Additional concepts after the jump.
Additional concepts after the jump.
Over the past 6 months I have been doing research on parkour. This has taken place in many different forms. I started with a literature review. I ran an online survey and have conducted a series of interviews with new and experienced traceurs. This round of concepts focuses addresses some of the comments during the interviews and some of the ideas that we generated in a brainstorming session I held with some classmates.
Additional sketches after the jump. Feedback is welcome, let me know what you like and what you don't. Feel free to email me or post your thoughts in the comments section.
Surprisingly, I have never talked about my master's research project on the blog. Formally, the title of my project is "the design and development of dedicated parkour training apparatuses for use within a controlled gym environment". For anyone unfamiliar with parkour, here is a little primer. Parkour is the efficient movement from point A to point B. Its a young sport that is gaining popularity quickly but does not yet have a strong infrastructure to support it. As a result, potential new parkourists (traceurs) try parkour without alot of guidance, are attempting skill beyond their ability, and often get hurt. Parkour training in the urban environment can be dangerous for experienced traceurs too (concrete isn't very forgiving).
Right now traceurs will often use existing gymnastics facilities to train and small parkour gyms are starting to pop up. My idea is to design dedicated parkour equipment that can be used in and make use of the safety features in gymnastics and other gym environments. The ultimate goal is to start people thinking about the training needs of traceurs and hopefully jumpstart the growth of the parkour infrastructure.
My first round of concepts are after the jump. If any traceurs stumble upon the blog I'd love to get your feedback, either by email or in the comments section.
Not to long after I started grad school I attended a portfolio workshop. One of the topics they we discussed was the idea of a leave behind; a small 'something' that you literally leave behind whenever you go to an interview like a mini portfolio. It can really be anything but regardless it should be unique. I started thinking about what I could do and I decided that the coolest thing I could possibly create was an action figure of myself. That would be so amazing!
I kept the idea on the back burner of my mind for a while and have finally decided to go through with it.
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