How can we improve the transition between the commute and the work day for those who bike in New York City?

1. ZAC FISCHEL | MAYA PINES | SARAH TRAM

2. FLUX
From 2010 to 2015 there has been a 98% growth in commuting to work in New York City.
With this growing interest, New York City bike commuters face many challenges when biking to
work, such as oncoming traffic and avoiding obstructions. However for young professionals, one
challenge they face is transiting from athletic wear to the required business apparel of a work
place after a sweaty work commute. Flux was designed assist in this process, making for an easier
and calming transition period into the work day.

3. ABOUT 86,000 NEW YORKERS BIKE TO WORK
OR SCHOOL EVERY DAY
98% GROWTH IN COMMUTING TO WORK IN
MANHATTAN FROM 2010-2015
COMMUTING TO WORK HAS GROWN TWICE
AS FAST AS ANY OTHER MAJOR CITY

4. HOW CAN WE IMPROVE THE TRANSITION
BETWEEN THE COMMUTE AND THE WORK DAY
FOR THOSE WHO BIKE IN NEW YORK CITY?

5. STAKEHOLDERS
When taking our user group into consideration, we have to examine what our primary
stakeholders, who are bikers from age 17 to 25 (fig. 1), interact with. The items they interact with are
known as the secondary stakeholders. Seen in the image above, some of the secondary stakeholders
are pedestrians (fig. 4 & 5) and moving vehicles that both share the road with the bike commuters.
The surrounding environment and cityscape (fig. 2), along with obstacles (fig. 3) and the work
place (fig. 6) are all inanimate and environments we considered while researching more about bike
commuters.
1
2 6
3
4
5

7. Michael is 25 year old and he is a young professional living in New York
City. Every day he bikes to work and he loves it. Biking keeps him healthy and
in control of his work commute as he doesn’t have to deal with the crowded
subways or possibly being stuck in traffic. He usually dresses in athletic wear
because he tends to break a sweat during as he bikes. However, his work place
requires him to dress professionally, like a suit and tie. After arriving at the
work place, he grabs the change of business clothes that he keeps in his office,
and freshen up in the bathroom with various hygienic items. But it can be
hassle to plan ahead all the outfits he wears to work and places a limitation on
his business wardrobe. Our objective is to improve upon his transitioning into
his from the moment he steps off his bike and into his professional work place.
MICHAEL

9. CURRENT
SOLUTIONS
Currently commutes use normal backpacks
to carry their change of clothes in a zip lock
bag. They then change in the bathroom and
freshen up with deodorant and other hygienic
items. Some also leave their business shoes and
another change of clothes at their desk. Also,
some commuters go as far as finding a nearby
gym to shower and change into in the morning.

11. ADIDAS
We examined the Adidas brand and brand
language, as it is important to fully understand
the company and the brand. Firstly, Adidas is
known for having three stripes. It can be seen on
their shoes, their apparel, and logo; everything
across the spectrum. Next, Adidas’apparel
ranges from causal street wear to athleisure to
sportswear. Thirdly, Adidas is known for being
very playful with their color combinations, such
as seen in the their shoes. However on top of
playful color combination, Adidas also is very
conscious about their use in materials. They have
been promoting recycled fishnets into recycled
polyester and using it in their shoe lines.

13. NEW YORK CITY
New York City is a huge fast paced metropolis
open to so many people from so many
backgrounds and areas. People are always on
the move and quickly headed off to one place or
another. Along with that, New York City is known
to be one of the fashion capitals. Home to an
area with so many fashion brands and designers,
the people there can be dressed in all types of
clothing.
Our challenge while designing our solution is
to incorporate both adidas and New York city’s
flavor into it.

14. 1
1. BEFORE
Before users leave for work, they usually pack up
items needed for work, such as clothes if they
did not keep any at the office and other work
necessaries, such as their laptop, the night or
morning before and leave the house to go to
work.
WORK COMMUTE

15. 2 3
3. AFTER
The bike commuter arrives at his work place, and
they usually have worked up a sweat and need
to freshen up. Most keep their business clothes
at work to change into once they arrive at work.
People generally have to change in the bathroom
stalls. However, this method requires the bike
commuter to plan each day’s outfit in advance
so they are able to bring it all in at the start of
the week. Also, this method can cause a sense of
urgency, especially if they are running late.
2. DURING
The bike commuter then gets on his bike and
takes their usual route to work. During this time
period, they can get a little fatigued and work up
a sweat, soaking parts of their outfit. Hence, they
majority of the bike commuters do not wear their
professional clothing as they bike. They tend to
wear athletic wear during this period of time.

17. IDEATION
During our process of ideation, we categorized the needs of the biker, which ultimately became
the design criteria for FLUX. The pack had to be compact because these commuters are always on
the move in New York City. It needed to fold up and become a professional item when transitioning
from bike commute into the professional work place. Also, the pack needed to be able to contain the
items that allows the user to be professional, such as their business clothing and shoes, but also their
laptop, pens and notebooks. Professionalism means being prepared for the work day. The third design
consideration we thought about was ensuring the clothing items would be as wrinkle-free as possible.
The last factor we considered was hygiene. Biking can make the users sweat and having the items to
freshen up is very important. Also, hygiene of the pack, such as ensuring the pack wouldn’t become
too sweaty or smelly during the use of it.

18. SKETCH DEVELOPMENT
During our ideation process, we approached our problem statement from many angles.
Everything from attempting to create mobile changing rooms to ripping off sleeves from flannels.
As we continued to ideate, we began to focus on the idea of creating a pack to potentially help
make the transition from an athletic environment to a business setting. We discussed colors, forms,
compartments and materials in order to approach a finalized design.
On the right, is our final rendering of Flux. The inside lining is created of a red rip-stop recycled
nylon while the outside is created of a recycled polyester creating a durable pack. Each section of the
compartment is lined with foam inserts to allow the pack to hold its structure. Lastly exploded sketch
view displays the expandability and versatile use of Flux.

21. SEWING PATTERNS
As we began to finalize our potential designs for Flux, we started designing paper patterns
for all the required parts and pieces. It was important for us to really consider how large or small each
piece of fabric was going to be and we created many test prototypes with paper and actual test
fabrics in order better understand how a flat material with little resistance could turn into a material
with more structure and stability.
The finalized backpack size is 12 inches by 15 inches by 9 inches. Flux is made up of three
compartments: the professional business pack, shoe and other hygiene section, and the clothing
compartment. The professional pack was created in order to provide a sleek and lightweight
compartment to contain any business necessities, such as a laptop, notebooks and pens. The shoe
section was specifically created to contain any sizes of shoes and other hygienic items to freshen up.
The last compartment known as the clothing compartment is for rolling up any professional wear in
order to creating a wrinkle-free method to carrying clothing.

23. FINAL PROTOYPE
After our ideation and creation of sewing patterns, we were able to begin our prototyping
of Flux. The outside is created from recycled polyester and the inside lining is created from recycled
ripstop nylon, both ensuring the stability of the pack. The three compartments, business pack, shoe
and hygiene section, and clothing compartments all make up Flux. Flux is meant to be used both in
the bathroom, as the convenient handle up on top allows it to hang on bathroom stall hooks, and the
work place, as the compartments can come apart.

24. 1
HOW IT WORKS 1. PRIVACY
Bike commuters bring Flux into the bathroom
stall when they arrive at work. They are given
privacy in the stalls and allowed to change
quickly, as there is no need to dig around for
items since each compartment has a specific use.

25. 2 3
3. TRANSFORM
The last thing to do is leave the bathroom feeling
all ready for the work day and easily unzip the
clothing and shoe compartments from the bag
to leave at their desk and carry the other pack
around the work place.
2. ACCESSIBLE
The bike commute then hangs Flux on the
bathroom hook and unrolls the clothing
compartment. There, they are able to easily
unclip and access their clothes from the
compartment and quickly get dressed.