We had the distinct pleasure to interview award winning designer Masafumi Nakada about their original and creative Running Shorts design work. Masafumi Nakada is an award-winning industrial designer, that makes our world a better place with their original running shorts works.
Masafumi Nakada ("MN") answered Design Interview ("DI") questions about their award-winning work Multi Pocket Shorts Europe Running Shorts. Interview questions prepared by Frank Scott.
MN : The mission of my job is to make better world by power of sports. To make it, running is one of the key sports because it's popular all over the world. Personally I like running and I feel respect for runners automatically every time I see them. So I tried to design a product to deliver COMFORT RUNNING EXPERIENCE to the runners. Main principle of this design is RESPECT RUNNERS. All decisions were made with runner's perspective.
MN : I tried to design PROBLEM SOLUTION PRODUCT for runners. From depth interviews with runners, I found that many runners have stress for the pocket of running apparel. So I focused on pocket to reduce that stress for more comfortable running.
MN : I would like to deliver this unique running shorts to the runners all over the world(especially Europe) with power of this award.
MN : Running is unique, because we play it with belongings. Pocket is important for runners but each sports brand has not deeply investigated in the development of it since not many sports are played with belongings. I though pocket for running looks like blue ocean. I still have possibility to make innovative pocket if I focus on it.
MN : Runners feel stressed with NOT HAVING ENOUGH SPACE TO CARRY ITEMS and ITEMS SHAKING IN POCKETS. Considering GLOBAL WARMING and ADVANCE OF TECHNOLOGY, more and more runners will run with their drink and smartphone which may bring the same stress.
MN : This running shorts has patented zip pocket(credit card size) inside the mesh to store important items. This running shorts is made from at least 50% recycled polyester fibres.
MN : 360 degree stretch fabric pocket around the hip to deliver big storage and high stability. This pocket provides not only bigger space for storage but also less shaking of belongings. We can keep belongings around trunk to reduce shaking. Tight silhouette with stretch fabric makes belongings adhere to body. 360 degree pocket is divided into seven different size pockets, so runners can choose which pocket to use depending on the size of their belongings to reduce the space in the pocket which causes shaking.
MN : We made depth interview with more than 100 runners in 4 countries. Italy and France as leaders of trend, Japan and Thailand as leaders of global warming.
MN : The development of this running shorts was made by paying close attention to how it looks when runners wear it. We aimed for a pocket design that would hide under jackets and t-shirts so that the 360 degree pocket would not stand out.
