In keeping with my recent post about the Speed Vest, here’s another nighttime cycling accessory that promises to boost visibility for 2-wheeled commuters. Cordarounds has just introduced their Bike to Work Pants, which feature fabrics that pass as cubicle-friendly khaki by day but transform into reflective beacons once you roll up a pant leg or pull out a rear pocket. Here’s a grainy, blurry nightime video that shows the benefits of the product.

It’s products like this that can help avoid cycling-related accidents and catastrophes. For example, perhaps NY State Senator Jeff Klein would have seen the cyclist he almost hit and could have avoided the embarassing blog chatter about the incident.

A half-block from our studio there is a bridge that I walk under almost every day. Well, actually using the word bridge is selling it short, it’s actually an overpass for a section of freeway that cuts right through the heart of Milwaukee. The space is somewhat typical of what happens in urban areas under overpasses - it’s used as a parking lot, left feral or otherwise ignored. Despite its present undeveloped state, this location has a few things going for it. It’s across the street from the Milwaukee Public Market, it abuts Milwaukee’s River Walk pedestrian thoroughfare and is right next door to a public launch for kayakers, canoeists and rowers who use the Milwaukee River. Here in the heart of the city, in an otherwise unused space and surrounded by such great attractions, seems like the perfect place to create an urban park focused on active recreation.

Other municipalities have done this with great success already. Portland, Oregon has the Burnside Skatepark, located under the Burnside Bridge. Built originally without permission from the city, this skatepark is now officially supported by the city and creates a public recreation area in a dense urban area that’s sheltered from the weather due to it’s location under such a large structure.

A Hanson Dodge Creative colleague of mine sent me a link to the Colonnade Mountain Bike Park in Seattle, Washington. I can’t describe this place it’s so insanely inventive. It’s truly a new model of how urban “in-between” spaces can be dramatically re-imagined and converted from grafitti-strewn dirt patches into urban playgrounds. The park features mountain bike trails and obstacles, at various ability levels, in an unbelievably small footprint under a brige.

I walk by that mean space every day on my way to work and I imagine opportunity for joy in the heart of the city. Here’s to hoping it doesn’t become just another parking lot.

The Trek Marketing Department and their Hanson Dodge Creative team has been busy producing some pretty outstanding work this year — national TV spots, print ads, catalogs, websites. So we knew it was time for a celebration. And, with the playoff-chasing Brewers right in our backyard, the 1st Annual Bikes and Baseball Boondoggle was born.

Take a sunny 71-degree day, an afternoon game, 28 bikes, tailgating and a Brewers victory, and you have the perfect September outing. The group lived our pledge to “Go By Bike” and headed out from HD’s offices en masse to Miller Park. Taking advantage of the Hank Aaron trail, we showed that using 2 wheels instead of 4 is actually easier and more fun. I’d like to think we convinced others to try this next time.

Our own Dan Herwig, Art Director, tried to bring home a skid contest victory but ended up demonstrating why he should keep his day job. And wear a helmet next time.

HOW NOT TO SKID

We brought the Brewers some luck and broke the losing streak. We’ll see if the Brewers can pull out a playoff spot. Go Brewers!

I’ve seen this proof-of-concept floating around the web for a few weeks and it looks like it’s gaining some traction. It’s called the Speed Vest, and it displays a cyclist’s speed in illuminated numbers on their back. The idea is that it makes the cyclist more visible and helps educate cagers car drivers to the viability of bike commuting. Interesting concept, but I think a little refinement is needed before it would be moved into production. It seems like a “mph” or “kph” would need to be illuminated as well for drivers to get the full concept. The reflective “MY SPEED” lettering seems to be illegible at night. Could just be the video, however. That being said, it’s an interesting blend of on-bike technology and practical cycling fashion.

The League of American Bicyclists has announced our first annual ranking of Bicycle Friendly States, scoring all 50 states on more than 70 factors. The states were scored on responses to a questionnaire evaluating their commitment to bicycling and covering 6 key areas: legislation; policies and programs; infrastructure; education and encouragement; evaluation and planning; and enforcement. The highest and lowest scoring states overall were:

Top 5
1. Washington
2. Wisconsin
3. Arizona
4. Oregon
5. Minnesota

Bottom 5
46. North Dakota
47. Mississippi
48. Alabama
49. Georgia
50. West Virginia

Read the full story here at the League of American Bicyclists site.

p.s. Whoo-hoo! Wisconsin’s #2! IN YOUR FACE, Oregon! (Just kidding. We love you. And we’re jealous of your mountains.)

I love the idea of putting a bicycle on the market that is useful, trendy and twice as cheap to produce — so buying the product for a regular price leaves means enough to donate one to someone who cannot afford one. This company’s whole design philosophy is pretty cool.

Inspired by the concept of flat packing and home assembly made popular by companies like IKEA we finally made a bike out of two wooden plates. Hence its name: The Sandwich Bike. The absence of welding joints makes the frame very easy to produce and [...] materials used can vary according to the client’s demand. This way the bike can be kept simple and cheap, or aesthetically and structurally supreme and therefore reasonably expensive. Just like an IKEA product the bike will be delivered in a flat cardboard box and can be assembled at home with a single tool…

For more information, visit the designer’s website: Bleijh.

(via Treehugger)

I recently learned of Parkour (sometimes called “Freerunning”) - a growing popular phenomenon where people move through their environment by jumping, rolling, vaulting, running up walls and numerous other manuveurs. Research on americanparkour.com explained the sport as this:

Parkour is the art of moving through your environment using only your body and the surroundings to propel yourself. It can include running, jumping, climbing, even crawling, if that is the most suitable movement for the situation. Parkour could be grasped by imagining a race through an obstacle course, the goal is to overcome obstacles quickly and efficiently, without using extraneous movement. Apply this line of thought to an urban environment, or even a run through the woods, and you’re on the right path. Because individual movements could vary so greatly by the situation, it is better to consider Parkour as defined by the intention instead of the movements themselves. If the intention is to get somewhere using the most effective movements with the least loss of momentum, then it could probably be considered Parkour.

From the reading I’ve done it seems to be a highly disciplined activity requiring much strength and dedication to maintain safety and to continuously improve. Turn down your speakers a bit and watch this video:

We’re very pleased here at HDC that Ken Hanson, our owner and Executive Creative Director, has been plucked as a guest blogger for a fantastic design blog, Notes on Design.

Notes on Design is a curated blog that brings sophisticated content to over 40,000 subscribers daily. [Its] selective panel of guest authors includes professional designers, writers, educators, and business owners, each of whom write to inspire creativity, improve the quality of your work, and promote engaged thinking about today’s most pressing design topics.

Read Ken’s first post here at Notes on Design.

If Charles Darwin were an economist today rather than a 19th Century naturalist, he may have discovered the same principles of evolution through the study of 21st century retailing as he did in the Galapagos Islands more than a century ago.

Retailer evolution

For many years, small retailers have bemoaned the category-killing efforts of the Big Box stores. WalMart and Home Depot have been blamed for the quick death of many a local retailer. The new retail powerhouses are also blamed for driving the profit out of manufacturing and putting brands out of business. As a result, the weak and unprepared have died off. The retailers who banded together and dug their heels in to prevent Walmart from opening in their towns have quickly become extinct. Conversely, a new breed of specialty stores have been born — stores like Trader Joe’s and the Apple Store. These stores identified what the big box stores couldn’t offer — unique product choice and high-touch service — and did it better than anyone else.

Manufacturer evolution

The same is true on the manufacturing side. The behemoth retail chains continually shave off profits while manufacturers fight to hold onto market share of commodity product categories. They’ve been blamed for chloroforming many beloved brands. At the same time, some brands have emerged from the ashes and strengthened their position through this retail blood bath. Legendary and emerging brands alike have been able to minimize the discounting and commodification of their wares. Brands like Bose stereo products and Weber Grills have been able to grow their revenues while protecting their pricing strategies and the perceived value of their brands.

What these successful manufacturers and retailers have in common is that they all learned to adapt to their environment and evolve their businesses accordingly. The winners have not been those who banded together to prevent the erosion of their way of doing business. The winners innovated and reinvented themselves in a way that brought the most obvious value to the customer.

Sales evolution

Which brings me to the next major storm in retailing — direct e-commerce. I continually hear from independent retailers that manufacturers should be driving business to their stores. The SnowSports Retailers’ trade group recently sent a newsletter to members suggesting that they put their foot down and insist that manufacturers let them participate in online sales opportunities. The implication was that we, the retailers, helped build their brands. They owe us that.

On a recent visit to the Outdoor Retailer Trade Show in Salt Lake City, I had the chance to hear the story from the other side of the fence. In conversations with manufacturer after manufacturer, I heard them voice concerns that, with eroding margins at retail, their best opportunity for revenue and profit growth may be in taking control of their online sales. Many companies whose margins have been dramatically reduced by downward retail price pressure and rising overseas manufacturing costs are realizing that they can triple or quadruple their gross margin if they can fulfill the orders directly online. Add to that the long-term value of being able to build a relationship with their end users and, of course, provide an online experience that pleases their customers, and these manufacturers are really left with little choice.

In order to help this transition, software service providers like Shopatron and Reshare have emerged. They offer the retailer the chance to gain some incremental sales while offering the manufacturer the chance to optimize selling opportunities on their brand sites. It remains to be seen whether these are truly sustainable business models or simply a stopgap while reality settles in.

Value and the survival of the species

In the long run, consumers enjoy the convenience of shopping from the comfort of their living rooms while most retailers don’t provide enough value to justify the effort of seeking them out. And, I suspect that programs like Reshare that reward retailers for online sales through brand manufacturers’ sites is grasping at straws.

I predict that, over the next few years, we will see a dramatic shift of product brands stepping up to provide customers with increased choices in how to do business with them. If the independent retailer is going to survive this transition it will be because they learn to focus on expanding their value-added services, not because they’ve banded together to force manufacturers to pay them their dues. Retailers need to build their brands. They need to step up to an entirely new level of improved service, expanded choices and shopping convenience. They need to demonstrate to customers that it’s worth seeking them out at the mall and online.

Product and retail brands that do this very well will coexist peacefully in the online world. Those who refuse to change will become part of the Intenet’s natural selection process.

The brightest and strongest will continue to evolve and flourish while the rest will simply fade into the digital wasteland like dinosaurs sinking into the tar pits.

I think Darwin would have loved the internet. What do you think?

(Image via)

At first glance, outdoor and fitness-oriented consumer mindsets may seem subtly different. But get to know how they think from the second they wake up in the morning, and you will see the differences are stark. The outdoor-oriented consumer group is ready for adventure: they’re raring to call someone and get outdoors. The fitness-oriented consumer group gets right to their goals, already prioritizing the things they need to do - they approach life with determination and purpose.

Active Insights, Volume Two: Digest Three examines the dichotomy between outdoor-oriented and fitness-oriented consumers. Their distinct mindsets drive the way that these consumers gather information, process it and then use it to inform their shopping process.

Download the digest here.