRRINTING The process followed for printing the helmet graphics and understanding Pantone colour system.
+ PRINTING SCREEN PRINTING
PANTONE COLOUR SYSTEM
Screen printing is a printing technique whereby a mesh is used to transfer ink onto a substrate, except in areas made impermeable to the ink by a blocking stencil. A blade or squeegee is moved across the screen to fill the open mesh apertures with ink, and a reverse stroke then causes the screen to touch the substrate momentarily along a line of contact. This causes the ink to wet the substrate and be pulled out of the mesh apertures as the screen springs back after the blade has passed. Screen printing is also a stencil method of print making in which a design is imposed on a screen of polyester or other fine mesh, with blank areas coated with an impermeable substance. Ink is forced into the mesh openings by the fill blade or squeegee and by wetting the substrate, transferred onto the printing surface during the squeegee stroke. As the screen rebounds away from the substrate the ink remains on the substrate. It is also known as silk-screen, screen, serigraphy, and serigraph printing. One color is printed at a time, so several screens can be used to produce a multicoloured image or design.
Pantones or PMS (Pantones matching system) is a system where a colour is a spot colour belonging to a standardized colour reproduction system. It was created to maintain consistency throughout multiple printed products (paper, fabric, plastic etc)
The steps involoved in priting a decal for a helmet are: 1. Screen making 2. Shade matching 3. Stock preparation
Full pantone system is comprised of 1,114 single spot colours, which are created using thirteen base pigments. When pantone is used in printing, printer needs to create the pantone colour using a PMS formula guide and the thirteen base pigments. When printing with pantone, a printing plate is created for each pantone colour thats been used in the design. So, if you have a design that uses two pantone colours, then two plates will be made, one for each colour. There are several versions of pantones. 1. Solid coated 2. Solid uncoated 3. Metallic coated 4. Colour budge coated Solid caoted pantones are used in the design of these helmet graphics.
Decal paper: This transfer paper is specifically designed for the decoration of all safety
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+ INTERIORS Designing and stitching of helmet interiors. From choosing cloth to stitching deatils and using EPS liner with changable interiors, all this comes under interiors of the helmet.
+ INTERIORS The interior of a helmet consists of various materials. 1. Head band made of EPS liner ( Expandable polysterene thermocol) 2. Various parts stitched together by laminated cloth 3. Lock 4. Ear roll paddings. As per the size, the head band is made to stitch along with laminated lycra cloth at the edges. This band is furthur covered with laminated cloth and is made to fit in the helmet. There is also a thin plastic lining inside to give it enough strength and support. The ear rolls are also stitched to the size of the helmet. This earroll will vary with sizes. These are fitted at the sides with a lock strap. There are two kinds of locks. One is the regular lock and the other is a chin strap lock. Usually the chinstrap lock is used as it is considered to be the safest. The fabrics used for helmet interiors are 1. Lycra 2. Bird eye mesh 3. Spacer 4. Leather 5. Resin Lycra is the best suited cloth for interiors of the helmet. The reason for this is lycra is a stretchy artificial fibre. Molecules have stretchy section that makes it soft and rubbery, and a rigid section that makes it tougher then rubber. It gives freedom of movement and is has shape retention quality.
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+ SHELL From the shell moulded by the Injection moulding machine to painting, lacquering and applying graphics, the process has been shown below.
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+ COSTING
+ DISTRIBUTION
A jet helmet consists of 14 parts including packaging, storage box etc.
The manufacturing and distribution of any product depends on the demand and need of the market. For helmets, the demads come from dealers and distributors. And so, the helmet is manufactured according to the order placed by dealers. This data is first analysed by the marketing team and accordingly job cards are made. For a new model, a lot of 1000 is made and is distributed across the country. Vega, having a stronger hold in the south sends out comparitevely more helmets to the south and maharasthra than to the north. After this, feedbacks from the dealers are collected to understand and decide the furthur manufacturing. On this basic new helmets, accroding to colour, model, shape are made.
The helmet is made up of a number of parts. Some parts are made in house and some are outsourced. There are other factors that come into play for the manufacturing the helmet and reaching its final destination. Factors like electricity, labour charges, transport charges, tax etc. These charges are called overheads. Hence the production cost of a helmet is inclusive of taxes, overheads, rejections, profit margin, machine cost etc. These factors are very essential in defining the production cost of any product. These are the requirements of a regular helmet. This cost will also vary will additional accessories or graphics that will be put on a helmet. The cost of a graphic helmet is higher then that of a regular single colour helmet. This is due to the expenditure on decal. The factors in which there have been an additional cost, then a regular graphic helmet is Beading cost 25 rs Tailoring cost 60 rs Graphic cost 50 rs Cost of the box 25 rs
The distribution plan for this helmet collection is A lot of 100 helmets would be sent to each state. The number of helmets sent to the north would vary. There would be posters put up at the store for women advertisement purpose. After the feedback, more helmets would be produced and distributed accordingly. With this, distribution and manufacturing could be controlled.
This is the basic change in production line.
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+ CONCLUSION As a communication design student I had never come across a project where I could learn alot about helmets. What knowledge I had was merely the surface which was learnt mostly by seeing my father and visiting the factory. I was always very fascinated and wanted an opportunity to make a difference in a place I have always seen as a child. As I came here to learn about this beautifully versatile product, it has opened a new stream of discovery for me. Through my internship at Vega, I have learnt a great deal about desiging graphics for mass production and how it all works. It is mind boggling to actually comprehend the amount of work that goes into making a helmet. As a designer it is very important to communicate with the design team, and the production team to execute what you have in mind. I have great amount of respect for every person working in this industry. This experience has taught me the importance of understanding target consurmers and market research for desiging something which sells. I understand the importance of team work better then ever. Constant feedback from the team has helped me improve tremendoulsy. I have also learnt that costing plays an integral part of design as every bit counts and must be accounted for. How important it is to have an estimate while a helmet and understanding your consumers lifestyle to set an estimation for expenditure. All in all, my experience here was worthwhile and I will always be grateful for that amount of knowledge I have gained here.
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+ RETROSPECTION My experience at MIT has been amazing to say the least. The journey from the first year to now seemed to have passed alomost too soon. From not knowing how to describe ‘what is design?’ to someone to now being able to talk about it for hours, it has been the best learning experience in every possible way. Understanding the basics of design by sitting for lectures in the first year, building of skills for sketching and use of different materials and mediums - to taking up complex projects like Branding and Wayfinding, I have had the exposure to a diverse range of projects. Going in the field and working for a company actually makes you realise how far you have come and how much you have learnt from this entire process. Small things like basic colour theory or EFSS have almost been hard wired in the brain to make the thought process and outcome so much richer. I have seen myself grow as a designer and as a person through numerous experiences I have had and I thank each and every person that contributed to this journey and made it a special one!
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+ ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This project reminded me time and again, “ An idea that is not dangerous, is unworthy of being called an idea at all” MITID 18, is by no means a single handed effort. There are few people who deserve a special mention. They have been with me from the onset of this project. It is genuine pleasure to express a deep sense of gratitude for Prof. Mathew Kurien, who has been my mentor and guide through out this endeavour. I would also like to thank my industry mentor Yasin Khalifa and Yusuf Jakati for their constant support and patience through out the internship. This project wouldn’t have been a succedd without you all. I would also like to thank the Marketing, Research and Development team for making me understand and helping me in every loop hole I came across. Thank you!
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