Project
Client: Loop
Project: Loop Mount
Year: 2021
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Industrial Design
User Experience
Creative Direction
Loop is a London based startup, creating the next generation of transport accessories. We helped them create their hero product – Loop Mount, raising over $1 million on crowdfunding and selling over 40,000 units.
This project was complete end-to-end product development, with the studio guiding the project from early market research and proposition building to mass production and rollout.
Creating propositions from scratch
We kicked off this project with only a loose brief of ‘transport accessories’ to explore. We start open briefs like this with a thorough body of research, trying to fully map out the existing sector, understand what products were out there and how their relative strengths and weaknesses. We’re looking for problems, pain points or gaps in the market and also new technology coming into maturity that might create new opportunities.
Loop Mount raised over $1 million through crowdfunding and has sold 40,000 units to over 73 countries.
One key insight was that the current market is dominated by archetypes that have inherited from other sectors. We knew we wanted to create something completely new and we quickly identified a number of problem-solving product propositions that felt very different from anything else. The first of these to come to market is Loop Mount, a new type of phone holder, aimed at the growing micro mobility market (bikes, e bikes and scooters).
Prototyping & Testing
The design we created was something completely new and without a clear precedent, we needed to go through multiple rounds of quick experimental prototyping to validate our proposal. We created many generations of prototypes, each designed to test one element of the design. Universality was a cornerstone of what the brand wanted to achieve – so we spent a lot of time making sure it worked on almost every possible bicycle and phone setup.
Mass Production
We wanted to create something that got away from the cheap plastic products that dominated the current market. Ultimately our aim was to create something built to last which had the same qualities as other premium bike components. Part of this strategy was making it from metal, although this meant a higher price point, it allowed us to compete in a different part of the market. We carefully manage the manufacturing process and the brand has now shipped over 40,000 units.
The success of this first product has established the brand as bicycle accessories brand and they are planning several new products in 2023 as they look to consolidate this success and widen and diversify their offer.