IN
DEGREE PROJECT DESIGN AND PRODUCT REALISATION, SECOND CYCLE, 30 CREDITS
,
STOCKHOLM SWEDEN 2020
Strollers specifically
designed for the circular
economy
Why the future paradigm will pose new demands
on products and how to fulfil them
SIMON ALIN
KEVIN LARSSON
KTH ROYAL INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
Strollers specifically designed for a
circular economy
Why the future paradigm will pose new demands on products
and how to fulfil them
Simon Alin
Kevin Larsson
Master of Science Thesis TRITA-ITM-EX 2020:373
KTH Industrial Engineering and Management
Machine Design
SE-100 44 STOCKHOLM
Examensarbete TRITA-ITM-EX 2029:XXX
Strollers designed specifically for
a circular economy
Simon Alin
Kevin Larsson
Godkänt2020-06-16
ExaminatorJenny Janhager Stier
Handledare
Teo Enlund
UppdragsgivareESSIQ
KontaktpersonLars Berglind
Sammanfattning
Dagens linjära produktions- och förbrukningsmodell, dominerad av slit- och släng-produkter är
problematisk på flera sätt och omställningen till en mer cirkulär modell är ett måste. Som det
framgått av tidigare försök och pilotprojekt är det inte tillräckligt att ta genvägen att enbart ställa
om affärsmodellenen (ofta genom att leasa, istället för att sälja, exakt samma produkter som
tidigare) för att uppfylla de krav som kommer som följd av omställningen. Detta projekt är ett
exempel på hur ett produkt-servicesystem för barnvagnar (specifikt designade för en cirkulär
ekonomi) kan se ut och varför en omställning vad gäller både produkt- och servicedesign är
nödvändig.
Projektet följer metoden Vision in Product Design som användes för att dekonstruera dagens
kontext och genom den analysera och ifrågasätta varför barnvagnar (liksom marknaden för dem)
är som de är idag. Den senare delen av metoden är centrerad kring att konstruera en framtida
kontext, ta ställning till och formulera en önskvärd interaktion mellan den framtida produkten och
användaren, samt ett resulterande produkt-servicesystem. Olika metoder och verktyg användes
under processen, såsom användarintervjuer och observationer, en circuit of culture, insamling och
analys av kontextfaktorer, en användarsegmentering, skapande av personas och customer journey
maps, en trendanalys, en stakeholder-analys, skapandet av ett fiktivt varumärke, en strategisk
varumärkespositionering, servicedesign-metoder som desktop walkthroughs, liksom ideation,
konceptgenerering och produktdesign.
Det slutliga resultatet är ett produkt-servicesystem som huvudsakligen består av en barnvagn,
Rolle Tellus, samt ett omgivande servicesystem som backas upp av det fiktiva varumärket Rolle.
Rolle Tellus kan på många sätt ses som ett första försök att "cykel-ifiera" vagnen som produkt. Det
är den första vagnen i en bredare flotta av Rolle-vagnar som är speciellt gjorda för ett cirkulärt
paradigm. Det är en mer tidlös, ärlig och optimerad design som uppfyller de krav som detta
paradigm kommer att ställa. Jämfört med många traditionella barnvagnar (tillverkade för ett linjärt
paradigm) är produkten ett tydligt exempel på god materialhygien och förbättrad hållbarhet.
Förutom de saker som nämns ovan ger Rolle Tellus och leasingtjänsten Rolle Adapt tillsammans
fördelar för användarna med designlösningar som kombinerar både hård- och mjukvara.
Vi vill betona att slutsatserna i denna rapport bör ses som en del av ett mer holistiskt verk (i synergi
med andra arbete) av hur produkter i allmänhet kan, och bör, utformas för ett cirkulärt
ekonomiparadigm.
2020:373
Strollers specifically designed for
a circular economy
Claes Tisell
Barnvagnar specifikt designade för
en cirkulär ekonomi
Master of Science Thesis TRITA-ITM-EX 2019:XXX
Strollers designed specifically for
a circular economy
Simon Alin
Kevin Larsson
Approved2020-06-16
ExaminerJenny Janhager Stier
Supervisor
Teo Enlund
CommissionerESSIQ
Contact personLars Berglind
Abstract
T
products is problematic in terms of sustainability and has to make the transition to a more circular
model. As evident from previous projects and pilots, simply taking the shortcut and solely
changing the business model (often by leasing instead of selling the exact same products as before)
is not sufficient enough in order to meet the demands that come as a consequence of the new
business model. Due to this, the goal was to design a product-service system for strollers
,
.
The project follows the Vision in Product Design methodology
context and by that question why strollers (as well as the market for them) are the way they are
today. The later part of the method is centered around creating a future context, taking a stance
and formulating a desirable interaction between the future product and user as well as a resulting
product-service system. Various methods and tools were used during the process, such as user
interviews and observations, a circuit of culture, collection and clustering of context factors, a user
segmentation, persona creation, journey mapping, a trend analysis, a stakeholder analysis, a
statement definition, the creation of a fictional brand, a strategic brand positioning, service design
methods such as a desktop walkthroughs, as well as ideation, concept creation and product design.
The final result is a product-service system consisting mainly of a stroller, Rolle Tellus, as well as
a surrounding service system backed up by the fictional brand Rolle. Rolle Tellus can in many
bike-
stroller as a product. It is the first piece in a broader
fleet of Rolle strollers specifically made for a circular paradigm, sourcing inspiration from the
fields of bicycles. It is a more timeless, honest and optimized design that fulfills the requirements
that this paradigm will pose. Compared to many traditional strollers (made for a linear paradigm),
the product is a clear example of great material hygiene and improved durability. In addition to
the things mentioned above, Rolle Tellus and the leasing service Rolle Adapt is together bringing
value to the users with design solutions combining hardware and software.
We would like to stress the fact that the conclusions in this report also should be seen as part of a
more holistic framework (in synergy with the work of others) of how products in general could
and should be designed for a circular economy paradigm.
2020:373
Strollers specifically designed for
a circular economy
Tellus
them
Simon Alin & Kevin Larsson
Today’s traditional linear production and consumption model fronted by cheap wear and tear
products is problematic in terms of sustainability and has to make the transition to a more
circular model. As evident from previous projects and pilots, simply taking the shortcut and
solely changing the business model (often by leasing instead of selling the exact same products
of the new business model. Due to this, the goal was to design a product-service system for
The project follows the Vision in Product Design method that enabled us to deconstruct today’s
are today. The later part of the method is centered around creating a future context, taking a
stance and formulating a desirable interaction between the future product and user as well as
a resulting product-service system. Various methods and tools were used during the process,
such as user interviews and observations, a circuit of culture, collection and clustering of context
factors, a user segmentation, persona creation, journey mapping, a trend analysis, a stakeholder
a strategic brand positioning,
service design methods such as a desktop walkthrough, as well as ideation, concept creation
and product design.
Rolle Tellus, as well
Rolle. Rolle Tellus can in many
a linear paradigm), the product is a clear example of great material hygiene and improved
olle
Adapt is together bringing value to the users with design solutions combining hardware and
software. An example of this is the theft-proof module that is integrated into the back frame.
and track the stroller in the case of theft. The module makes the product directly connected to
the service system in order to create a singular experience.
We would like to stress the fact that the conclusions in this report also should be seen as part of
a more holistic framework (in synergy with the work of others) of how products in general could
and should be designed for a circular economy paradigm.
When writing this report, we found that the recommended template from KTH was limiting us
with our supervisor, we designed this report in a more free format, taking use of entire pages
and giving us enough space for important images and ideas.
A recommendation from us is therefore to read this report as spreads rather than individual
pages.
We would like to express deep graditude towards the countless number of people that, in one
way or another, made this work possible.
Thank you Teo Enlund at KTH for your work as a supervisior and tutor.
Thank you Lars Berglind, Filip Håhus and the great people at ESSIQ for supervision and for
Thank you Amir Rashid at KTH and ResCom for your time and valuable insights during our
interview.
KTH for providing us with material for Målgruppsarenan.
Thank you Björn Florman at Materialbiblioteket for your time and valuable insights during our
interview.
Thank you Viveka Torell at Göteborgs Universitet for providing us with your thesis and valuable
insights.
Thank you Maria Brunstedt at Kronan for your time and valuable insights during our interview.
Last but not least, thank you to all parents that took part in our user studies. Your time, curiousity
and willingness to contribute was unvaluable to us.
Kevin Larsson and Simon Alin
Stockholm, June 2020
Carrycot
Canopy
Abbreviation
Explanation
Terminology
Product-service system PSS A business model that provide for cohesive delivery of
products and services.
Vision in Product Design ViP The design method used in the project.
Circuit of culture A framework used for cultural studies connected to
today’s strollers.
Context factor Observations, thoughts, theories etc. that in one way
or another is establishing a current or future context.
Persona
discuss user needs, experiences, goals and behaviours.
Journey Map A visualization of the various steps and phases a user
goes thourgh connected to the product and/or service.
project.
DESTEP A tool for analysing various macro factors such as
demographic, economic, social, technological, ecological and political ones.
Design roadmap A visualization of important steps and phases in a
design team’s creative process.
Material hygiene A design principle where one tries to avoid mixing
material in order to keep parts and components as pure as possible. This purity supports the dissassembly, recycling and reuse of the material at the end of the products life cycle.
1.1 Background 1
1.3 Limitations 2
1.4 Method 3
1.5 Frame of reference 5
2.1 A brief history of strollers 7
2.2 Market research 7 3.1 Interviews 11 3.2 Målgruppsarenan 13 3.3 Shadowing 14 4.1 Circuit of culture 17 4.2 Context factors 23
4.3 Clustered context factors 25
4.4 Parenthood arena 27 4.5 Personas 29 4.6 Journey mapping 30 5.1 Stockholm 2025 33 5.2 Design roadmap 33 5.3 Statement 37 6.1 Introducing Rolle 39 6.2 Service model 43 6.3 Service extension 45 7.1 Linear to circular 49
7.2 Circular design principles 51
7.3 Materialbiblioteket 53
7.4 Approach 53
7.5 Wear and tear thresholds 55
7.6 Design polestar 57
7.8 Designing Rolle Tellus 60
8.1 Comments on the results 77
8.2 Comments on the method 79
8.3 Advice and future work 80
Appendix A - Risk analysis
Appendix B - Complete frame of reference Appendix C - Interview guide
Appendix D - Parent cards
Appendix E - Parent characteristics Appendix F - Shadowing
Appendix G - Context factors
Appendix H - Clustered context factors Appendix I - Personas
Appendix J - Desktop walkthrough Appendix K - Synthesizing matrix
Summary
1.1 Background
the relevant background as well as problems connected to it. This is followed by a purpose
which is an important factor in our over-all approach, is presented as well. Lastly, our initial
research areas (used as a frame of reference for the project) is also described.
There is an enormous market for second-hand strollers today and it exists for natural reasons. The transition to a circular economy paradigm is imminent and especially suitable for a market such as the one for strollers (Mont, Dalhammar and Jacobsson, 2006). The transition will pose new challenges and requirements for the design of strollers as well as a potential service system providing it.
There have been previous projects, such as Bugaboo’s ResCom pilot, where around 50 customers tried out a leasing plan. The main reason for participants joining the plan was access to high-end strollers terms of switching between products as well as being more sustainable were other highlighted reasons. The pilot highlighted problem areas regarding logistics, administration tasks and it became apparent that less carefully than if they were their own. The products were expected to be used by two or three families during its lifetime but were sometimes severely damaged after only a few months. (Sumter, Bakker and Balkenende, 2018)
Based on this, our belief is that strollers designed for aspects. It could be divided into technical aspects and cultural and behavioral aspects. The technical aspect values are primarily industrial design engineering challenges (such as durability, modularity and construction) while the cultural and behavioral aspect primarily are focused more on cultural parameters (geographic, socioeconomic etc.), user interaction
and preconceptions regarding a product in a circular economy. By creating a service as well as designing aspects could be taken into account.
The expected result is in other words a stroller that is
challenges that this poses (eventual modularability, durability etc.) and should together with the service also take human behaviour and cultural preconceptions about a circular economy into account.
The traditional linear model is problematic in terms of sustainability and has therefore to make a transition to a more circular model.
The current situation with high up-front costs is problematic and could change in order to provide better strollers for a broader audience.
Strollers being put away and stored during longer periods of time is taking up unnecessary space and could have been used by other users in the meantime. One could draw parallels to vehicles being parked and unused for a longer periods of time.
suitable for a circular paradigm. Modularity, durability and construction are factors that have to be studied further.
The main purpose of the project is to design a stroller both the technical aspects (durability, modularity etc.) as well as the cultural and behavioural aspects (preconceptions, ideas of ownership, hygiene etc.) that a circular economy would create.
One way of looking at it is that this project would prepare both product and the users for this new context. In order to do so, studies regarding circular economies will be used as a foundation for the project. By doing so we hope to create a vision for a future context and from this be able to create a relationship with a future product (behavioural and user experience Bridging this current context (of a linear economy) to a the project and its purpose.
Design a stroller (high resolution) for a circular economy focusing on user behaviour and acceptance.
Create a digital model of the product to illustrate the design.
Create visual model (concept basis) of the PSS explaining how it would integrate in the future context.
What aspects matters the most from a user perspective when it comes to designing a stroller for a product-service system?
How does these aspects vary among different user groups?
Due to the scope of this project, reaching over 20 weeks conducted by two people, limitations regarding investigated topics needed to be done. For instance, the project is made in a Swedish context which entails certain market conditions, legislation and societal values. The focus in this project is to design a stroller for a circular economy, however, designing a stroller with a detailed construction which is ready for production would not be doable within the scope of this project and is therefore considered future work. As a consequence of leaving detailed construction and production out of this project, economic aspects and the viability for the whole product-service system has been left out. Another limitation is the resolution of the footprint and energy consumption, this because the result rely heavily on the usage of the product and the life length of each component.
In short, following topics was considered limitations for this project:
Geographic location Legislations Detailed construction Production Economy Advanced LCA
Further reasoning behind these limitations can be found in chapter 8.
into account as well in order for a circular paradigm to services of strollers have concluded that people were than if they were their own.
The chosen methodology for the project is an approach called “Vision in Product Design” (ViP) created by Hekkert, P.P.M. and Van Dijk, M.B. The reasoning behind this decision is based on a belief that a product-service-system like this has to be put in a purposeful (future) context.
This approach would question the current context (a mostly linear economy), the products themselves and how users interact with them. The idea is to create an understanding of users’ current values and needs and this, and by working closely with users while doing it, the idea is to create a bridge and an understanding of what a future context could look like. Since the future context (and not today’s linear one) the belief understood before the actual strollers are designed. By following this approach, the project could be divided into several phases (today’s strollers, today’s context etc.) each consisting of several methods and objectives.
In order to get an overview of the project and to discover was spent as a pressure cooker week. The idea behind this is to go through each stage of the process in a very rough and quick manner. For example, one single day is spent on desktop research, another is spent on ideation and so on. The week provided insights into what areas that could be interesting to explore further giving us a feeling of a mental head start going into the project. A risk analysis was also conducted during this time, see Appendix A.
The initial stages are focused on strollers and how they are designed today. This is done by mixing traditional literature studies with market research. Users are more involved during the second phase where interactions between strollers and users are studied through interviews and observations. Manufacturer and store visits are also essential parts of this particular phase in the process. The role of strollers in our society and culture is studied in a “circuit of culture” and starts off the third phase - today’s context. This phase is meant to create an understanding of how several context factors make up strollers, their users and their place in today’s culture. The context factors are used as a foundation for creating a customer segmentation as well as personas.
The conclusions from these phases are then combined with a trend analysis in order to establish an idea of a future context. During this phase, a stakeholder
analysis is made and an idea of how the transition could work out is presented in a design roadmap. Lastly, a view of this future context and how we would like to affect it.
As mentioned earlier, our belief is that a PSS is necessary paradigm. Because of this, the service design aspects will be an essential part of the new interaction between and could be seen as a placeholder for any stroller company that would wish to make the transition from a linear to a circular economy.
The previous phases are meant to create a list of requirements for this new context and new way of focus is spent on the actual product design of the strollers. By working with this methodology, the product-service-system will make sense in a context different from the one we live in today. The service and product is designed in order to be tightly integrated
TODAY’S
STROLLERS
TODAY’S
INTERACTION
TODAY’S
CONTEXT
FUTURE
STROLLERS
NEW
INTERACTION
NEW
CONTEXT
BRIDGING
A BRIEF HISTORY OF STROLLERS
PRESSURE COOKER WEEK MARKET RESEARCH DESIGN EVALUATION USER INTERVIEWS USER OBSERVATIONS RETAILER INTERVIEWS MANUFACTURER INTERVIEW CIRCUIT OF CULTURE JOURNEY MAPPING PERSONA CREATION USER SEGMENTATION CLUSTERING CONTEXT FACTORS CREATING CONTEXT FACTORS
TREND ANALYSIS STOCKHOLM 2025
DESIGN ROADMAP STATEMENT DEFINITION
PRODUCT RANGE DEFINITION BRAND CREATION
STRATEGIC BRAND POSITIONING STAKEHOLDER ANALYSIS
SERVICE IDEATION SERVICE DEFINITION
DEFINING CIRCULAR DESIGN PRINCIPLES
CONCEPT CREATION
ITERATING AND ADJUSTING DESIGN SKETCHING AND IDEATING
SYNTHESIZING FINDINGS
PROJECT
DEFINITION
FRAME OF REFERENCE DEFINE SCOPE
DEFINE PRELIMINARY METHODS
FINAL DESIGN PSS INTEGRATION RISK ANALYSIS
1.5 Frame of reference
and previous studies were investigated to get a better of similar studies that had been done. The material was then categorized under three different areas; circular economy, customer acceptance and design framework intersecting area were the ones found most relevant and laid the foundation for this project.
One document that was considered particularly relevant was the case study The Role of Product Design in Creating Circular Business Models: A Case Study on the Lease and Refurbishment of Baby Strollers which investigated the ResCoM Bugaboo pilot and Bugaboo Flexplan.
”Bugaboo explored and trialled a small-scale pilot for its ‘Flex plan’, which offers a leasing package for new strollers. Customers could subscribe to the Bugaboo Flex Plan to lease a stroller by paying a deposit and a and questions that needed to be addressed before implementing the new business model.”
”An unexpected negative result of the lease pilot was the return of one third of the strollers in a severely damaged condition. It shows the need to investigate how leasing might affect the sense of ownership and the willingness of consumers to take good care of the leased products.
”understanding user expectations and perception of value”, ”understanding factors of the use experience” and ”understanding the service experience and how to design services”.
The main reason for participants to join the Flex Plan appeared to be having access to a high-end stroller without the high up-front cost. It became apparent that people were likely to treat the products with much less care than if they were their own. In the current ownership scenario, products are expected to be used by two to three families. However, in the leasing pilots, the strollers were sometimes damaged after only a few months, despite customers paying a deposit of EUR 200.
In addition to this, KTH professor and head of the ResCoM pilot, Amir Rashid, was interviewed to get a deeper understanding of the project and its outcomes. Complete list with publications can be found in Appendix B.
DESIGN FRAMEWORK
DESIGN FRAMEWOR
K CU ST OM ER AC CE PTA NC E C IRC U LA R E C O N O M Y ECONOMY TRANSITION ACCESS VERSUS OWNERSHIP CASE STUDIES REFERENCE PRODUCTS REFERENCE SERVICES HERITAGE CULTURAL HISTORICAL SOCIO-ECONOMICAL GLOBAL CONTEXT DESIGN FOR: CIRCULARITY REPAIR RETAIN ADAPTABILITY EMOTION CIRCULAR ECONOMY CUSTOMER ACCEPTANCE
Summary
An important part of the ViP model is understanding the situation today and it’s origin. To do
this, a brief exploration of the history of strollers was done as well as a deeper dive into the
current market. This resulted in a number of insights and overview of the different stroller types
available, that was used later in the project.
An essential part of understanding why strollers are the way they are today is to understand where they come from. In order to gain an understanding of the history of strollers, Dr. Viveka Torell from Gothenburg University was contacted. Much of the work presented Barnvagnar under 100 år, en kulturanalytisk tolkning. A timeline was created in order to get an overview of substantial events and changes in the history of highlighted in the timeline - “Innovations”, “Ideas and society” and “Expert says”. Events of interest were tagged with these themes and conclusions regarding them could be made. For example, experts such as doctors, physicians, psychologists have during the are used and designed. Other aspects, such as as essential innovations such as the ability to fold the strollers. In total, it provides a concentrated yet broad view of the history of strollers, see page 9.
To get a better understanding of what the current stroller market looks like, a range of different stores, 2nd hand marketplaces, websites and internet forums were visited. In addition to this, the research from two KTH projects which investigated to products pram and stroller were used to complete the research. The aim with this was to get a wider view of the terrain covering strollers marketed towards all socioeconomic groups. Conclusions from this market research is that there is no unambiguous superior stroller that is used by the majority, instead a great spread in price, function and style that often can be connected to the user’s lifestyle and socioeconomic situation. However, to simplify further work in this project, the strollers have been divided into six categories based on their function.
Example strollers: Bugaboo Ant
Ultra compact, can be folded to a small package made for
User group:
Example strollers: Babyzen Yoyo², Bugaboo Bee 5, Cybex Mios
User group: Example strollers: User group: running trail Example strollers: User group: Example strollers: User group: Example strollers: User group:
The stroller as a product gains momentum and popularity as the result of a new ideal around childhood combined with the industrial revolution. The new ideal is centered about making childhood a time for learning, exploring and upbringing. A higher emphasis is spent on family life and several products aimed for children are
developed.This factor combined with an intensifying industrial revolution paves way for several new innovations. An example is William H. Richardson’s new adjustable bassinet. New materials such as metal and oilcloth is also introduced as part of this movement.
Right before the end of the century, doctors are also starting to claim that strollers are on ones hip, is said to be damaging for the child. The idea is that parents carrying their children while doing other tasks could compress the inner organs of the child and by that damage them.
Strollers are now primarily (and almost exclusively) made out of plastic, rubber and metal. Functionalism has a breakthrough in the swedish society and a lot of inspiration is taken from the car industry. The strollers are supposed to be more streamlined and changes such as the introduction of disk wheels are made. Swedish manufacturer Emmaljunga starts to offer customers the service of changing inner textiles, hoods etc of their own strollers as well as others.
At the same time, various doctors started to claim that second hand strollers could be dangerous due to the exposure of eventual bacteria and that “responsible parents” should make more sound decisions. This is yet again an example of how
playing around with his children. The time has come for accepting father to drive strollers. Along with the rise of the consumption society the stroller also becomes a product for every home. The old high strollers with bigger wheels also becomes modern again as they easier can drive over curbs. A new stroller design with a foldable cross brace is introduced on the market.
Maclaren invents A
lightweight construction practical for travelling. A year foldable double stroller for twins.(Maclaren, n.d.)
Journalist and avid runner Phil Baechler invents the jogging stroller as he wants to spend more time with his baby. It instantly became a successful product.
The stroller goes electric with Emmaljunga launching Cybex launching e-PRIAM. The strollers have a built in battery and a motor helping the parent in steep slopes and eases longer strolls.
With times changing, Max Barenbrug started to question previous and instead came with the insight that more and more households had two parents working and as result of this had less time with the child. With this in mind he founded the brand Bugaboo: a brand that highlighted the
times more expensive than other strollers on the market.
1999
The compensating
city stroller
2019
The electric stroller
1983
The jogging stroller
1930-1940
Functionalism
and inspiration from cars
1950s
Post-war and rise
of consumption
1965
The lightweight
travelling stroller
1900-1930
New lifestyles
and the portable
strollers
After the turn of the century, various improvements are made and an emphasis is put on a new sturdier metal frame.Many of the coming innovations such asadjustable seats and the fact that the entire stroller is foldable is based on this idea.These innovations were made in order
One example is the rise of everyday commute and the need to travel with the stroller on trams.
1850s
Strollers as we know them
There are previous versions of products that in one way or another
the innovation of the pushing stroller. In other words, new designs abled parents to push the stroller in front of you instead of pulling them from behind their back.
strollers that somehow resembles the ones we have today. The
1875-1900
The industrial revolution
and new ideas of childhood
IDEAS AND SOCIETY
INNOVATIONS
EXPERT SAYS
The stroller as a product gains momentum and popularity as the result of a new ideal around childhood combined with the industrial revolution. The new ideal is centered about making childhood a time for learning, exploring and upbringing. A higher emphasis is spent on family life and several products aimed for children are
developed.This factor combined with an intensifying industrial revolution paves way for several new innovations. An example is William H. Richardson’s new adjustable bassinet. New materials such as metal and oilcloth is also introduced as part of this movement.
Right before the end of the century, doctors are also starting to claim that strollers are on ones hip, is said to be damaging for the child. The idea is that parents carrying their children while doing other tasks could compress the inner organs of the child and by that damage them.
Strollers are now primarily (and almost exclusively) made out of plastic, rubber and metal. Functionalism has a breakthrough in the swedish society and a lot of inspiration is taken from the car industry. The strollers are supposed to be more streamlined and changes such as the introduction of disk wheels are made. Swedish manufacturer Emmaljunga starts to offer customers the service of changing inner textiles, hoods etc of their own strollers as well as others.
At the same time, various doctors started to claim that second hand strollers could be dangerous due to the exposure of eventual bacteria and that “responsible parents” should make more sound decisions. This is yet again an example of how
playing around with his children. The time has come for accepting father to drive strollers. Along with the rise of the consumption society the stroller also becomes a product for every home. The old high strollers with bigger wheels also becomes modern again as they easier can drive over curbs. A new stroller design with a foldable cross brace is introduced on the market.
Maclaren invents A
lightweight construction practical for travelling. A year foldable double stroller for twins.(Maclaren, n.d.)
Journalist and avid runner Phil Baechler invents the jogging stroller as he wants to spend more time with his baby. It instantly became a successful product.
The stroller goes electric with Emmaljunga launching Cybex launching e-PRIAM. The strollers have a built in battery and a motor helping the parent in steep slopes and eases longer strolls.
With times changing, Max Barenbrug started to question previous and instead came with the insight that more and more households had two parents working and as result of this had less time with the child. With this in mind he founded the brand Bugaboo: a brand that highlighted the
times more expensive than other strollers on the market.
correlation to the urbanisation.
1999
The compensating
city stroller
2019
The electric stroller
1983
The jogging stroller
1930-1940
Functionalism
and inspiration from cars
1950s
Post-war and rise
of consumption
1965
The lightweight
travelling stroller
1900-1930
New lifestyles
and the portable
strollers
After the turn of the century, various improvements are made and an emphasis is put on a new sturdier metal frame.Many of the coming innovations such asadjustable seats and the fact that the entire stroller is foldable is based on this idea.These innovations were made in order
One example is the rise of everyday commute and the need to travel with the stroller on trams.
1850s
Strollers as we know them
There are previous versions of products that in one way or another
the innovation of the pushing stroller. In other words, new designs abled parents to push the stroller in front of you instead of pulling them from behind their back.
strollers that somehow resembles the ones we have today. The
1875-1900
The industrial revolution
and new ideas of childhood
IDEAS AND SOCIETY
INNOVATIONS
EXPERT SAYS
Summary
Understanding the users and their interaction with the stroller is central before designing a new
one. To do this, 12 parents from various background and life situation was interviewed as well as
through the workshop material Målgruppsarenan which lay the foundation for the user
segmen-tation in chapter 4.
Users
Moving from a linear to circular economy paradigm drastically changes the interaction between user and the product and in order to gain a holistic view of this transition, 12 interviews were conducted. These interviews were about an hour long and covered four main areas - all equally important in order to truly understand needs and values of the users. The areas used as the foundation of the interview were parenthood, sustainability the product as it is today and how a future service could look like.
The questions centered around parenthood were such as “What is the best/worst thing about being a mother/ father?” and “Would you say that you compare yourself to other parents often?” for example. As one can assume, the questions often led to longer discussions and painted a picture of what the interviewee valued as well as questioned about parenthood.
Sustainability is another important aspect in this transition and a large portion of the interview were centered around this. Questions in this section were such as “When was the last time you bought or sold something second hand? What was it?”, “What do you think about raising the tax for petrol and red meat?” and “Who would you say bears the biggest responsibility in the transition to a more sustainable society? Policy makers or us as individuals?”. One very important thing to keep in mind, and something that were explained thoroughly each time, is that there were no right or wrong answers to these questions. They were merely there to provide a general attitude towards sustainability, how these vary among users
and how it affects the other aspects of this project. Building on the insights gained from previous user research and observations, the third section of the interview were focused on strollers as a product and the users’ relationship to it. These were general questions regarding common problems, the idea of buying and selling strollers, the idea of ownership, what one would like to change about their stroller and so on.
discussions with the parents how a future service would be and what would be important for them in this future scenario.
The idea behind this approach is anchored in a belief that these core values (about parenthood, what it means to be a mother or father etc.) is just as important as the very concrete questions regarding the stroller itself when it comes to designing the product.
Another important question to mention is the one majority of people you see pushing a stroller around on the street are women. The same dominance can be seen on internet forums, in baby product stores and in Facebook groups. One could argue that a natural approach would be to therefore speak to more women, since they seem to be the ones more involved in these questions. However, our belief is that a future scenario hopefully could be different. As designers, and especially ones that are designing products and interactions for a future context, we have the possibility
to shape (and in our view improve) the relationship to a more gender neutral one. By actively inviting more fathers into these discussions our hope is that this, in a future scenario, could improve this balance. As a result, active choice to include parents in varying age spans were also made as well as an inclusion of parents with
A visit to Kronan, a traditional Swedish stroller and bicycle manufacturer, was also made around this time. During the visit a longer interview with Maria Brunstedt, the current head of Kronan, was conducted. Kronan had previously tried out a small pilot where they offered customers to lease strollers for a longer period of time.
Kronan leased their traditional strollers (designed in many ways for the current linear economy) and highlighted the lack of a surrounding service system. This combined with the fact that most parents decided to keep the stroller at the end of the program led to that the entire idea mostly turned out to be merely an alternative way for parents to pay for the stroller. The insights from the interview supported the idea of how important an holistic view of the problem is. Discussions about a future product-service system were discussed and the idea of designing the stroller
Introduction to project
Questions about sustainability
Questions about parenthood
Questions about the stroller
Discussion about future service
To analyze the conducted interviews and to better understand the participants, they needed to be used to understand the participants’ relationship to sustainability was the workshop material called Målgruppsarenan, Sustainable lifestyles. Målgruppsarenan is a tool to get an overview of people’s lifestyle and attitude towards sustainability and is based on extensive research by KTH Green Leap 2015-2017 (Eriksson, Hesselgren and Ilstedt, 2017). The output from Målgruppsarenan is four different personality types; Self-trancendence - yellow, Openess-to-change - red, Self-enhancement - purple, and Conservation - blue, and in all groups, people more or less engaged in sustainability.
All interviewees were analyzed through Målgruppsarenan and placed somewhere on the map. This to both assure us that we had talked to people with all kinds of lifestyle and in a later stage to narrow down to people who might be a suitable audience and onboard the stroller leasing service at an early stage. To easier summarize the interviewed participants and to spark future discussions and user segmentation, A4 cards with a brief summary of the person was made.
Marie Hådén
Alert 35 year old living in Lund working as an occupational therapist. Lives together with partner and their two children, one three year old and one two month old. Interested and knowledgeable in questions regarding sustainability without appearing like an activist. Reflects over societal questions and can see things from several different perspectives. Aware about trends connected to parenthood that promotes consumption but has actively taken a stand against that. Feels confident in parenthood and not very affected buy commercial forces or social norms and pressure from other parents. Feeling of a genuin interest for sustainability which also is reflected in her thoughts (and optimism) about the future.
“It feels like you have the answers
when the second child arrived”
The interviews were of great value to the project and the insights were used extensively during the later parts of the project. However, there is often a discrepancy between what parents say they do and what they actually do. Because of this, shadowing sessions were done where parents on the streets of Stockholm were observed without being aware of it. By doing this, one is able to observe small behavioural factors that parents often do without even being aware of it. It could be anything from how people with strollers greet each other differently on the street to where one leaves the stroller when playing with ones child in a park.
Differences among parents as well as their relationship with the child and the stroller are other interesting factors that were observed. The previously mentioned
interviews painted a picture of a clear difference between parents and the user groups were easily parents were playfully sitting on their bum playing with their child while others were drawn into their phone. Some parents were out jogging with their lightweight stroller while others used their as a pack burro with one too many bags attached to it.
The photographs taken during the shadowing session were also used a lot internally during the later stages of the project and quite literally put a face on many of the types of parents we found extra interesting during stages such as the persona creation.
Figure 6. All participants mapped out at Målgruppsarenan. (KTH Green Leap, 2018)
Participant 11 Participant 12 Participant 10 Participant 9 Participant 8 Participant 7 Participant 6 Participant 5 Participant 4 Participant 3 Participant 2 Participant 1
Sitting on ground
Care free
Focused on child
Talking with other parents
Very active
In a hurry
Distant from child
Distracted
Serious
Trendy
Very self aware
Busy
Matching accessories
Talking with each other
Today’s interaction
Identity building
Very self aware
Edgy
Talking with each other
In a hurry
Focused
Distant from child
Stiff
Active
Moving fast but relaxed
Talking with child
Summary
personas representing different parent types are created and a journey map for those personas
in today’s linear system was created, highlighting particular pain-points to later address in the
service design.
In order to better understand the stroller as a product and what ripples on the water it creates on a cultural level, the tool Circuit of culture was used. It is a framework initially created by members of the British Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies (CCCS), and later developed at a conceptual basis to the 1997 Culture, Media & Identities series (Sage & Open University) (M Leve, 2012). The framework consists phenomena or artefact and these are: Representation, Identity, Production, Consumption and Regulation (Paul Du Gay et al., 2013).
Representation is about how to the stroller is presented and communicated in eg. media, social communities or popular culture. Identity is closely connected to the user of the stroller, and how their personal identity is Production is mainly focused on what values and thoughts the designer and producer is addressing with the design, how is the product intended to be used and by who. Consumption on the other hand is how the stroller is actually used by the users. Regulation is about what to the stroller.
This framework was then applied and interpreted on the stroller in a Swedish context which resulted in a comprehensive summary and a base for us to when looking into the future.
representation
identity
production regulation
consumption
Figure 8. Circuit of culture and its components.
and singular reason (the birth of your child) it tends to be used in a various of ways most people did not predict initially. Carrying and transporting the child is the stroller. Another area of usage that is not as widely discussed is the fact that the stroller can be seen as a child. However, the product tends to become a central part of everyday life and by observing how people truly consume the product and their relation to it, one could draw several interesting conclusions.
It is not uncommon to see strollers being packed full of things such as groceries, additional bags and clothes. The stroller quickly becomes a freight trailer for things you in other cases would carry yourself. There seems to be a connection between available space and the amount of things parents place on their strollers. Regardless how one chooses to look at it, moving around with a stroller is in many ways a limitation. This obviously affects the way people interact and feel about the product. You might get rejected entering a café and you might realize that an elevator is broken and that you will have to carry the stroller up the stairs instead. This aspect of how people consume and interact with the product is individual and might lead to a complicated relationship with the product.
stroller (other than transporting your child or a bag of groceries) and these should not be neglected either. Pushing around a stroller affects the way others perceive you in everyday life and usually (hopefully) makes people more helpful and caring.
Another aspect that not should be neglected is the way the product is used as an accessory. This is not something that is unique for strollers but it is without doubt a product that many parents see as an extension of themselves. It is, for example, not uncommon to see parents matching colors and other elements of their own clothing style on the strollers they are using. This is an aspect we discuss further during the identity section of this cultural analysis.
While the usage of strollers in some ways are strictly regulated by law, there are just as many (if not more) guidelines and ground rules made up on a social level. The line between the strict law and rules made up on a social level is blurred in many ways and the idea of what you have to do and what you shouldn’t is evidently
Airlines, housing societies, restaurants and cafes and since few general laws are in place and commonly understood, these rules have to be communicated at each location respectively. Signs and notes at cafes asking people to leave their stroller outside due to convenience is not uncommon, but again these guidelines vary from place to place. This uncertainty is an obvious burden for parents and one could in many ways draw parallels between this and the next area affected by rules and regulations - public transportation.
SL, the dominant public transport service provider affect parents with strollers in various ways. For example, people with strollers are able to travel with any of the city’s buses free of charge. They do however have rules connected to the size of the stroller and you the stroller has a length that exceeds 120 cm. There is an obvious limitation of available space on each bus and stressed out parents usually compete against fragile elderly people with walkers for each available millimeter. Seeing people with walkers or strollers realising that they have to get off and wait for the next bus instead is not uncommon.
SL also publicly communicates that strollers are not allowed on escalator but these rules are ignored by escalators, such as shopping malls, occasionally solve this problem by physically hinder parents from getting on the escalator with a stroller.
Another example where rules and regulation play an important role is housing societies and their view of storing the stroller in stairwells. The rules set up varies heavily from each housing society and are meant to not hinder the residents from leaving the apartment in case of an emergency.
Flying is another obvious area where strollers can be seen as problematic. Each airline usually come up with their own rules (as they do with luggage in general) and this again adds to a sense of uncertainty.
To summarize, many of the rules and regulations regarding strollers are made up “on the go” and varies heavily depending on what restaurant you are visiting or what housing community you live in. Moving around with a stroller is in many ways connected to uncertainty and you never really know which cafe you can visit or which escalator you can get on. While most of this information nowadays is available online, many parents are often met with notes and signs of where you are allowed to enter or not as they go on with their day.
The way the stroller is presented from manufacturers is varying widely with communication spreading from an accessoar making you as a parent stand out and your uniqueness to others more focusing on how their stroller enable you as a parent explore new places and being an active individual. These messages and values affecting the broader masses.
One aspect that has been present through history is the expert giving the public advice and sermon on how to act. Already in the late 1800s doctors warned the public that lifting the infant could harm the development of the lungs which paved the way for the pram. Today children physiotherapists are warning to use the ergonomic seating (Vanliga Hjälpmedlen Är Farliga För barnet: ”Blir Svaga Av vagnen!”, 2017) and studies claim that the child should be facing the parent until a certain age (Sandström, 2011).
This corrective and fear among parents of doing wrong have been fuel to commercial forces like media houses publishing articles with stroller accidents attracting reading and putting “must read-content” about which strollers that is safe behind a paywall.
In conjunction with internet being at everyone’s podcasts about strollers have grown with people discussing the product and situations related to it both in a comical and a more serious way. The stroller has also been portatited in the popular, both as a status symbol and as a comic cumbersome artefact with people failing to fold it.
As strollers are products that most Swedish parents come in contact with sooner or later, regardless of attracting different types of parents.
Different companies targeting a variety of user groups with different messages. This can easily be observed when walking around in Stockholm, seeing celebrities The stroller is an extension of the parents’ identities stretching from very conscious choices with special tailored limited edition version from exclusive fashion houses and vintage prams made in manchester fabric to less aware choices that might be more based on coincidence, which also says something about the person.
The stroller as a product is today mainly designed to be part of the linear economy. Pushing customers to buy new models, with similar copywriting as phone manufacturers who try to build up a hype around the latest smartphone model. However, some companies like Bugaboo also has some initiatives with prolonging the life length of existing products by offering an easy accessible spare parts tab on their website and having the same mounting standards for accessories on different generations of strollers.
Even though the stroller is a product that is produced for the child, our interpretation is that most of its features and design choices are made for the parents. The appearance with colors and materials are often tightly integrated with current trends and values, and has been so historically, see timeline in chapter 2. Over the years, several features have appeared on the stroller aimed for the parents, eg. the storage basket offering the parents the possibility to transport more things than the child, the knee joint handle improving the ergonomics for people with different height and the in uphill terrain. The design of the stroller also aims to make the environment for the child as comfortable as possible with friendly materials, a long canopy to enable darkness and ergonomic seating that claims to improve the seating for the child.
One clear strategy most stroller companies have is the they’re offering several different strollers, depending on needs and lifestyle. Ranging from sleek city strollers adapted for running, biking or skiing.
Lastly, the strollers sold in Sweden are clearly designed for a western society and culture with public spaces adjusted to strollers. In big cities in eg. India, there is no established stroller culture and there is rarely enough space on the sidewalks.
Factors of all kinds were gathered and discussed by combining insights from all previous phases of the project. It is important to note that these context factors rather any kind of factor that in one way or another the future stroller. It could be something very closely connected to strollers, such as a the fact that “bigger stroller wheels tend to collect less snow” or something more broad such as the fact that “the number of parents are anticipating regrets and are afraid of making the wrong decision”. It is also important to not neglect even broader, fundamental context factors
a parent overly self conscious in the company of other parents”.
This again goes in line with creating and understanding the holistic view of what it means to be a parent today and what a future product-service system has to take into account. A large amount of context factors where gathered and categorized into several themes. The themes, and some of the context factors, can be seen in appendix G.
Common themes among the different groups in Målgruppsarenan were also discussed. One obvious example could be that many parents from the self-enhancement segment values ownership to (and build their own identity around) their stroller more than others.
The following step was to structure the context factors themes. It is evident that not all parents are the same and that it would be necessary to make a strategic early adopter for the future product-service system. The context factors were organized into clusters such lucky”. Each cluster is made up out of several context opposite ends of two scales. The clusters on the same end of each axis were then themselves clustered into one main theme. For example, the three clusters building” are summarized as “self-conscious” while “prepjunkie”, “inventor” and “the great strategist” are summarized as “proactive”. In short, context factors are summarized as clusters and those clusters are then summarized at the end of each scales.
These scales are then converted into axises that are used as the foundation for the following phase of the project.
Context factor A
Context factor B
Context factor C
Context factor D
Cluster A
Cluster A Cluster C Cluster F Cluster H Cluster I Cluster B Cluster D Cluster G Cluster ECluster B
Figure 15. Clustered context factors
self-conscious
proactive
focused on child
reactive
- prepjunkie - inventor- the great strategist
- identity building
- gut feeling - happy go lucky
trustworthy
safe
By using the two scales from the previous chapter as a horizontal and vertical axis respectively, a map with a picture of parents attitude toward sustainability in general, this new map is used in order to discuss different types of parents and their relationship to parenthood in general as well as their children. This new map is referred to as the Parenthood arena and was used extensively during the project.
that we believe in broad terms cover the types of parents there are. Since these four categories cover a very broad spectrum of parents, it was important to truly break down what makes them different at the core level. The segmentation is based on what we believe is the underlying driving force in the
particular parenthood. For example, parents in the upper left quadrant, leaning towards “proactive” and “self-conscious” we believe is driven by eliminating risk while parents in the lower right quadrant, leaning towards “reactive” and being “focused on the child”, rather is driven by growing together with the child. In short we believe all parents in one way or another could be placed fairly on this map and the segmentation abled us to make a strategic choice in terms of how to proceed.
Figure 17. The four parent groups created from each quadrant on the map.
self-conscious
proactive
focused on child
reactive
parents driven by
eliminating risk
parents driven by
optimizing parenthood
parents driven by
growing with the child
parents driven by
convenience and conformity
- prepjunkie - inventor
- the great strategist
- identity building
- gut feeling - happy go lucky
safe
self-conscious
proactive
focused on child
reactive
parents driven by
eliminating risk
parents driven by
optimizing parenthood
parents driven by
growing with the child
parents driven by
convenience and conformity
- prepjunkie - inventor
- the great strategist
- identity building
- gut feeling - happy go lucky
provide a wide range of transparent
solutions while avoiding potential pitfalls
provide the correct solution at the right time
embrace the ever changing nature
of parenthood
let others explore the terrain
customizable
trustworthy
adaptable
playful
forgiving
simple
professional
reliable
transparent
personal
safe
By building upon what we believe are the underlying driving forces, the parents spoken to earlier were placed all around the map. By further interviewing them, we were able to understand what kind of needs they truly have as well as suitable ways to communicate with them.
interactions that we would want to create between the user and the product-service system. The strategic decision to not investigate the lower-left quadrant (parents driven by convenience and conformity) is further explained in chapter 5.3.
Lastly, it is important to stress the fact that these quadrants should not be seen as either or. Most (all) parents do obviously have aspects, more or less, from each quadrant.
4.5 Personas
From the interviews conducted and parent groups created. The reasoning behind this was to condense and translate our interpretation into more tangible and clear person types. These personas belonged to the three parent groups that we believed were most likely to onboard the product service system in an early stage, parents driven by either eliminating risk, optimizing parenthood or growing with the child. Even if the values, dreams, lifestyle and family situations are based on interviews with real people.
Henric
the
great strategist
Henrik is 28 years old and is planning to move out from central Stockholm to Tyresö with his childhood love Sara. Henrik has since he was a child wanted to work as a police or teacher, and during his university studies he considered to change track to politics. Eventually he chose teacher which he has intentioned to work with for a long future.
Both Henrik and Sara has stable incomes and has together, after a few years of saving, bought a small house on Tyresö. Henrik thinks it is important to learn to know his new neighbours and has invited them over for dinner and a music quiz. In about the after Henriks father, is predicted. It will be a lot of work being a parent simultaneously as moving in, but Henrik feels prepared and that he and Sara will manage the task together. Henrik is looking forward to being a parent and thinks that he has a great responsibility to raise Bo to a honest and fair individual. Henrik thinks that the environmental topics probably are important but is no expert. “The most important is that the stops using plastic bags at ICA”. Even if he want to do right and tries to live sustainable, it can not compromise with his life quality.
a 28 year old, working as a teacher
living together with hischildhood love Sara bought a house where they plan to live for forever personal comfort is just as important as sustainability
Figure 19. Example personas, full line up in Appendix I
Flora
the
contributor
Flora is 24 years old and is living in Vasastan with her slightly older boyfriend Luis as well as their newborn son Hugo. Flora works at an ad agency and is often making jokes with her friends about her male art director colleagues and their stereotypical lifestyles. Flora and Luis met over Tinder and this is something Flora likes to mentioned jokingly when they are around friends since she knows that it makes Luis uncomfortable. Flora is well aware of the climate and the many problems connected to sustainability. She tries to act responsibly and likes to, a bit ironically, say that she is vegan three days of the week. Sometimes, this turns into two times a week instead but that is okay.
Flora is curious about parenthood in general and have met some occasionally listening to the popular rullavagn-podcast (a for fun than anything else. “There are so many strange
guidelines and rumors about what you should do as a parent.
The important thing is that the kid is healthy and happy.”.
a 24 year old, working at an ad agency
thinking about pursuing a career in nursing instead
living in an apartment in a Vasastan in Stockholm is an on and off vegan and tries to do good
