YEAR: 2020
CATEGORY: Design Research, Visual Communication
ROLE: Concept, Research, Poster Design
CLIENT / TYPE: Semester Project, Burg Giebichenstein University
COLLABORATORS: Pauline Löhr
TOOLS / MEDIUM: Research, visual analysis, poster design, animation
OUTPUT: Poster / animated poster series

A bike is a bike is a bike.

A key aspect of contemporary political debates surrounding urban design and mobility is the question of public space and its future redistribution.

Challenge
The project explores the bicycle as an object within current debates on urban mobility, public space and collective use. It asks how different forms of bicycle use reflect different ideas of ownership, individuality and productivity. At the centre is the tension between the customised fixie bike as an expression of personal identity and the rental bike as a shared, publicly available mobility object.

Approach
A Bike Is a Bike Is a Bike compares different levels of bicycle use: the bicycle as a mass product, the fixie as an individualised object and the rental bike as part of an urban sharing system. The project questions whether the fixie, often described as minimal and reduced, is truly the most minimal form of bicycle design — or whether the shared rental bike, such as a Nextbike, represents a more radical form of minimalism through collective use rather than individual ownership.

Process
The project began with research into urban mobility, bicycle culture and the redistribution of public space. From there, the visual concept was developed around the contrast between individual and collective forms of cycling. This research was translated into a poster format that visualises the bicycle not only as a means of transport, but also as a consumer object, a social sign and a tool within the mobility transition.

Result
The result is an A0 poster and animated poster concept that illustrates three distinct ways of understanding the bicycle: as a general product, as an individualised object and as a shared urban resource. The poster opens up a visual discussion about how design shapes the way mobility is owned, used and perceived.

Reflection
The project shows that minimalism is not only a question of form, but also of use. A visually reduced object can still be highly individualistic, while a more standardised object can become socially and spatially efficient through shared access. In this sense, the rental bike becomes more than a practical mobility tool. It becomes a design object that reflects changing ideas of ownership, productivity and public space.