Node was such an interesting project to work on. I don’t think I fully appreciated this project back when I did it. For this project I collaborated with an engineering student from another university, and we actually made a functioning prototype of the shoe (well, he did, for one of his projects. I supplied the design, he supplied the functioning shoe). The concept was simple at first, make a shoe that seconds as a GPS device. It was originally targeted for just runners, with the shoes vibrating in different patterns based on the input your GPS app was providing. Needed to turn right at the next intersection? The right shoe would vibrate. Take a wrong turn and need to turn around? Both would vibrate. Eventually, though, we realized we could expand this, and came up with three different target audiences. One set for trails, a second set for city streets, and a third for the visually impaired. Although we only made one prototype, which I unfortunately no longer have access to, it worked as a proof of concept for the other shoes.

The design aspect of this project was incredibly challenging, as well! I wanted to play around with gradients and brush strokes in a way I hadn’t before, and I also had to learn quite a bit about shoes. To this very day I’m pretty boring with my sneakers, but at the time I was a “one pair of white shoes for every single use” kind of person. It certainly took me out of my comfort zone to design a stylish, functional pair of shoes that weren’t just stark white.

The packaging and branding around the shoes was kept quite simple, as I really wanted the focus to be on the design of the shoes, and the functionality behind them. Ultimately, this is definitely a favorite of mine from my college collection. Not number one, but certainly up there.