Diploma project
Spring 2021
Institute of Design
Embracing Snow is an industrial design project in collaboration with the FUTURE team at adidas. Through researching, prototyping, interviewing and testing, I have created a suggestion for a product direction future athletes. It is a project with a conceptual approach that illuminates and explores what may be possible to achieve in 10 years.
I have created a shoe called FutureFloat. FutureFloat is a future running shoe with a sole that unlocks the magic of winter running. It has a 3D printed sole that amplifies the feeling of running on snow and secures a safe and controlled stride through better grip and stability.
The design of the sole is inspired by The Ptarmigan's feathered feet which prevent the shoes from sinking deep into the snow and improves the grip on the surface to ensure a safe stride. It is equipped with a skirt along the edge that acts as the feathers of the bird, which expands when the foot hits the snow and prevents the feet from sinking.
Both parts of the sole are 3D printed in the same material, but with different structural constructions serving different purposes. The structure of the skirt is thought to be created through an auxetic design technique, which allows the skirt to expand when touching the ground and immediately retract, so that it does not interfere with the other phases of the running cycle. The structure of the midsole is dense and soft. First and foremost because snow as a surface requires less cushioning, and you therefore need less material, that in turn makes it more sustainable. Secondly, the soft structure also emphasizes the soft and somewhat unpredictable feeling of running on snow, at the same time as the running stride is secured with the skirt.
This is an idea of a process and a product that opens up for more questions, wondering and thinking. And that’s the point. It points forward.
Sarah C. Herland Andresen / post@sarahherland.no / @herlanddesign
I have created a shoe called FutureFloat. FutureFloat is a future running shoe with a sole that unlocks the magic of winter running. It has a 3D printed sole that amplifies the feeling of running on snow and secures a safe and controlled stride through better grip and stability.
The design of the sole is inspired by The Ptarmigan's feathered feet which prevent the shoes from sinking deep into the snow and improves the grip on the surface to ensure a safe stride. It is equipped with a skirt along the edge that acts as the feathers of the bird, which expands when the foot hits the snow and prevents the feet from sinking.
Both parts of the sole are 3D printed in the same material, but with different structural constructions serving different purposes. The structure of the skirt is thought to be created through an auxetic design technique, which allows the skirt to expand when touching the ground and immediately retract, so that it does not interfere with the other phases of the running cycle. The structure of the midsole is dense and soft. First and foremost because snow as a surface requires less cushioning, and you therefore need less material, that in turn makes it more sustainable. Secondly, the soft structure also emphasizes the soft and somewhat unpredictable feeling of running on snow, at the same time as the running stride is secured with the skirt.
This is an idea of a process and a product that opens up for more questions, wondering and thinking. And that’s the point. It points forward.
Sarah C. Herland Andresen / post@sarahherland.no / @herlanddesign
