Agile 4525L Passenger Seat by Ufuk Bircan Özkan

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DI: What is the main principle, idea and inspiration behind your design?

UBÃ : This design started as a project for a passenger van of a well-known global brand. So I started my first sketches to fit the design to their design language.

DI: What has been your main focus in designing this work? Especially what did you want to achieve?

UBÃ : Most of the passenger seats in the market are almost identical. I wanted to create a unique design.

DI: What are your future plans for this award winning design?

UBÃ : We are already producing this design for our customers. We will keep selling it with its new title.

DI: How long did it take you to design this particular concept?

UBÃ : It took around 2 years from the first sketches to mass production.

DI: Why did you design this particular concept? Was this design commissioned or did you decide to pursuit an inspiration?

UBÃ : The design was born after doing some analysis of our customer's design language and brand identity. Then I mixed it with ours.

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?

UBÃ : It's being produced since 2018 by Inova Otomotiv.

DI: Where there any other designs and/or designers that helped the influence the design of your work?

UBÃ : No, I'm the only designer that worked on this design.

DI: Who is the target customer for his design?

UBÃ : Commercial vehicle OEM's that prouce short distance passenger vans and buses.

DI: What sets this design apart from other similar or resembling concepts?

UBÃ : This design has a height-adaptive seat belt for a higher safety level. Its uniqe form allows a more comfortable seating.

DI: How did you come up with the name for this design? What does it mean?

UBÃ : Naming follows our product family naming rules.

DI: Which design tools did you use when you were working on this project?

UBÃ : I started with digital sketching on my tablet. Then used 3D software to build a digital model. Later on we built a prototype where we used 3D printed parts along with thermoformed palstics.

DI: What is the most unique aspect of your design?

UBÃ : Definitely the twist form on the sides of backrest.

DI: Who did you collaborate with for this design? Did you work with people with technical / specialized skills?

UBÃ : After the design concept was defined, I collaborated with my colleagues in R&D office to build its structural data.

DI: What is the role of technology in this particular design?

UBà : We haven’t used high technology in this design, but used conventional techniques in an efficient way.

DI: What are some of the challenges you faced during the design/realization of your concept?

UBÃ : Height adaptive seat belt housing was the most challenging part where we have tried 4 different designs with 3D prototypes and even one with injection molded part. The belt was sliding between the housing and the back cover and we had to produce new and simple solutions for it.

DI: How did you decide to submit your design to an international design competition?

UBà : Agile 4525L previously won Design Turkey Good Design Award in November 2018. This encouraged me to submit to A’Design Award.