Backcountry Ski Apparel
I started skiing shortly after taking my first steps at the tender age of two. Since then, skiing has been at the epicenter of my life. My passion for skiing received major stoke at 27 when my manager at Apple invited me on a backcountry ski trip to shred with him and his friends — all avid backcountry skiers — on the Hokkaido island of Japan. This trip exposed me to a whole new world of adventure, demanding athleticism, and extreme conditions. As a User Experience Designer, I have a passion for turning problems into products, and my time in Japan showed me an opportunity to design ski apparel to meet the demands of backcountry skiers. The following is my process for creating concept backcountry ski apparel.
Step 1: Empathize
I’m versed in skiing, but backcountry skiing was a whole new adventure. Forming a deep empathy with the problems that experts face contrasted with the confusion that newcomers feel are two key extremes I need to empathize with to innovate the space. My ski trip proved a great place to learn from experts. From there, I spent the rest of the winter observing and asking questions of everyone I found in the backcountry and on the ski lifts accessing these remote zones.
Goal: Learn about the gear needs (both pros and cons) of backcountry skiers, and their strategies for staying cool & dry on ascents while keeping warm on descents.
Step 2: Define
After a winter of developing empathy for my users, I was ready to synthesize my research results into crucial information. I organized my findings by what the user was doing, thinking, and feeling at each stage of their journey. In bullet form, here are some of my key takeaways:
There is a need to change your internal environment on the go.
Pit zips aren’t accessible and often get blocked by backpack straps.
Keeping snow out of vents & other openings is vital to staying dry.
Layers should overlap in some of the problems they solve. For example, a mid layer should still shed water because it may snow on the way up.
From here, I created personas to represent the two extreme users I described initially. I made sure to consider the physical size & fitness level of most backcountry skiers — lean with unusually muscular legs.
Lastly, I created a journey map made up of the day-in-the-life steps that my users often complete. The personas & journey map are vital tools to help create a narrative for ideation.
Step 3: Ideate
My favorite part of the process, I started with a series of “how might we (HMW)…” statements to address the pain points of the personas. Here are a few examples of my “how might we…” statements:
How might we keep Pete dry on a hard ascent while it’s snowing?
How might we keep snow out of Brittany’s suite on a deep powder day — even when she falls?
How might we help Pete respond to changing conditions without having to stop and shed layers?
Next, I began to develop as many solutions as possible to creatively address the HMW statements.
Step 4: Prototype
I distilled my solutions from the HMW statements into a more concise set of features. Not having the means or dollars to execute on the prototype, I created a marketing brief that describes the backcountry ski apparel line from a high level, and the jacket and pant shell layer in detail. Here is what I came up with:
