Introducing the 2017 Little Nutty line up!
Bluebirds & Bees, Ahoy!, Flutterby, Radio Wave, and Tin Robot
These 2017 Little Nutty designs were the first Nutcase helmets to come from the creative mind of designer Morgan Braaten, who joined our nutty team just under two years ago.
Here’s Morgan on the morning of her first bike commute.
Tin Robot has already proven to be a popular design, so we thought we’d take some time to share with you how this helmet came to be.
When looking for inspiration, one really doesn’t need to go much further than Mr. Nutcase himself. His office overflows with curiosities and books, most of which have some vintage charm. Tucked in one of his many book shelves is a book on tin toys.
Morgan’s first attempt at “Control Panel” was fun. Mr. Nutcase gave it the “thumbs up,” but encouraged her to be more playful with the design. “Why not make the front vent holes into robot eyes?” he asked.
Morgan went back to the drawing board with a whole new appreciation of the design concept and the helmet itself as a canvas. She cut out the individual parts of the control panel and started to make an actual robot come to life.
To make sure she got the placement of the parts right, she cut out all of the elements and physically placed them on an existing helmet sample.
When she saw the design on the helmet the first time, she knew immediately that she had come on to something awesome. Great design is hard to ignore. “It was so obvious when we landed on it,” Morgan remembers.
Here are a three fun facts she remembers from the development of this design:
- Once it was clear the design was going to be a robot it was originally called “Roger That.” Tin Robot won as the name.
- The “LNG3-06” on the back was snuck in by Morgan. “LNG3” is Nutcase’s internal code for “third generation of Little Nutty” and “06” is Morgan’s nod to Nutcase’s ten year anniversary.
- The shell color of the helmet was originally planned for one of our Moto helmets, but it was too perfect to use for a vintage robot body to ignore.
Stay tuned for inside information on the other four Little Nutty designs later this week!