Feb

Bike Designs Shine with Creative Imagination

by Janine Boylan on February 5, 2013

different bikes, illustrating bike designs with creative imagination

So many different styles of bikes!
© Thinkstock

A good bicycle is such a clever, simple vehicle.

I was appreciating the brilliance of bike designs as I was riding the other day. That is, until my chain popped off. And my back started hurting from bending over the handlebars awkwardly.

Oh, I see! Time to get a new bike!

So with this opportunity, I went online to investigate the possibilities. Obviously, a bike should be designed so it is comfortable and easy to use, but it should also reflect creative imagination.

Here are a few I’ve discovered.

A Creative and Flashy Design

Ben Wilson, a designer in the United Kingdom, playfully combined a push-pedal bike with a simple car-shaped neon outline to create this Articar.

Articar by Ben Wilson, showing bike designs with creative imagination

Ben Wilson’s Articar
© Ben Wilson

I like that you can recline instead of lean over the handlebars.

I also like its unique presence. I wonder—Is the light powered by pedaling?

Too bad this is a one-of-a-kind design.

A High Tech Design

This amazing urban concept bike was designed by Chris Boardman, MBE-R&D Director and company founder of Boardman Bikes.

Boardman's concept bike, showing bike designs with creative imagination

This spoke-less bike has a computer “brain,” which counts calories and plays music. It even uses fingerprint recognition to unlock it! The tires are airless so they will never deflate or pop. On top of all that, it has a solar-powered motor for when you’re too tired to pedal anymore.

Unfortunately, this one isn’t within my price range.

A Simple Design

And then there’s this one. It was the winner in a contest of bike designs from Google engineers, and it is what Google employees pedal around their large campus. This bike looks, well, ordinary (except for its distinct Google color combination).

Beautifully simple Google bike, an example of bike designs done by creative imagination

A brightly-painted but beautifully simple Google bike
© Janine Boylan

It has a basket, chain guard, and back fender to keep water from splattering the rider. And it has a bell—very important for navigating through crowded sidewalks of people.

David Fork, one of the designers of the bike explains, “Our design motto was ‘Build a user-friendly, safe and reliable, low-maintenance new GBike.'” He and his teammates worked on several different ideas with various types of brakes and gears. They even tried airless tires, like Boardman’s futuristic bike concept. But they found that the most comfortable ride was with this simple design.

Oh, I see (again). Sometimes creativity’s challenge is to achieve simplicity. As Steve Jobs said, “Simple can be harder than complex. You have to work hard to get your thinking clean to make it simple.”

Now, if I want to ride a simple bike like the GBike, all I have to do is use my creative imagination to get a job at Google.

Comment on this post below, or inspire insight with your own OIC Moment here.

Janine Boylan 6 Comments

The World's Art & Design

Jan

Bubble Wrap Has a Simple Life Lesson

by Janine Boylan on January 28, 2013

Bubble wrap, showing the life lesson that some things are just fun

It’s Fun to Burst My Bubble (Wrap)

Monday, January 28, is Bubble Wrap Appreciation Day. Bubble wrap is a great packing material for keeping breakables whole, but, really, who can think about bubble wrap and not think about popping it?

So I started to wonder, why do people love to pop bubble wrap? I researched and found theories that bubble wrap’s allure comes from:

Janine Boylan 7 Comments

Clever Ideas/Life Lessons

Jan

Lessons from Sandy: How to Avoid a Second Disaster

by Janine Boylan on January 21, 2013

Tools symbolizing the need to avoid a second disaster by making good choices when you donate after disasters like Hurricane Sandy

Making Good Choices—Will You Give a Hand? Or the Shirt Off Your Back?

Hurricane Sandy tore through the Northeast nearly three months ago. While Congress debates aid funding, millions of people are donating to the victims. Are they making good choices? What choice would you make?

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Making a Difference

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