Unique bike lights to help cyclists avoid danger

by Matthew Sanderson

Two employees at the University of The Arts London have designed a unique set of lights to help cyclists in “moments of danger”.

The product, called Neonight, uses phosphorus to improve illumination and is fastened to a cyclist's helmet – the highest visible part of the body.

The founder and designer of the product, Paul Sherring, has been working on the concept for more than 12 years with his business partner, Karel Kaivanto.

Sherring, who is also a technician at London College of Communication, explains the concept of Neonight: “It’s all about association. We hope that drivers will learn to associate the colour of the lights with cycling.

“There is a great deal of research behind the product, the lights use a specific frequency of colour that is close to the one your eyes recognise most in the dark.”

All components of the lights have been meticulously designed; Sherring and Kaivanto spent over a year designing the brackets alone.

Alumni

The brackets have been made to fit almost every model of helmet on the market and the lights themselves are secured using magnets.

“Research determined that we needed the product to be easy to use and more importantly look cool, because nobody is going to wear it otherwise,” says Sherring.

Sherring and Kaivanto are both UAL alumni, having studied Product Design at Central Saint Martins.

“I originally wanted to design a helmet at university but I was told someone had done that last year, so I started research in to the area of safety and came up with this idea of having lights on a person, it went from there really,” says Sherring.

In 2010, Sherring and Kaivanto’s company, Neonight Lighting Solutions won a Bright Sparc Award for best technology innovation in a start-up.

They have won many other awards and grants while designing the product.

Safer

The lights are specifically designed to help in “moments of danger”, such as when a cyclist is in complete darkness and will help other road users to see the cyclist, with minimal interference to their visibility.

“There is no answer to bicycle safety, but this product will make your journey safer,” adds Sherring.

He also admits to many “sleepless nights” while developing the product, but reveals that it will all be worth it when he sees cyclists using Neonight.

The lights are set to go on sale in March this year and there are suggestions that even bigger products are in development.