Core77 2014 Design Awards

Arctic Zone Self-Inflating Cooler

1. The Nutshell: In plain language, tell us what your project is, what it does, and what it’s comprised of.

The inflatable cooler is a portable, lightweight cooler that collapses into a small compact roll. Using self-inflating technology takes a traditionally bulky item like a cooler and re-invents it into a small and easy to use product.

2. The Brief: Summarize the problem you set out to solve. What was the context for the project, and what was the challenge posed to you?

Arctic Zone has been designing soft-sided food storage solutions since 1986. When we wanted to create a revolutionary design that used uncommon design methods to create value in our products we started exploring new materials, products, production methods, industries and insulation technologies that could bring innovation to our products.

3. The Intent: What point of view did you bring to the project, and were there additional criteria that you added to the brief?

This project started with envisioning a great camping experience. By narrowing our research to food storage and transport we identified several common pain points and opportunities. One of the most common pain points among car camping experiences was limited storage space. The Arctic Zone inflatable cooler set out to create a highly packable and lightweight cooler. Traditional hard-sided coolers take up considerable space when not in use and alternative soft-sided coolers can still be bulky. During a camping trip when car space is at a premium the Arctic Zone self-inflating cooler offers space saving versatility and performance.

4. The Process: Describe the rigor that informed your project. (Research, ethnography, subject matter experts, materials exploration, technology, iteration, testing, etc., as applicable.) What stakeholder interests did you consider? (Audience, business, organization, labor, manufacturing, distribution, etc., as applicable)

Our focus on insulation informed our material choices for this item. Air is an extremely good insulator so our initial thought was to make a cooler could use only air as an insulator. When exploring inflatable cooler designs we encountered self-inflating technology used in air-mattresses. The benefits of this technology are that it is compressible insulation with the added benefit of fabric reinforcement. Working with an air-mattress manufacturer we developed a design that was relatively easy to manufacture but still offered versatility and functionality. We worked closely with our manufacturer and fabric mills to develop fabric that could be laminated and is durable, easy to clean and abrasion resistant. Additionally we developed a specialized reflective fabric that could help minimize heat gain by thermal radiation.

5. The Value: How does your project earn its keep in the world? What is its value? What is its impact? (Social, educational, economic, paradigm-shifting, sustainable, environmental, cultural, gladdening, etc.)

This project is valuable to users who are looking for a functional space saving cooler but also to designers. The true value of this project is that it took two traditionally separate industries (the cooler industry and the air-mattress industry) and created a new category that radically changes the cooler market. This project was innovative in that it leveraged an already established industry (air-mattresses) and used its pre-existing technology, supply chain and capabilities to create a new product. This lesson should be valuable to designers everywhere – by identifying per-existing markets, industries, and supply streams you can create exciting new product segments.