Problems & Visions

There is a new trend that can be spotted in the streets. People are riding curiously customized bikes. The common feature for these bikes is focus on details such as same colours of frames, saddles, and spokes, or simple - but carefully crafted - vintage looks. Here the bike is not a functional device, but a medium for personal expression, a part of one’s image. 

Seen from service design perspective, there are couple of key issues to get things right. First the vision. You are selling hot new life style to young people, you allow them to stand out from crowd. Your aim is to sell shiny seemingly exclusive stuff in a angel-rebelious way. It’s not about health and trips to countryside.

Touchpoints are important. They include local community, website, and your shop. You can spark the interest by supporting local gurus, by offering videos and developing cool new tricks, and by designing your stores to appleal young audience (cafés and fashion shops can be part of it).

Product is crucial, but careful. People don’t want dirty hands from repairs (it’s haute couture after all!), nor blowing up tyres in front of others. They also don’t have enough money to buy a one-shot expensive item, so design cheap basic model which to be used as a platform to further customize with reasonably priced items to utilize modest but steady cash stream. Finally, you can launch accompanying line of clothes that fit the bikes or iPhone apps.

This is just a brainstorming during a short walk through London city centre. I’m sure you will come up with more opportunities here.