During my time as a Product Appearance Design Intern at SRAM, I helped work on a variety of mountain and road bicycle products for brands like SRAM, RockShox, Zipp, and Quarq.
Our goal was to combine graphics, placement, and finishes to design components as attractive as possible, while also providing durability and protection from corrosion, utilizing responsible manufacturing processes, and meeting engineering specification requirements. We also worked to develop a coherent brand language, and visually evaluated product lines and competitors. Most of my time was spent drawing and re-drawing graphics, mocking them up on parts both digitally and physically, and preparing control drawings for manufacture.
Below are some of the products I worked on as well as some of my favorite concept sketches.
ROCKSHOX 35 GOLD
Front Suspension Fork Model Logo and Product Decals Wheel Size: 27.5” & 29” Travel: 100mm, 120mm, 130mm, 140mm, 150mm, & 160mm. Damper Type: Motion Control Color: Diffusion Black & Gloss Black Upper Tube Type: 35mm Straight Wall Aluminum Fork Offset: 37mm & 44mm (27.5”), 44mm & 51mm (29”)
Prior to the release of SRAM's new groupset, it goes through field testing, including during professional races. During these races, the product logos are usually covered up with adhesive decals or electrical tape. These decals are used to hide the model and product marks, but still show that the components are made by SRAM.
Quarq DZero dub
Power Meter, Spider, and Crankset: Components: Crankset, Coverplate, Battery Cover, & Spider Materials/Processes: Carbon Cranks with Clear Coat, Masked Bead Blast, Water Slide Decal, Injection Molded Polymer, In-Mold Texturing, & Pad Print
The Quarq DZero is a power meter that uses a strain gauge to measure the power output of the rider. By placing the power meter in a removable crank-spider, the DZero achieves accurate results and is interchangeable with several different crankarms and chainrings. In updating the graphics and finish for the DZero power meter and crankset, extra care was taken to ensure the colors and layout worked well with current and previous SRAM and Shimano drivetrains.
The Quarq DZero cranks can be used with both SRAM and Shimano chainrings and drivetrains by using different spiders, while the DZero spider can be used with a variety of SRAM and Quarq cranks.
Additional Product Appearence Sketches
MTB Groupset Finish and Graphics: Components: Crankset, Rear Derailleur & Cassette. Processes: Forged/Die Cast Aluminum, Blasted/Tumbled, Anodized, Pre/Post Ano Laser, Bake On Decal, Masking, Paint, & Clear Coat.