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SizeChina is a project led by Canadian designer Roger Ball. Roger is traveling across China, scanning people and building a digital database of Asian head and face sizes.
Why? Because bicycle helmets are designed to fit Caucasian heads, not Asian. And who wants to wear a helmet that doesn’t fit? (not to mention sunglasses and hygienic face masks)
Roger is now teaching at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University and leads the Asian Ergonomic Lab.
A shorter version of the interview will appear on Episode 11 of Spark. Click above to hear our unedited interview with him.
It’s so true! That’s why hockey and bike helmets never fit me correctly! I always thought that these things could have been designed better– hockey helmets always can be adjusted for more length, but not width. And I really do have an large bike helmet because the smaller ones are too narrow. Richard’s onto a good thing.
I’m surprised that bike helmets are falling behind the times. For those who ride horses, there are different styles of helmets. One brand is notorious for fitting oval shaped heads, and another for rounder heads. This does not apply to just your ethniticity, as there is a large group of caucasian horseback riders who feel immensely more comfortable with the rounder helmet. I’m sure other equestrians will agree when I say an improperly fitting helmet is literally a huge headache, so it is great to have a choice in shape, not just size!
I ride a motorcycle, and have a tiny, round little head (incidentally, I’m not Asian, as far as I know). I choose between children’s helmets which are a bit tight on the side (ouch) or a small adult helmet with more slippage than I’d like.
Averaging different groups of heads to produce molds is great, but some of us are still outliers – perhaps customization technology should come to the forefront.
Yes! As Roger mentioned right towards the end of the interview, we have all this ability for computer assisted design, we should totally be doing more customization. My sister and I are in the same *family*, and I swear her head is, like, twice the size of mine!