Ryan Lightbody on left, Matt Grossman on right Two Young Designers are on their Way By Wes Bolton A revolutionary new bicycle design, created at Purdue University by Industrial Designers…Scott Shim, Ryan Lightbody, and Matt Grossman, may give parents less concern when teaching their children how to ride a bike. The 16-inch-wheel bicycle looks like a tricycle, but as the child gains momentum and learns to balance, the two rear wheels shift inward to merge into one wheel. This causes the balance to gradually shift from the bicycle to the child. This was there first attempt ever at designing a bike before and you’d have to say they did fairly well. Their design topped 853 entrants from 56 countries to win the $15,000 first prize in the 9th International Bicycle Design Competition in Taiwan late last month. Both Ryan and Matt have been students of Scott Shim and claim the three worked very well together. Ryan is a Purdue ID graduate who presently is a designer at Strategix Vision in Bosman Montana, Matt Grossman is a current ID student at Purdue, and Scott Shim is assistant professor in the College of Liberal Arts at Purdue. Design-engine interviewed the two young designers about creating the concept and working with their favorite teacher and fellow designer Scott Shim. DE- How does it feel to create something revolutionary and win an award for it? Ryan- I've been in some past competitions and it's always an honor to be recognized, especially internationally. Matt- Yeah, now that I look back on it, I'm very proud of the work we all put in, and it feels good to get recognized for that. Winning was quite a surprise, we joked around a lot in the beginning that we 'had a winner'- but honestly I don't think any of us expected it to go as far as it did. We knew we had a solid new concept, but with competitions sometimes it's difficult to figure out exactly what the judges are looking for. When Ryan and I went to Taipei for the awards ceremony, we were caught off guard when we realized they were just about to announce the grand prize and we hadn't seen our bike win anything yet. We had about 30 seconds to prepare a speech. "This bicycle, which is for toddlers, was designed with my 4-year-old son, Kevin, in mind." Says Scott DE- So tell us how the concept was created. Matt- Ryan and I decided to do the competition last summer, we're both good friends and had wanted to work on a project together for awhile. Since we were both at Purdue we decided to give it a shot. We asked Scott Shim if he wanted to join us. Ryan- I was the only one who was really into bikes. When we got together we started to brainstorm about a recumbent bicycle that eventually turned into a possible training bicycle. Matt- There was a lot of talking, a lot of…"hey wouldn't it be cool if..." type stuff. We had seen certain cycles that had wheels that moved a little to make turning easier, and liked the idea of movable wheels. Eventually we had this idea of two wheels joining to become one…that opened up a lot of possibilities for balance. From there it was a matter of deciding who we wanted to tailor the concept to, and how exactly we were going to get it to work. Once we decided to make it a children's bike, we all tried to remember back to when we were first learning to ride…looking at the experience from, not only the child's perspective, but also the parent's. DE- Do you really feel the edge you had was the fact you were new to bicycle design with fresh ideas? Matt- I think that it certainly helped us explore a lot of different ideas we might have otherwise dismissed if we'd known more about bicycles. Between the three of us, Ryan was the cyclist, so when we were all throwing out ideas he'd let us know if something we thought of was possible, and if he wasn't sure- we thought of how it might be done. We took a few trips to bike shops to do a little bit of research too. One thing that I think really helped was that we also looked at a lot of future concept bikes and past entries of the competition. We wanted to be sure we had a really new, innovative concept that hadn't been done before. Ryan- Yeah, I think there is always something to say for starting out fresh when it comes to designing anything. If you're doing the same thing you become kind of jaded. You learn the manufacturing limitations which puts mental blocks on the possible creativity you're capable of. New perspectives are so valuable. DE- Do you enjoy bicycle design? Can you see yourself working with bicycles in the future? Matt- I definitely learned a lot more about bicycles in the process, and enjoy riding more than I did before. Bicycle design is interesting because while you're trying to solve mechanical problems, you're also trying to make the ride more fun and enjoyable. This project brought up a lot of issues I hadn't thought of before - such as people who never learned how to ride when they were kids, and now are too embarrassed to try. I think I'd like to explore that area of bicycle design more in the future. Ryan- I've been in bike retail and mechanic work. I enjoyed it but I don't know if it's for me. But I'll definitely do another similar competition. Click on image DE- What did you use for 3D modeling? Ryan- The three of us actually split for CAD work. We each used the tools we were more comfortable with. Scott used mostly ProE, Matt used a combination of Rhino and ProE while I just utilized Rhino. Usually one person does the CAD work, but surprisingly this worked out very well for us. DE- So what was it like working with Scott? Ryan- The three of us really get along. Work like this takes trust. He's a great designer so I wasn't concerned with his capabilities. He works with us as a friend and fellow designer, not a superior. Matt- Scott is very down to earth. In his studio classes he expects a lot out of you and really pushes you to do your best. He's one of those teachers you feel like you don't want to disappoint- not because of the grade you might get, but because you really respect him. I'd had him for a few classes before, but it was great getting to him know outside of class. One thing that helped was that Scott likes to get things done early so he kept Ryan and I on schedule. Scott S. Shim(left), assistant professor of visual and performing arts, consults with Steve Visser(right), associate professor of visual and performing arts DE- What makes him unique from other teachers? Why might one benefit from studying at Purdue with Scott? Matt- One thing that all of my favorite teachers have had in common is that you can talk to them like a friend- but they still manage to make you -want- to do your best work. He'd tell you if he liked something - but if he didn't like it, he let you know and expect you to do it over. On the first day I had him for a class, he told us how to tell someone (in a nice way) if we thought they needed to redo a sketch. "Tell them, Scott's not gonna like that." Plus he's a really funny, sarcastic guy- so you look forward to going to class. I think a lot of educators these days try to be too positive, and instead of pushing you to do something over until you get it right- they assume that's the best you can do, and work from there. I think Scott makes it a priority to encourage people to always take something a step beyond what they thought they could do, and I've seen so many people improve because of this. Ryan- Like I said before, he's a fellow designer. As Matt said he doesn't try to be your average teacher-type-person, although he still asks a lot of his students. So, I guess it can be sort of a “love and hate” relationship. He'll make you reach higher just when you think your on top. You'll grow tired but then you'll realize what he's done for you. DE- Can you tell me more about the Purdue's Industrial Design program? Matt- When you start in the program, you go through your basics, the fundamentals of design, materials and processes classes, etc. After your sophomore year you have to go through a portfolio review that narrows your class down to about 16 people. It's competitive, but it really forces you to do your best, and I think the ones that are truly passionate about design tend to make it in because of that. The program is focused on problem solving, and designing with people and experiences in mind. The program is in the School of Liberal Arts , so you get to take a lot of classes that you might not at an art/design school. Taking philosophy, sociology and anthropology courses gave me a much more well-rounded approach to design. I'm going to be designing for people, so it's important to me that I got a chance to understand them! Ryan- Yeah, its problem solving based and very “up and coming”. A lot of art schools focus on styling and sketching. Purdue is more focused on problem solving. They may be hiring a few more teachers in the next few years because of growth. Scott himself is fairly new; soon there will be more fresh design instructors with new insight to bring to the table. The program will become even more competitive in the future with more students. DE- Ryan, tell me about Strategix Vision. Ryan- Strategix Vision is a product development and design firm based in Bosman , Montana which is slowly being moved to a Seattle office. We pretty much work on anything under the sun, but I can say 50% of our work is on tools and devices for the medical field. The firm is comprised of 20-30 people working on basic conceptual work and CAD, mostly Solid works and little ProE. DE- Matt, what are your plans for after graduation? Matt- Right now I'm still interviewing, hoping to take a good first step out of college. I'm also starting a couple of new projects for this summer. I've always been interested in doing concept design for film and video games as well as product design, so I may look into that direction too. Ryan(Left), Matt(Right)   DE- Is this but one of many revolutionary products we can expect from you two as upcoming designers? Matt- Hopefully! Ryan and I have a lot in common in the way we think - He described it once as, "Our job is to think of all of the ideas we can and then figure out which ones are the best." Personally, I'm looking forward to the challenges ahead Ryan- I hope it wasn't the last great idea for me… (laughs). I'd really like to get into outdoor recreation, but it's a great reward to create something that betters our lives. I hope I could help out any way I can.    Want to Learn Some Design Programs?       Hit me: Email Dave Mazovick... dmazovick@proetools.com