Recently, the NFL, NCAA, and other football leagues have begun implementing products that target low-impact, repetitive blows to the head. In particular, there has been a focus on linemen, linebackers, and other players that regularly clash with one another during training camps and practices throughout the year. One such product that seeks to reduce head injuries among these players is the “Guardian Cap,” (made by Guardian Sports) a fabric-and-padding product that attaches to the outside of the helmet with adjustable straps:
While the NFL continues to study their impact on low-force, frequent head impacts sustained throughout the NFL season, they will likely be a staple on players heads during practice. However, their design and implementation has not gone without some “mixed” reviews, and pushback from players, a type of reception that often indicates a misperception about the end user. In essence, the Guardian Cap might fall somewhere slightly off-center in the “Viability,” “Feasibility,” “Desirability” Venn Diagram, which opens the door for me to give some quick thoughts on the current design of the Guardian Cap, and how I think it might be improved to better meet the needs of the players.
First though, I have to give a disclaimer: there is nothing that substitutes for user testing and observations, so most of the user-centric observations and suggestions I am making are somewhat speculative. However, combining observed design of the existing product and public feedback still provides pretty firm footing on the pathway to various improvements.
but actually achieving that is not easy!
To start, here are some observations about the product based on images, videos, and other information available online:
Product Observations
1. The grid-like pattern of foam has been left largely exposed to view. There is no continuous surface that conceals the padding from view. There may be various reasons for this, but my best guess is that the lack of continuous outer surface allows the Guardian Cap to bend and stretch to fit any helmet size and shape, as their marketing promises. Continuous padding or a continuous fabric cover around the entire surface might reduce this adaptability. This also has the effect of making the Guardian Cap very visible on the helmet. The reflectivity, color, size, and curves of the helmet are replaced with a something entirely different, which can be a good thing if you are trying to promote visibility of its presence, but a bad thing if the players prefer the aesthetic and look of their chosen helmet as-is.
Although it sounds trivial in the name of safety, this type of design consideration can be key for willing adoption. No one likes to go to work in an outfit that makes us look silly or doesn’t match our personal style, and football helmets are no different. What’s more, most humans actively chose to do things that are detrimental to our health every day, like drinking alcohol or forgoing some much-needed sleep. That isn’t to belittle those actions— I do them all the time— but more to highlight that we don’t always act in our best interest, especially when it comes with perceived drawbacks, social or otherwise.
2. The impact surface of the product appears to be a robust fabric texture, implying that low-friction interfaces are key to the reduction of blow impact. In addition, this might indicate that the product is highly durable– the product looks built to last.
3. The product is removed from the helmet with button snaps. Affixing a fabric-based product with a robust fastener like a button snap means that the product might be machine washable (I have not verified this, wash at own risk). The amount of touch points and strength of the buttons likely implies that the Guardian Cap is not meant to be taken off and put on frequently throughout a given practice. This activity would likely be frustrating and tedious, requiring a fair amount of dexterity.
4. The product makes claims about reducing the temperature inside the football helmet, which I would guess are not true in most cases. I believe that this claim is based mostly on the fact that you can use a Guardian Cap to change to the color of your helmet’s surface in order to reduce the radiative heat transfer from sunlight (e.g. from black to white). This article on motorcycle helmets explains it more plainly than I likely could that ventilation (convective cooling) is far important than radiative cooling and heating when it comes to in-helmet temperature, and adding a cap on top of a helmet that reduces radiative heating and convective cooling simultaneously likely results in a net increase in helmet temperature.
5. The product guards the entire helmet with roughly the same amount of padding and coverage. This might seem logical, but many players and the league have stated that players in different positions on the field actually experience head trauma in different locations. This could be from head-head collisions, the head hitting the ground, the head hitting a body or leg– really any combination is possible, but players in a given position tend to experience most head impacts through certain regions of the helmet. Especially in practice, where the play for many drills is less dynamic and unpredictable, this might be a bit overkill.
6. The overall design of this product might be easily adapted to other contact sports that have helmets. Hockey and lacrosse immediately jump to mind, while sports like bobsled or skiing might be potential target markets as well.
Product Recommendations
Based on the player feedback and observations above, below is a set of recommendations that might spur designs that improve the Guardian Cap, and move it towards the center of the “Feasibility-Viability-Desirability” Venn Diagram. But first, I think it’s worth touching on the “Question Zero” of the Guardian Cap (a root-problem finding method widely practiced, but that I first learned in Creative Confidence by a founder of IDEO).
As far as I can tell, the very root question that the Guardian Cap tries to address is: How do we reduce head injuries due to low-impact collisions during football practice? Stepping back and considering this question sparks dozens of new solution ideas, ranging from stopping head-head drills to installing air bags on helmets when a certain force threshold is met. And really, the takeaway should be that while the Guardian Cap may be one effective tool for reducing the impact of blows when they happen, there are still other tools to solve that same problem, and there may be ways to answer our root “Question Zero” without any products at all! Often times a behavioral change is more impactful than any product designed to address the symptoms of the initial behavior, though this may not always be true if the behavior cannot be avoided (i.e. we can’t decide to not hold football practices at all).
But anyways, with that out of the way, here are some, of many, possible concrete recommendations for modifying the Guardian Cap’s current design to better fit the needs and desires of its users:
1. Re-visit the sizing and overall geometry of the cap. On top of a very large football helmet, an extra couple inches of diameter are not the most flattering for most players. I’d be very curious to see what the curve of padding thickness-to-impact mitigation looks like, and how they settled on the current thickness. The current padding level might be designed for maximum protection, which all positions might not need during normal practices. In addition, smoothing out the interfaces between the helmet and the Guardian Cap might reduce the visible differences in geometry between the underlying helmet and the cap.
2. Modify the outer (exposed) layer of the product. It was certainly a conscious choice to leave the padding grid pattern of the Guardian Cap exposed, but I think it’s a decision worth revisiting. The pattern creates a high-salience product that class against the glossy, aerodynamic feel of modern football helmets. Adding a smooth outer surface to the existing product might reduce the apparent size of the product and can add a new layer of customization for the user or their team (note that no NFL logos are present on the existing Guardian Cap!). This outer layer could be an elastic fabric (think of a goggle sock for ski goggles) or a more durable fabric that is more rigid and fit to size rather than being one-size-fits-all.
3. Focus on the impact zones for each position. Creating a design that focuses on specific impact zones for each player group greatly reduces the overall size, complexity, and cost of the product for the manufacturer. For the player, it also reduces the weight of the product, helps retain the existing ventilation in the helmet, and may the overall “goofiness” of the product on the head. This might require more data and analysis than is currently gathered and performed, but I do think that process would be fairly straightforward to undertake with appropriate access to practice helmets (may not even need sensors, just put paint on the linemen’s helmets every time they step up for a drill and see where the helmets leave marks on the others!). Especially for repetitive drills that cause head impacts, I think it’s likely that clear trends would emerge about where padding would need to be placed. It might also be possible to give half of the padding to the players on each side of the ball so both players don’t wear a full head of padding!
4. Explore alternative fastening methods. Highlighted in the observations above, snap-buttons are an effective way to attach the Guardian Cap, but there might be others that could meet different user needs. If the Guardian Cap is rarely removed or attached throughout training camp or during the season on the practice helmet, a strong adhesive might be the most effective method of affixing smaller, focused pads on the helmet. Alternatively, strong magnets or basic velcro pads may allow the pads to be removed very easily throughout practice. I don’t know exactly how frequently these pads need to be changed, but there may be more elegant designs available.
5. Manufacture the product with more scalable processes. In addition for thinking about new ways to actually attach the product to a practice helmet, it is likely worth considering what types of materials and manufacturing processes are used to create it. I am typically not an “apply injection molding to every product” person, but I think in this case, using an over molding process that combines a softer polymer like a dense liquid silicone rubber (or alternatively a soft TPE) with a more durable plastic like polypropylene would provide both a shock absorbing medium and a low-friction outer layer so helmets glance past each other. If the production volumes are met to justify the investment in molds and an adhesive can be easily applied to the finished polymer parts, there may be an enormous cost savings and improved user outcomes.
6. Unlock the customer’s creativity. Enable the players to customize the color and finish of their exterior helmet padding, particularly if there is a switch from the current fabric-based approach to a more easily-customizable process like injection molding. I truly believe that there is a world in which a lower-profile more impact-focused design can be a style add to a practice helmet, as opposed to an aesthetic detractor.
As a bonus and exercise for myself, here are some sketches of what a final product might look like:
Snow Day 001