"HybridPac"

A multi-functional hiking backpack transforming into a hands free umbrella then into a bivy bag.

An Overview

This product is functional in many different ways, from backpackers needing emergency shelter, to festival goers wanting to pack light. It provides a 3-in-1 solution to shelter and travel.

The Brief

Design a product for a backpacker aged 18-30 on their gap year, focusing on a particular problem that backpacker’s face. It must be lightweight, durable and able to withstand different weather conditions. It must aesthetically appeal to the target market and provide a better solution than what is currently available on the market.

The Problem

For people backpacking on a low budget, accomodation isn't always certain. With hostels being full or perhaps missing your train and being stranded in the station, many backpackers endeavour to bring a tent or bivy bag along incase they are presented with this situation. However, these usually are very heavy and take up a lot of space within their backpack. Furthermore, when hiking or walking long distances, they may get caught in the sun or rain causing dangerous heat stroke or all their belongings to get wet. Many will not want to hold up an umbrella when walking for long distances.

The User / Demographic

My target market is young adults ages 18-30 who are travelling with large backpacks. I want to target the product at people who travel more spontaneously, not booking accommodation and perhaps want to sleep outdoors or plan on going on long journeys where they risk not getting back in time. Young people are often money poor but time rich. They often take much longer trips than other tourists. According to UNWTO forecasts for global tourism growth, it is estimated that by 2020 almost 370 million youth travellers will account for a total spend of over USD 400 billion. This shows how big the market for young adult travel is.

Research

I have conducted existing product research of different products that I think I could incorporate into my design: a bivy bag, a hiking backpack and a Pop-up tent. I also physically analysed a hiking backpack that my client had taken on several backpacking holidays, looked at anthropometric data and materials.

Design

I started my design process with a "armadillo" shell style cover, exploring how the 'handsfree umbrella' component could work while still allowing access into the bag. I developed ideas of how the shelter will rise above the users head and how the bivy bag could easily be an extension from this. I used iterative design to develop the design and problem solve, eventually arriving at a final design.

Modelling

To envision my design I used card modelling to create the shape I had designed and cardboard to see how the hinges would function. To see how the bivy bag could work I attached some scrap material with a glue gun to my cardboard model to form a small scale prototype. I then reproduced this model on a bigger scale using the anthropometric data collected and the material I chose from my primary and secondary research to demonstrate how my product could work.

Prototype manufacture

As this project took place during a pandemic, we did not have any access to a workshop during the time in which I would have been able to manufacture my project. Therefore I have set out a proposal of how I could have manufactured my project, considering mass production and the facilities I had available in my school workshop.

Evaluation

To evaluate I considered user feedback, features of the design I could improve or develop and compared the final design to my specification and brief.