DI: What is the main principle, idea and inspiration behind your design?
: The aim was to avoid blood accumulation in feet that cause aches during long journeys.
DI: What has been your main focus in designing this work? Especially what did you want to achieve?
: The product firstly needs to function correctly and without disturbing the user. Movement is kept very soft so that people can comfortably use it. The second important point was its form, as users wouldn't want to put their feet on a machine-looking mechanism.
DI: What are your future plans for this award winning design?
: My last destination with ErgoFeet will be integrating it into all available passenger seat types for land, sea and aerial transport.
DI: How long did it take you to design this particular concept?
: It had been developing in my ideas time by time for months, but I couldn't find time to detail it. After I decided to put the idea into a finished product; it took 2 weeks for me to work on it.
DI: Why did you design this particular concept? Was this design commissioned or did you decide to pursuit an inspiration?
: Designing ErgoFeet was a new pursuit which was not commissioned. It is the cure for the most important complaints about coach seats.
DI: Is your design being produced or used by another company, or do you plan to sell or lease the production rights or do you intent to produce your work yourself?
: I designed ErgoFeet for the company I currently work for. We are working on the concept for future use.
DI: What made you design this particular type of work?
: Most of the complaints we receive about seats are about comfort and aches occurring during travels. Although form and hardness of seat cushion seems the main responsible, keeping our legs still is very important. So I designed this accessory in order to reduce complaints about seats.
DI: Where there any other designs and/or designers that helped the influence the design of your work?
: Some similar products for office use led me on deciding the working principle.
DI: Who is the target customer for his design?
: Target costumer is anybody who travels by coaches, trains, ferries or planes.
DI: What sets this design apart from other similar or resembling concepts?
: There are not similar concepts like ErgoFeet. The closest rivals are passive footrests which do not move your feet and thus are ineffective.
DI: How did you come up with the name for this design? What does it mean?
: The name "ErgoFeet" is a simple combination of the words "ergonomic" and "feet".
DI: Which design tools did you use when you were working on this project?
: I, as always, started with thinking and then recorded the idea on paper. CAD models needed for visualization and presentation are created by Rhinoceros.
DI: What is the most unique aspect of your design?
: It will change how people think about long journeys as it will avoid tiredness at the end of the road.
DI: Who did you collaborate with for this design? Did you work with people with technical / specialized skills?
: I got support from my colleagues in R&D department in order to realize the design.
DI: What is the role of technology in this particular design?
: It does not require high technology and can be produced by putting conventional gadgets together.
DI: Is your design influenced by data or analytical research in any way? What kind of research did you conduct for making this design?
: Design researches were based on public questionnaires and feed-backs from our customers.
DI: What are some of the challenges you faced during the design/realization of your concept?
: Operating technique was a question for us because it was possible to start ErgoFeet by a control placed on the backrest of the seat at the front also. In the end, as we want it to be a separate accessory, decided on keeping it an independent product itself.
DI: How did you decide to submit your design to an international design competition?
: After finishing the design, feed-backs were really good and people wanted to use it. This encouraged me for nominating it.
DI: What did you learn or how did you improve yourself during the designing of this work?
: I understood that simple mechanisms can differ a lot.
DI: Any other things you would like to cover that have not been covered in these questions?
: Thank you for the interview.