4A

I believe that there may be an opportunity to create more functional backpacks for people in sunny, warm places.




There are two main problems that I believe specifically students at universities and high schools with outside campuses have. One is that there is no safe way to store your sunglasses in your bag unless you bring a case. Additionally, the friction between the bag tends to create sweat stains on the back of a shirt. Currently, I think students are just dealing with the sweat and carrying their sunglasses around in their hands. I am not very certain that this problem is of huge concern to lots of people.




The typical customer would probably be any student who lives in a sunny, hot state. I think that trying to create a trend - such as hydro flasks - would be ideal since backpack trends are commonly something that a lot of people pick up on.




Interview 1: I spoke with a friend named Makayla who is a fellow student at UF.




She said that any classes that are not a short walk away causes her to sweat on her back. She says that she faces it often since she has many classes across campus so it comes up a lot and it can be embarrassing and make her feel self conscious. She often tries to sit in the back but other than that she does not do much more to prevent it. Sometimes she will wear darker shirts. Overall, she often tries to avoid being outside because it is so hot. With glasses, it tends to be a struggle to access anything in her bag. Since she has sight glasses this is even more of a problem because while she is putting her sunglasses away she has to also retrieve her sight glasses and try not to drop them or anything else while swapping them out.




I think the interview definitely confirmed that I am not just the only who experiences this problem and that I am not being especially picky.




Interview 2: Danielle, fellow student




She also agreed that these were issues but she didn't particularly find sunglasses an issue because she does not wear them very often. She did emphasize that being sweaty at the library was very embarrassing even though everyone else is too.




I think this interview made me realize that I may be looking at the wrong issue and maybe focusing on sweat specifically is more of a focus that resonates with a greater group of people.




Interview 3: Valentina, fellow student




She said that she does not wear sunglasses and does not often sweat that much on her back because she carries her backpack with one strap.




This interview made me realize that I am probably focusing on the wrong market since people naturally find a way to mitigate these issues. However, I think for a hiking backpack or music festival bag of some sorts, I may be able to create something more efficient. However, I think I would need to try to understand more about the current market leaders in these spaces and the issues these people face, since I am not someone who hikes or goes to festivals frequently.







Summary: I am unsure if my problems are widespread and if my idea would actually create impact. I think this also may be an over saturated market so it may be very hard for me to really fix a need that has not already been tackled. Maybe I could come up with some other tool for organization in transporting things since it is always a struggle for me to keep all of my stuff sorted. I believe feedback from customers is vital since without them you have no business. This is especially true if the people you have talked with are your exact target market.