CRUSHED!
radical bike handle grips
ABOUT
CRUSHED! is a packaging, product and 3D modeling design project centered around a pair of 3D printed bicycle grips produced with flexible filament.The grips feature extruded skulls beneath the fingers that physically collapse under pressure while riding, creating a tactile reminder that your life is literally in your hands. The project draws heavily from grunge graphics, skate culture, and early MTV and Vans-era mall aesthetics.
THE PROBLEM
Many cycling accessories are designed to feel overly technical, sterile, or purely performance driven. I wanted to create an object that felt more emotional, uncomfortable, and self-aware.The project explores how a simple functional object can communicate risk, physicality, and vulnerability through material interaction rather than explicit messaging alone.
THE IDEA
My approach focused on reinforcing the concept through both material and graphiclanguage. The collapsing skulls create a direct physical interaction between the rider and the object, turning grip pressure into part of the narrative itself.
The packaging system pushes this further through glow in the dark screenprinted graphics and distorted typography inspired by skate shops, punk graphics, and late 1990s extreme sports branding. A modified version of the typeface Opium was used
throughout the system, with glyphs altered so that repeated characters never match exactly, introducing instability and damage into the typography itself.
THE PRODUCT
The final outcome includes a fully designed set of functional 3D printed bicycle grips alongside a screenprinted packaging system.The grips were printed using flexible filament to allow the skull forms to deform under pressure. The packaging was printed by hand using glow in the dark ink and designed to exaggerate the project’s loud, reckless, and intentionally excessive tone.
OUTCOME & REFLECTION
CRUSHED! became an exploration into how physical interaction and material response can communicate concept without relying on explanation alone.The project reinforced my interest in building identities where the object, graphics, and tactile experience all support the same emotional idea. It also pushed me further toward thinking about packaging and product design as spaces for narrative and behavioral interaction rather than purely branding.