Shadow 多功能救生毯 by Xudong Cai is a highly esteemed winner of the very prestigious 2020 A' Design Award 铁奖 in 安全服装与个人防护装备设计 Competition Category.

铁防护装备· 2020

Shadow 多功能救生毯

by Xudong Cai

Client: Dongguan Whale Design Technology Co., Ltd.

A' Design Award 铁奖 Winner in 防护装备 Category

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Verified Award Winner

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View at A' Design Award Press Release Award Badge

Colors

The Design

About Shadow 多功能救生毯

Shadow(影)是一款多功能救生毯,专为因冲突、气候灾害及其他突发状况而流离失所的人群而设计。Shadow 集三重功能于一体:助浮救生装备、保暖毯以及简易睡袋。产品内置浮力海绵,可在水中提供约90牛顿的浮力支撑,防水内层则能保持重要证件文件干燥。铝膜衬里可反射人体热量,有效保温蓄热。高频热合工艺使产品结构牢固且密不透水。弹性绑带便于快速折叠携带,需要时也能迅速展开使用。

The Recognition

About the A' Design Award 铁奖

Shadow 多功能救生毯是 A' Design Award 铁奖得主，这是授予满足人们对设计精良的创作所期待的专业与工业要求的优良设计的声望认可。铁奖得主展现出其创作者的高超技艺、高度专业化、专家级的理解力和创造能力。预计Shadow 多功能救生毯将成为一件备受推崇、令人钦佩且被珍爱的创作，既实用又创新。这件赢得 A' Design Award 铁奖的设计整合了行业最佳实践，并拥有与专业知识和才华相结合的称职技术特性。Shadow 多功能救生毯因其严谨而受到尊重，旨在提供有助于让世界变得更美好的生活品质改善。

Behind the Design

Press Kit

Credits, team members and technical details provided by the designer.

Unique Properties: Regional conflicts, climate and other reasons have forced many people living a stable life to become refugees.The starting point of this design is to help refugees improve their ability to deal with extreme events. It has many functions such as life blanket, life jacket, simple sleeping bag and so on. It can meet the basic needs of people in the process of migration, and improve the chance of survival.We hope this product will accompany people like a shadow and help people if necessary.
Dimensions & Packaging: Folded state:500*200*150
Expanded state:2000*1500*5
Tags: Refugee，Life blanket，Keep warm，Sleeping bag，Buoyancy aid
Production Technology: This product is aimed at the refugee phenomenon in the world today. By designing methods, this product is helpful to the lives of refugees, hoping to improve the ability of the public to resist unknown dangers. And increase the public's attention and understanding of this group and reflect the social responsibility of designers.During the production process, high-frequency heat-sealing technology is used to ensure that the product is strong and tight so that no water can penetrate into the product.
Design Challenge: In the course of the project, a large amount of information must be collected, such as relevant data from UNHCR and relevant reports from the media. It is necessary to find important information for integration and reasonably consider the needs of refugees and give priority to their most important life safety. In addition, it is necessary to consider what manufacturing process can meet these three functions, which can not only be used normally, but also be convenient for refugees to carry.
Research: This product is aimed at the refugee phenomenon in the world today. By designing methods, this product is helpful to the lives of refugees, hoping to improve the ability of the public to resist unknown dangers. And increase the public's attention and understanding of this group and reflect the social responsibility of designers.
Inspiration: In a refugee crisis, Allan, who was just 3 years old, followed her parents to board a refugee boat and took refuge in Europe. However, because the refugee boat he was overturned because of a severe overload, he was unfortunately encountered with a capsize accident on the way. Allan's body was washed into the Turkish beach by seawater, and the photos of his "sleeping" beach have caused worldwide concern and caused people's attention to the refugee wave.
Project Duration: The project was launched in Taiwan in March 2019, completed in Dongguan in July 2019, and exhibited at Dongguan University of Science and Technology in October 2019
Operation Flow: This product has three functions of buoyancy aid, sleeping bag and warm blanket. It can be unfolded and folded by elastic bands, making the product suitable for marine rescue, disaster relief, emergency material storage and other occasions.

Function 1: Buoyancy assist. A large number of refugees from the Middle East and North Africa must cross the Mediterranean to reach Europe. However, in the process of crossing the sea, there are many dangers. The rubber boats used by the refugees were severely overloaded and there were not enough life jackets. Once the ship sinks, the risk of refugees losing their lives is high. Therefore, if the refugee can wear the product on the body, once refugee falls into the water, the buoyancy sponge filled inside the product will provide some buoyancy for refugees (about 90N), which will increase the refugee's chance of survival at sea.In addition, the product has a built-in waterproof inter layer, which can ensure that some important documents will not get wet when crossing the sea.

Function 2: Lifesaving blanket. If refugees can successfully cross the Mediterranean to the other side, the most serious challenge they face is declining body temperature. When they cross the sea, they will inevitably get wet, coupled with the cold sea breeze on the shore, if they do not keep warm in time, they will face a serious crisis. At this point, refugees can quickly expand the product into a life blanket and use it to wrap their bodies. Because the inner layer of the rescue blanket uses an aluminum film material, the heat emitted by the body can be reflected back to achieve the effect of keeping warm. This material is also widely used in emergency situations such as outdoor adventures and disaster relief.

Function 3：Sleeping bag. When refugees have just reached the opposite shore, they generally cannot quickly find a suitable place to live. At this time, they often sleep directly on the roadside and are easily ill due to cold and other reasons. In this case, they urgently need a temporary resting place, at which time the product can be transformed into a sleeping bag by simple expansion. The buoyancy sponge filled inside can be used as a simple version of the mattress, and the aluminum film material can also ensure the temperature inside the sleeping bag . And when they need to continue to migrate, they can put the product on their body and carry it conveniently.
Image Credits: Image #1: Photographer Xudong Cai, Main picture, 2019.
Image #2: Photographer Xudong Cai, Front view, 2019.
Image #3: Photographer Xudong Cai, Rear view, 2019.
Image #4: Photographer Xudong Cai, Use process, 2019.