Breaking The Car Sunshade Mould
Should we accept something just because that’s how it has always been done and why I chose to reinvent the car sunshade.
Simon Sinek has successfully created a brand consciousness in us to consider what our ‘why’ is?
People don’t buy what you do, they buy why you do it.
As a product designer at heart, I have adopted the intuition to challenge the status quo of everything I see every day especially when it comes to products and as a result of watching Simon’s TED Talk countless times over the years, I have adapted the premise with a different ‘why?’
Why has that product been produced like that and why is it universally accepted to continue purchasing them even if there are significant design flaws? So I asked myself is the answer, ‘that’s just how car sunshades are made’?
I guess what contributes to that answer is the embodiment of product design and evolution, every now and again someone comes along and thinks they can improve something and looks at a market in a completely different way to how it has always been perceived.
Introducing to the world Shady® the first fully adhesive car sunshade.
The car sunshade market may not be where I thought I would find myself when I started out on my journey but once I came across it, it was one that had me asking that one question more and more when I looked at products already on the market, why? And then how can I improve it. Don’t get me wrong I have been just as guilty as everyone else, car sunshades were always the roller blinds with suction cups as I was growing up, I remember them clearly when I was a child and so if it’s not broke don’t fix it.
I looked at how the existing suction cups can lose friction over time and can fall off at any unexpected moment midway through a car journey. Also the fun game of your little one trying to pull the shade off during a journey. To the extremity of driving along the motorway and without thinking winding down your window because your little back seat driver wants some fresh air and right before their eyes, they watch it get sucked straight out of the car 😱.
This is just the functionality of one type of car sunshade available and accepted, probably the most recognisable shade, I then moved onto the static cling versions that don’t allow you to wind your window down, can fall off as the temperature of the window fluctuates and look like a wet plastic bag has been stuck to the inside of your window when you view from the outside (in my opinion).
Next the fabric sleeves that fit over your entire door that don’t fit exactly, make a noise flapping around in the wind including inside the vehicle if the window is open and that they get covered in everything the roads have to offer which means it’s something else to remember to put in the washing machine regularly. Again in my opinion from the outside they look like you’re covering up your window because someone has tried breaking into your car.
Our Purpose
Form follows function is a recognised principle of design but is this correct? Frank Lloyd Wright rebuffs that statement as a misunderstanding and that “Form and function should be one” and I completely agree. Of course the product must work but the aesthetics, the quality, has to be carried out all the way through and matched equally. If they aren’t all working together as one then in my opinion, it’s not a product for me and that’s where the design on display becomes an integral piece of the puzzle.
The design/content displayed on existing products on the market (if any as print costs money) is undoubtedly the most difficult aspect to evaluate because it’s so subjective, I can prove if ours works better or not but everyone will have a different idea as to what looks good and what doesn’t.
However, for me it’s the clearest part of the product and will define how our brand thinks, acts and communicates. I guess that’s the vision.
I get inspired by thinking, if your new-born baby could talk, they would say ‘I love it, it’s fun, it works’ and that is the core value of the brand – if your baby could talk, would they tell you they love it? Not what I think is right or what makes more commercial sense like having the print facing outwards, so we get more exposure if you park in the supermarket carpark or having no print at all as it’s more cost effective. I don’t care that you can’t see the logo from the outside, in fact I like that it’s subtle and doesn’t impact the overall appearance of your car, like it’s not there at all and it doesn’t excite me at all if they were plain with no print just to increase the margins.
My passion comes from the notion that your child is so content led in their seat staring at the design, curious, fascinated - ‘I don’t know what this is, but I love it’, distinguishing between the shapes and characters, cognitively engaging with them and hopefully helping with their development. In my mind I like to think that as they grow up, they look at the characters as their friends who are there with them during every journey, so they don’t feel alone and look forward to getting in the car. That might just be me and a fantasy but it’s nice to think, isn’t it? It’s the core value of the brand and what I want to come across at every opportunity. ‘People don’t buy what you do they buy why you do it.’
Trust
All decisions are made based on what I think the child would want, that it’s my responsibility to represent their best interests. Second to that as a parent you trust us as a brand to make your child feel safe using our product and that it ticks every box. That once it’s fitted you know it’s not going to come off (unless you want to remove it when the time comes), that it’s providing protection by confidently blocking harmful UV rays and that in the summer if you ever need to wind your window down for whatever reason, our USP allows you to.
It’s the small detail that I want to be our inspiration, yes there’s nothing better than getting fresh air, it’s that feel good factor that it’s great for your child especially in the summer. You might not be fortunate to have air conditioning, or it might just not be working. However, for me I want you to picture this scenario. You’re leaving your parent’s house after they’ve been babysitting, you’re all packed up and strapped in the car and as you’re about to pull away your human nature automatically winds down the rear window so your child can wave goodbye to their grandparents, and they can both tell each other they love them. Not for one second as a parent in that moment would you think about your sunshade and the implications of winding the window down. It’s those precious moments that are taken for granted that we take into consideration for you and are just as important to us so as a consumer you don’t need to think. The below video sums this up perfectly, why would you not want a car sunshade that allows you to wind your window down?
Yes, there are tinted windows available, but do you know the protection they provide? Do they have a design on them for the reasons already mentioned? You can still apply our shades to your tinted windows to provide additional protection. Some vehicles have pull up blinds built into their doors, great (an additional cost to your vehicle purchase no doubt) but can your child pull them down whilst you’re driving, yes, and do they have a design on them, probably not, can they see their grandparents to wave goodbye, no.
I want to make one thing clear I’m not looking to take aim at the competition and pick their products apart, they all have their place in the market and have done a job for a very long time and are ok. If those shades suit you better then I wish you all the best with them. I’m just pointing out what has led me to create this product and that once in a while someone comes along with knowledge in a different field and just looks at things from a different angle. Believing that they can solve problems that you didn’t even realise existed.
I don’t think we live in a world anymore where just ok is enough. In every facet of life people strive to be better every day, social media constantly motivates that personally, that you can do anything.
We live in a can-do society that breaks boundaries and that’s where Shady® fits.
