O'Neill Sand-Free Sneaker

Footwear Design
Designing an urban-active product
This project was for my individual Bachelor's end project, which I did for O'Neill. The project brief was to design a modular, urban-active product for their new apparel collection. For this project, I designed functional sneakers for surfers that prevent sand from entering the sneakers on the beach.
My contributions
Even though it was an individual project, I did receive guidance from two design coaches. The final visual designs are the result of my individual creative process. This project was my first time using the Rhino 6 software to make a 3D model, which was challenging but I am definitely proud of the outcome.
Project process
IDE course: Bachelor's End Project
Apr 2021 - Jun 2021
I used Brand Driven Innovation as a design method, since it focuses on reflecting the brand identity onto a product, which is paramount when designing a product for O’Neill’s apparel collection. This method utilizes a structured way of converging and diverging, in an iterative sense. Analyzing O’Neill as a company and the product context, allowed me to ideate on possible designs and solutions that fit within the vision of O’Neill, which I later validated with the target consumer.

Story

The end result is the Sand-Free Sneaker inspired by the organic shapes of coral. This is translated into the way the sole flows into the lace loops, as well as the lattice structure of the sole itself, which allows particles to pass through. To spread awareness about coral deterioration, the shoe’s upper is slightly bleached in a gradient. This gives the shoe a deeper meaning to the whole story, which is valuable for the marketing of the sneaker.

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