U-Lock U-Light

U-Lock U-Light is a design solution developed after 5 weeks of intensive design research in the topic of urban biking. As a team of 4 we went through the process of discovering, defining, ideating and prototyping a new product. The final design is a classical U-Lock with an addition of 3 bright LED lights around the circumference of the lock and an extra LED on the side. Those LEDs can serve multiple purposes such as break-lights, head-lights, side-lights and other combinations. All the LEDs are controlled by touch and the electronics is stored within the lock. The battery compartment is located between the U-shaped frame to protect from being accessed without unlocking. This design accommodates different needs and biking styles of most bikers, without compromising the original purpose and design of the lock.

Each week the team prepared and presented their progress, with the final presentation held at Frog Design in New York. The functional prototype was designed and built within a day, while the rest of the time was spent on user research, ideation, definition and user testing. Overall, the team has interviewed over 20 individuals to develop a target persona and make corrections to the design at each stage of the process.