How automotive design meets child strollers: Granstudio and Easywalker collaboration
Granstudio applies automotive expertise to design the innovative Rockey stroller lineup, prioritizing the comfort of both children and parents.
In a world where strollers were seen as mere transportation, what if they could be so much more? That was the question Daniel, owner of Easywalker, posed Granstudio in 2016. He approached the design studio with a bold ambition: rethink the stroller market by designing products that would leapfrog kids’ mobility.
What brought Daniel to Granstudio was the shared philosophy on mobility design and a deep appreciation for the studio’s overall commitment to create beautiful products that aim to deliver meaningful experiences for both parents and children. And this is far from obvious for an automotive design studio: while aesthetics and styling surfaces are still the norm in the industry, Granstudio places users and their needs at the center to create objects that involve and bond.
Considering connection, this is a central element for Daniel; it is a concept deeply embedded in Easywalker’s culture, considered in relation with oneself, family, and loved ones. Wouter Struijk, Design Manager for Granstudio, recalls a moment during a meeting in which Daniel paused the discussion, striking something that resembled a gong, and calling for one minute for everyone to reconnect with themselves. Four times a day, Easywalker offers opportunities for reflection, inviting people to re-center with their most human side of emotions and feelings.
The challenge was to translate the essence of connection and care into the Easywalker brand through a straightforward visual language.
While most strollers at that time focused on advanced folding technologies, leading to a complex arrangement of plastic and metal parts, Granstudio prioritized the comfort of the parent and child. And this was made, for instance, by visually placing the child on top of the stroller, as if it were his ‘throne”, while at the same time making parents feel like they were pushing their child directly, rather than just maneuvering the stroller itself.
A user-driven and context-aware design process
In line with Daniel’s ambition, the first project that Granstudio developed with Easywalker was called “Leap”. And for this project, it was essential to define the standards that would guide the rest of the project for the main users, the child.
As Wouter Struijk says: “I remember having a 900-page ‘baby bible’ on my desk; it helped us to map all the different stages from zero to almost three years old of how babies grow and start acquiring a sitting position. All these things were very relevant for the design of the product, deeply defined by the natural growth and behavior of the baby“.
To identify future opportunities for Easywalker, extensive user and market research was performed to map the future context of children’s mobility. Every aspect of the user experience was considered, from child and parent behavior to the purchase process itself. One of the unique aspects of a stroller is that parents enter the stroller market with no idea or reference of what they will need. Visual communication and intuitive design solutions are therefore crucial, and this creates a straightforward language that directly communicates to parents and establishes connection with the object.
The automotive touch: designing the Easywalker’s Rockey Family stroller
Rockey is the most recent project in the collaboration between Granstudio and Easywalker. It is a family of strollers that come in three different sizes: S, M and L. It is a very good example of Granstudio’s versatility of leveraging automotive design competences and applying them to product design.
In automotive design, creating a cohesive design language that authentically reflects’ brand values and identity while, at the same time, resonating with users and maintaining consistency across the overall portfolio is crucial. This principle is exactly what guided the work with Easywalker. Starting with Leap and continuing through Miley, Huggey, and ultimately Rockey, Granstudio identified the core values that formed the basis of Easywalker’s design language, translating into distinctive visual statements easily recognizable by users.
Moreover, component sharing, and modularity are two key strategies that allow Easywalker to reduce investments and create personalization for the end user. The Rockey family shares a considerable amount of components and tube sections, while at the same time creating differentiation; each of the three strollers has a specific purpose, making it easier for parents to understand the difference and choose the best option for them.
And while the S version is indeed designed to be light enough for travelling, the M version combines compactness and agility for urban environments, while the L version offers the most resistance and comfort for offroad exploration.
The Modular Accessory System on the other hand enables a level of personalization that deeply creates this connection between parent, child and stroller through a personalized form of interaction. “The accessories all use the same ‘clip’ that is mounted on the stroller frame, allowing them to fit on both push bar and bumper bar of not only Rockey, but all other strollers we design”, explains Wouter Struijk.
Different accessories can be applied, from a small steering wheel to a baby cub, and this to make the experience unique, engaging, and again to create that sense of connection between the user and the object.
VR technology is an important tool in the design process, and the integration between VR and physical prototypes is something that makes Granstudio unique; while VR technology is widely used, it is rarely integrated with a physical prototype to fully recreate the user experience. And for Easywalker, Granstudio created a kind of virtual garage of 10 strollers, starting from the package, the basic physical structure of the stroller.
A series of iterative design loops were carried out to get a better understanding of volume, proportion, and usability, as well as comparing Easywalker ‘phygital’ buggies with physical ones to create a frame of reference.
Through this phygital design approach, Granstudio streamlines the design development process. The design team quickly narrowed down their options and iteratively refined the design, ergonomics, and usability of the three stroller versions, allowing for time and money to be saved while resulting in superior products.
Granstudio and Easywalker are committed to ongoing collaboration to advance the field of kids’ mobility. While Rockey S has been available since September, the upcoming launch of M and L in October will complete the product lineup, offering a comprehensive range of solutions for parents.
