LEARNING OBJECTIVES
- Identify key steps in the design process that led to the development, production, evaluation and refinement of Globe’s G3 Bar Skateboard Deck and Dimension Shoe
- Outline Globe’s end users and discuss how the company’s products meet the needs and values of this audience
- Discuss the environmental and social considerations that influenced the development of Globe’s G3 Bar Skateboard Deck and Dimension Shoe
- Investigate Globe’s design practices, including collaboration, materials and sustainability
INTRODUCTION TO GLOBE AND MELBOURNE NOW
Globe International is a board-sports brand whose shoes, apparel and skateboards are designed in Melbourne. Founded by brothers Stephen, Peter and Matt Hill, Globe launched their first line of skate shoes in the 1990s and are now a world leader in premium skateboards.
Responding to consumer demand for more environmentally friendly products, Globe’s G3 Bar Skateboard Deck incorporates environmentally sustainable construction methods while the updated Dimension Shoe is made with recycled materials. Both the G3 Bar Skateboard Deck and Dimension Shoe feature in the Melbourne Now Design Wall 2023.
The exhibition Melbourne Now celebrates new and ambitious local art and design and highlights the extraordinary work of more than 200 Victorian-based artists, designers, studios and firms. It includes a range of disciplines, from fashion and jewellery to painting, sculpture, architecture, ceramics, video, performance, printmaking and publishing. In particular, the exhibition highlights works of local design on the design wall, a large-scale installation celebrating consumer products designed within the past decade.
INTRODUCTION TO GLOBE VIDEOS
In the following five videos Matthew Wong, Globe’s Global Head of Product Design, discusses the business’s early years, including initial product design through to sustainable product redevelopment. He examines the role of research, materials, technologies, evaluation and sustainability in their user-centred design process. Wong also discusses the team’s collaborative design process and a special collaboration between Globe and the Eames House and Foundation.
These videos can be viewed sequentially or individually and incorporated into the classroom with the discussion questions below.
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION
- Find the four stages of the product design process in the development of Globes G3 Bar Skateboard Deck and/or Dimension Shoe. What evidence of a nonlinear approach can you find?
- Discuss the evaluation process in the development of Globes G3 Bar Skateboard Deck and/or Dimension Shoe. When does Globe incorporate evaluation into their product design, and why?
- In the Introduction, Wong tells us that the Globe brand ‘is an action sports brand, which means that we’re in the surf/skate/snow industry’. How might their end user profile influence Globe’s use of materials and approach to sustainability?
- Consider the economics, environmental and social issues of sustainability in design. How does Globe approach these issues?
- When discussing the Eames Office X Globe limited-edition skateboard deck in the video ‘Collaboration’, Wong says it was ‘one of the most exciting collaborations that we’ve done’. In what way was the collaboration beneficial to both parties?
- What have you learnt about Globe’s design practices and processes that might be relevant to your own work?