Slate consists of a strong, durable skeleton that can carry heavy loads and pre-packed boxes.
Slate
Strategic Product Design (APD1)
2025
This project was developed in collaboration with Thule Sweden and explored how the brand could expand into a new market by focusing on outdoor adventures from a child’s perspective. With a broad and open brief, we began by immersing ourselves in Thule’s identity, values, and product history to understand where the brand could go next. The result is Thule Slate, a premium, modular handcart designed to support family outings. It balances practical needs such as transporting gear, adapting to different terrains, and keeping things organised, with the imaginative and ever-changing nature of children’s play. Rather than creating a toy, we designed a flexible platform that grows with families and adapts to a variety of outdoor scenarios. Slate fits naturally into Thule’s existing product range while offering a fresh direction. It is not just a cart, but a foundation for lasting outdoor memories.
Sharvin Sawant
Master's Programme in Advanced Product Design
Samuel Nagel
Master's Programme in Advanced Product Design
The interchangeable MOLLE-compatible tray allows parents to pre-pack different boxes for different outings, creating infinite possibilities.
The Legs have flexible elements that help snap fit the box on to the tray.
Kids can have their own personalized boxes too, making them feel part of the preparation and exploration.
Slate can be folded down into a smaller real estate making it compact for travel and is perfectly catered to fit into all sized THULE Rooftop boxes and boots of any standard SUVs.
This shows, that our product can be integrated and used, at any point of the Users life, and still will be used for years to come. This thought of circularity fits into Thule's Values of creating Products that last!
The platform adapts seamlessly to different scenarios, acting as a utility cart, a play space for kids, or even a resting spot.
We defined rough dimensions, understood how big the cart needs to be, if the kids have to sit into it, looked into ergonomics and did mockup and prototypes to validate our findings.
All of this created a solid foundation, to sketch and visualize different concepts. After a lot of back and forth with different ideas, discussions with Thules team and mentors we reached our final idea.
Thule slate is not just a cart - it is a lifetime of outdoor memories, waiting to be written. So, lets bring your life!
