Tent design/ survey

This is a link to a 5 minute survey.
I am a design student from Michigan.
Thank you for taking time to help me.

www.surveymonkey.com/s/99QHWC5

i do. but for what is useful?

Is anybody else getting tired of these surveys? Surveying a group of designers is probably not the best way to get consumer insights. I would like to see the project… its a design site, not a take my survey site.

Yes. Very tired. Lets see drawings, concepts, thoughts, ideas, etc. Then post a survey if you must. Or, set up shop at REI and ask people what they think. It wouldn’t be that tough.

Hey James, trying posting something to get people involved, brief, initial research, concept idea etc.

Edit Whoops, got there just before me, apologies

I cannot indulge everyone with sketches and ideas until i know what direction consumers want. I would go to camping stores but it is the dead of winter in my area and the average consumer has forgotten what they wanted in their tent last summer. The idea for posting a survey to designers is that i learn what other designers think i should do. I also get people who understand why a survey is important and finally i can use designers advice on a product direction. since i posted this link my survey results have gotten 100 times bettter than what i was getting from the average joe. Thanks

Have you ever wondered why sleeping bags are made to -20+F temperatures? People camp year-round. Camping stores are open year-round. THAT is your target audience, not a bunch of random designers…

You should understand that you will only get project feedback if you give us something to work with (sketches, concepts, theories, ideas etc.). No one here can tell you what to “do,” its your project and you are the designer. Just dumping a survey on us with little or no info does not really get anyones attention; tell us about the project, what have you discovered so far, what are the design problems you have found?

Also note: multiple postings kind of get people a little mad here; so putting your survey under 2 threads doesn’t work very well. I can see that you are new to the site though, so welcome, and don’t get discouraged by the initial feedback. There are a lot of great designers on here both professionals and students that can give you some great info/feedback, but you have to get the discussion started.

you ask some of your biggest questions right here on Core, you will get much richer answers…

Sometimes surveys box people in and don’t allow answers outside of what you had pre-concived when making the questions. I can see the temptation for people to post surveys here though - it’s easy access to a giant group of people

So what’s your big ideas so far? and what animal do people think they are most like?

I camp and I need a new tent this year. I’m also in the process of researching at the moment. Right now is a great time for you to be searching and surveying camping boards to get your answers. I also live in Ontario so we’re next door neighbours geographically.

I’d be glad to take the survey today while I eat my lunch. I don’t see what the big deal is. Although everyone is right in saying that you will not get an accurate sampling of campers, it sounds like you know that. It seems to me like if you don’t want to take the survey it is pretty easy to avoid.

I was a little harsh. We’ve seen a number of these survey requests. There is always a slow stream of them, but we just seemed to get a bunch lately. I think it is better to use the site to get feedback on the actual project.

You can learn a lot by looking at websites of good outdoor stores. The really good ones have excellent photos and product descriptions, even user reviews. REI and Cabela’s are big ones in the USA and the two really show the difference between the self-propelled market and the motorized crowd. Here where I live, it’s MEC. I’m pretty sure MEC has a design department, although a great many of their products are uber-functional and less stylish. OTOH, if you are out in the wilderness, the beauty is around you and that last thing you want is for some piece of critical equipment to fail. Imagine being on top of Everest and your tent springs a rip.

:)ensen.