Archive for October 2008

Bikes as Birds

A few months back an exciting new project landed in our lap from our longtime collaborators at Trek. The task was to redesign the consumer interface of their popular Project One custom bike configuration tool. At some point in the design process a few months ago I found myself dreaming about my latest project, as I commonly do. In this dream I used Project One to create bike designs that looked like various species of birds. When I woke up I realized what a fantastic idea this was.

I’m happy to announce that today with Trek, the team here at Hanson Dodge Creative has launched the latest incarnation of Project One. To commemorate the launch I followed my subconscious advice and actually styled several bikes as birds. Click on any of the images in this post to see a full-sized version.

The bikes below have been designed using just the configurator and haven’t been adjusted in any image editing software - a testament to the amount of creative control the custom program affords. You can even change colors on the smallest of details like bar tape, cable housings and in some cases even brake hood colors. The amount of customization Trek is offering to their customers sets a high bar for online product configurations.

So enjoy. And if you feel motivated, flutter on over to Trek’s Project One configurator and make your own bike as a bird. If you’re really motivated, post your creation to Flickr and add a link to the comments for this post.

Wild Parrot

Wild Parrot

Flamingo

Flamingo

Yellow Finch

Yellow Finch

Woodpecker

Woodpecker

Raven

Raven

Blue Jay

Blue Jay

Turkey Vulture

Turkey Vulture

Rooster

Rooster

Cardinal

Cardinal

Oriole

Oriole

All of the source birdy photos can be found on Flickr and are flagged as remixable by the creative commons license.

Get your avian photo fix here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/nosha/2572923294/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/davideg/1513641666/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/darwinbell/320009619/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/lindenbaum/2525362430/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jettyboy/855569038/
http://flickr.com/photos/ricmcarthur/148238137/
http://flickr.com/photos/simondbarnes/360572546/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/revilla/538922356/
http://flickr.com/photos/lindenbaum/2220526073/
http://flickr.com/photos/kubina/467715401/


Notes on Design: The Manifesto of the New Designer

Ken’s latest post — The Manifesto of The New Designer — is up for consumption on the Notes on Design blog.  Read it here.