First concept

one Idea I had was to make a foldable hat. one that could have a hard casing but in sections that then could be folded up, so that on a hot day you could take it off, fold it up and put it in your pocked but when wearing it you had more protection then a beanie,

i want to keep to the normal beanie look as posable so looked at the different common shapes. the first was the normal shape with the flappy ear parts to keep their ears warm and the folds would go down the center of the ear parts. the next I looked at the normal round one where the bottom rim is folded over, I felt if I did this one I would make that part elastic so it would hold on to the head better as I am scared that if the segments are hard then they wouldn't hold to the head as well so I would be scared the hat would fall off, so having the elastic part it would hold on but it would also be easy to fold.
My last idea I felt would fit my preference better, I enjoy skiing with only ear warmers (a headband type thing but sits tightly over the ears) i like skiing with ear warms as it means my head were the hair is can breath but my ears and forehead can stay warm, but in this idea it would have the segments but between them will be made of mesh so it can breath, the problem with this one is that on wet days the snow/rain could get inside the hat and defeat the purpose of it and make your head could and uncomfortable so would have to find a way to get air into it but keep it waterproof.

Sketch model;

I decided to try make a sketch model to see if my idea would work, I know the actual shape docent match a shape of the head but I wanted to see if you could get it to fold and it does fold in the way I want it to fold. but as your head is not cone shaped and rounds over, either the materials would have to be able to fold flat when not on the head or would have to be in segments that are curved when in the hat position so have tension on the fabric when like that so it sticks to the shape of the head and then flattens out and collapses when not on the head.

Skiing.

I have the hobby of going skiing and love the freedom of the sport and a part of the joy of the sport is the adrenaline of risk taking, so in a way safety has to be kept at a minimum but now days it is becoming more common for people wear more safety gear such as helmets and some snowboarder wear wrist guards to prevent strains, but me personally don't like waring the helmets i find them quite heavy on your head and don't breath well so by the end of the day you have a sweaty head, I also feel that their is a fashion/status element when you are on the mountain as you just don't look as good with a helmet, if you aren't a pro you come of as bit of a wimp or just to over protective. But I do find them kind of useful as the last time I went skiing I bailed on a run and landed on my head which not only hurt but also resulted it not being able to move my neck for a week and I know that people have died while on the mountain and they would of survived if they were wearing a helmet like actress Natasha Richardson who died in a skiing accident for not wearing a helmet.

I would like to design a helmet that wasn't noticeable and was breathable as I find that the temperature of the mountain changes rapidly throughout the day, it is normally cold in the morning and on a good sunny day you are hot by lunchtime, and always find my head and chest area are the first to over heat (the head heats up after with a helmet of as it isn't breathable and also heavy and restricting so heat is contained inside it). so if I had a helmet that could keep your head warm in the cold wind and mornings but could also not over heat your head in the sun.

I found a website that looked at different skiing and snow boarding injuries and it describes that head injuries is the most fatal and can have the worst outcome, can end up with death or severe head injuries. 'Individuals who have sustained serious head injuries often need advanced airway procedures such as intubation and ventilation in order to maintain adequate levels of oxygenation. Additional complications can include respiratory depression, seizures (fits) and associated spinal injury. If the brain has been badly damaged, bleeding both in and around the brain can occur and the brain itself can swell. This is a real problem, because the brain is encased in a solid case (the skull) which has no vent for this increased pressure. The brain therefore gets squeezed by this increasing pressure which damages it still further. All in all, not good. Unfortunately, as a result, serious head injuries, even with appropriate management, frequently result in death or permanent and significant disability.'  There are three main outcomes that can result in a head on accident; Collisions - either with another person or an object (e.g. tree, rock, fence, pylon, snow surface), Impacts with snow surface (e.g falls onto a hard snow/ice surface or jumps that go wrong) or Lift accidents (e.g hits on the head from swinging T-bars, chairs or poma buttons). so there are many factors that could go wrong if you are not careful. 

head injuries account for at most 10-20% of all snow accidents but I feel it is the most dangerous.

Over the last 10 year in the USA there has been 39 deaths on the slops due to head injuries, and 30 of them were skiers and of the 39 eight of them were reported to be wearing helmets, so it shows that helmet do save the lives but do slow down the chances. 

There are also arguments against wearing the helmet, it suggest that wearing a helmet puts strain on the neck and makes you more prone to next injuries, it also states that helmets affects your vision as you cant see a wider range as you cant see on your sides. As you have the helmet on squashing on your head and coving your ears it is thought that your hearing is more impaired  I have found this when trailing the helmet, I did find it more difficult to hear. and also it is thought that when wearing a helmet  you are more prone to take more risks as you feel you will be fine if land on your head  the "risk compensation theory"

I looked it what ski helmets are made from and I found a web site that explained the different types of padding inside the helmets and what they feel are the safest type of helmet. http://www.allsportprotection.com/Types_of_Ski_Helmets_s/662.htm;

EPS

 EPS (Expanded Polystyrene). Low-profile and light in weight, EPS foam liners are the industry standard for action sports. EPS liners are not multi-impact, but they do meet CE/CPSC standards. 

SXP from Pro Tec

 SXP (Surface Activated Expanded Polypropylene). Patented multi-impact material that is ideal for aggressive riding style. Multi-impact SXP liners have built-in rebound control. Once the liners have been compressed, multi-impact SXP memory kicks in and the liner rebounds, maintaining its impact-absorbing qualities. Multi-impact SXP are the only lightweight multi-impact helmets to be CE/CPSC-certified and still deliver the style and fit that customers deserve. 

SEPP/EPP from POC

 SEPP (Super Expanded Polypropylene) / EPP (Expanded Polypropylene). The difference between the materials is that SEPP and EPP, unlike EPS do not deform permanently on impact and is therefore suitable to absorb repetitive shocks. Meaning, essentially that an EPS liner will break, distributing the force from the impact throughout the helmet. The EPP and SEPP are similar in that they will also break when the maximum force of impact occurs, but SEPP and EPP have higher stress limits when it comes to breakage and flex. 

Hard Hat Brock Foam from Bern Unlimited

 Bern Hard Hat is an interior foam called Brock Foam. Brock Foam is a soft, very comfortable foam that is rated as a multiple impact foam. When an impact occurs on a Brock pad, each bead moves the adjacent two beads laterally which diffuses the impact. Friction between the beads turns much of the force into kinetic energy. Multiply this by the thousands of beads in each pad and you have the essence of why Brock absorbs impact better than standard foam pads. It is made up of a polypropylene bead that offers a firm protective layer and has excellent moisture and heat wicking properties.

Brock foam is not certified ASTM or CE for skate, snow or bike. The helmet is still a great helmet, but you do need to be aware of this fact. 

Zipmold from Bern Unlimited

 The Bern Zip-Mold is what other companies will often call an in-mold helmet. The Bern Zip-Mold is similar in build to an EPS helmet except the outer shell and inner shell are combined into one during the manufacturing process. This allows for a better strength to weight ratio and gives the helmet a lower profile without losing its protective qualities. 

Most of this didn't make much sense to me in if I want to make my own as I don't really know how to get ahold of the different polypropylenes or how to work with them so I felt I would go for a different approach on making one and thought about changing the materials and form, if I want it to be breathable and to protect your head. I kind of want to mix the normal hat with the helmet; I don't think it it would be a helmet good for the risky skiers or the ones that jump off cliffs but a step up form the the beanie.

I then looked into the precedent that was given in class the Hovding- airbag for cyclists, using the airbag concept to make a cycling helmet, The airbag is designed like a hood and made in an ultra-strong nylon fabric that won’t rip when scraped against the ground. Hövding protects nearly all of the head, while leaving the field of vision open.

The inflated airbag covers a much larger area than a traditional cycle helmet and is designed according to current accident statistics. The protection is greatest where it is needed most and the airbag provides extremely soft and gentle shock absorption. The pressure remains constant for several seconds, making it able to withstand multiple head impacts during the same accident. After that the airbag slowly starts to deflate.

I think the problem with this helmet when it comes to skiing as it wont work as effectively is that it is more common to fall over on skis then it is on a bike as I feel that this type of helmet is more of a one it thing and then would have to spend some time to sit and put it back in and make sure it is ready to go off again, and I feel that the force you fall of a bike is different then on skis and it would be hard to deuterium if you are fall over or just flying down the mountain at top speed. also this helmet is designed not be be on your head most of the time and have your head exposed to the elements which isn't ideal for skiing as you want to keep your head warm in -0 temperatures. But it is a good precedent as it shows a different way to make a helmet then just the normal with a Polypropylene inside and hard plastic shell. 

I then looked at different types of helmets out there not designed for skiing but designed to protect your head. and I thought about rugby and boxing headgears, they aren't made out of hard plastic, they are soft flexible and breathable. they aren't the look I want to go for but they are good to protect your head on impact, so its a good indication to know where to put the points needing most protection. 

Children safety.

I found in INDN 211 I had enjoyed making children's  toys or objects that were based around children so I felt I could look at making something round children in this task. I have an 18month old brother back at home so thought about thing that you could make his life and surroundings safer. you don't want to restrict children's lives to much as you need them to learn what not to do on their own but there needs to be limitations on how far you will let them go before they are going to corse them harm and danger.

He is a boy of routine and every night he get his little chair and pushes it into the kitchen and watches his mother make his dinner and 'helps' wash the dishes, and he enjoys leaning how his dinner is made, but the only problem with him moving his chair around the kitchen and being able to be at the hight of the bench is he is now able to touch the elements which are occasionally hot and as you are multi tasking when in the kitchen you can watch every second you are in the kitchen so there is the risk of him touching the element when it is hot. it would be good idea to design a way that he can reach the elements and restricted him on pushing his chair close enough to the element but also make it easy for the person cooking to get to the element easily. or design a way so that if he get his hands near it either it wont burn him.

Bread tags it the highest object that kids choke on, so another think I thought I could design was to create a way to keep bread fresh, easy to make, easy to seal and reseal and children won't choke on. you could have a snap-lock type of seal on the bag so that you could reseal it and would have the bread tags but then there is the fear of squashing the bread. or just go to another extreme and design a completely new way to seal brad that will be easy and will take away the bread tag.

Safety.

For my next design project was have to come up with a new product of redesign a product to make it safer. So the get inspired I looked stats.nz and ACC.nz to see if I could find some stats on the types of injuries that people face though out the home and then from that I could think of designing ways of preventing it. I found it had finding specific stats on the types of injuries recorded, it just gave numbers on the age, race and gender of the people making claims which I didn't find helpful in preventing injuries. I then decided to broaden my search and found a Scottish website that gave the list of the serous injuries in the home in 2009-2010;

This table showed that nearly three quarters of people who where hospitalised  from injuries in the home was due to falling. I then discussed these stats with an occupational therapist who focuses on the care and assisting elderly people and she said the not only is the fall rate high with in elderly but they also have the fare of falling but a lot of them are stubborn and don't want their lives to change to radically when that are getting older and frail because that shows that they are weak, so If I was to design something of elderly I would have to come up with something that assisted them or prevented them from injuries but also didn't look different or would draw attention to themselves. so will design hidden handrails or lager steps, but also has to be easy to use as well.

We talked about different ideas that could help and protect elderly;

• I know that my grandmother finds it harder now days to get in and out of our swimming pool as she cant pool her self easily up our steps as we don't have any handrails and the steps are at a step gradient. It would be cool to design a way to get her easily in and out of our pool but not change the aesthetics of our pool but putting in a rail. 

• A lot to elderly people take pride in their gardening and like to spend their days in their garden, grooming and trimming there flowers or planting vegetables. When people get older their skin gets softer and are more prone to get cuts, this is then a problem when it come to cutting their roses as they then get pricked by the thorns, so I could design something that didn't restrict them from cutting their roses but could protect their delicate skin from the thorns. Also as they are more frail they find it had to be down on their knees and also find it hard to get up from the ground so another thing I could design around the idea of gardening could be to make a vegetable garden that was safe and easy for old people to use and maintain, it could be raised higher of the ground so they didn't have to bend down, but also designed ergonomically so they can reach everything easily. 
• They also find it hard to get in and out of bed, going from the lying position to then sit up and turn and then from their to then stand up. it uses a lot of energy to just a simple task as it uses a lot of different mussels and you have to use a lot of power to pull or self up. I could design something that could make this take easer but didn't change their environment radically as they don't like things looking different so physiologically it shouldn't change their environment to much.
• Also when you get older your vision decreases it becomes harder to complete tasks and makes it harder to see your soundings as your world docent look as defined. To make it easier to see around you home when your vision is decreasing Occupational Therapist change the lighting, and light up rooms resulting in making the surroundings easier to see. I could design a device that  used light to make it easier for elderly to see where ever they go as they don't just need their homes lightened up they need everywhere they go. I could make a walker with lights on it or some kind of head torch, but I think you would just look radicals with that and would draw attention to your self in a way you don't want to be addressed.