Be Free
Master Thesis
Be Free is a mobile, rear-facing and safe child car seat for the urban family. The concept is developed for parents who do not own their own car and have a child in the age span 1-5 years. The car seat is foldable and can be transformed into a backpack. The solution to guarantee child traffic safety in the future, when owning your own car is not the norm, is Be Free.
​
Tools
Software
Online Surveys Prototyping
Digital Sketches Interviews Ideation
User Journeys Personas
KeyShot Photoshop CATIA V5
Illustrator PowerPoint
Project Brief
Today more than half of the human population lives in an urban areas. This includes many parents who uses shared mobility services together with their children. A group of people that is estimated to increase in the future. Child car seats today are not adapted for this lifestyle - and they need to keep up with this trend to guarantee child traffic safety in the future.
This master thesis project was initiated and supervised by Axkid. A Swedish company that develops Child restraint system for children with a focus on child traffic safety. The purpose of this project was to invent a child car seat concept that is more mobile and offers better storing opportunities than the average car seat but is just as safe. And thereby, the needs and prerequisites to own a car as parent, can be lowered, as well as it simplify for parents to use shared mobility services together with children.
Result
Concept - Be Free
The concept is developed for parents who do not own a car and have other needs of a car seat. A group of customer that is estimated to increase in the future. Ordinary child car seats are, big, bulky and heavy and, therefore, difficult to carry to a car. The Be Free concept is foldable and adapted to be carried to a car. Be Free is the only rear-faceing mobile child car seat today.
​
The concept has a metal core that provides stability and protects the child in a car crash. Plastic and styrofoam, created a protective shell towards the child, lowers weight and is shock absorbent. The car seat is covered in a soft, padded fabric that can be removed and washed.
​
Game Changing Design
The concept can be transported by being carried as a backpack. The child car seat has a sternum strap and padded lumbar pads to enhance comfort for the carrier. Since parents who do not own a car, generally need to carry a child car seat for longer distances, good mobility is crucial. In this way the concept offers a higher level of freedom to the user.
​
Easy to transport
By having a rear-facing construction with safe and intuitive attachment systems, the product can offer the best level of safety for children. The rigid metal core secures that the car seat will not fold during a car crash. By having invented a product that s easy to bring along, the hope is that the child car seat will be used in more situations and to a larger extent, and in this way secure child traffic safety in the future.
Easy to Be Safe
Be Mobile Be Safe Be Free
Process
User Research
Online Surveys, through Facebook groups, were used to get access to relevant users. In this way, we were able to gain information from 149 parents who do not own their own cars. 251 parents who owned a car but who aimed for a car free lifestyle, also responded and provided information to the study.
