It may look nice but is it cool?
How on earth do you design and build a product for the 7 to 15
year old market and get it right? How can it satisfy the needs of a
consumer group who wouldn’t leave the house if they had the
wrong trainers on?
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The Freerider
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“It has to be cool, real cool!” Says Liz Bright,
European Sales & Marketing Manager for SMP Playgrounds.
SMP recently embarked on the design, development and launch of
an innovative bit of kit that would be seen as the ‘must
have’ and ‘must ride on’ fashion accessory in the
modern playground. Freeride was born.
Today’s kids are very fashion conscious, which is why SMP
had to understand that to get them outside and active required some
pretty inspiring ideas; ideas that mimic their daily interests and
real life aspirations.
Before the design process begins, SMP conducts an extremely
in-depth piece of consumer research into the interest market for
the relevant age group. In the case of Freeride the basic concept
came pretty quickly. The final process is the focus group when the
target audience is asked to comment – basically asking the
kids in the intended age bracket to pick their favourite design and
to state why: what interests them, what they like and more
importantly what they don’t like.
The Freeride is packed with challenges and it takes a degree of
skill to get the hang of the concept. This makes it cool and it is
also the type of ride that a parent may try and not quite get the
hang of. This is also cool!
The double set of handles on Freeride means you can really give
it some welly while holding on tightly. The ride board was tested
so that the foot stance is similar to a snowboard and that makes
getting it going easier. It’s a good size so you can actually
get two kids on the board together and if they just want to hand
around the ride board is comfortable to just sit and rock while
chatting.
The ride board moulding is made from roto-moulded polyethylene,
this is certified to the EN1176 swing impact test (the maximum
impact force allowed within the test is 50G’s, Freeride
tested at approximately 20G’s). It can be replaced by
unbolting it from the inset steel frame and costs just £120
as a spare part. The chains, shackles and iolite bearing are the
same specification as standard SMP swing chain assemblies and the
swivel component reduces wear on the shackles and ensures a smooth
ride.
The NEXUS Freeride is part of a successful range of NEXUS
products which fuses organic forms with a raw architectural style,
promoting action and excites imagination.
For further information please contact SMP Playgrounds on 01784
489 100 or sales@smp.co.uk