DRESSCOVER – Smart Design

The right dress for your journey. Greiner Aerospace and DO:IT develop the new generation aircraft seats. Sit back, relax and enjoy the journey.

Think of an airplane – relaxed and with a manageable amount of effort you are going to arrive comfortably at your destination as quickly and safely as possible. Often only perceived unconsciously: The seat in which you are sitting. We are talking about a complex combination of seat structure and cushion foams. These ingenious layered structures are surrounded by an outer shell: the dress cover. that is the exact contact area in direct connection with your body, which can maximize your physical condition and thus relaxation while travelling. But comfort during traveling is like breathing air: it is only perceived when it is missing.

At the beginning of the product development process, thoughts revolve around material technology, trends, production and possible product interactions affecting the design. But how to understand such a diverse target group as airplane passengers? Based on the prevailing generation shift, it is a fact that the way of traveling is changing. We know that in the next generations Y and Z a paradigm shift occurs: Experience is getting more and more important. Travel itself is no longer just a means to an end or serves status clichés. The (living) space must be practical and harmonious. Traveling as an experience has to be consistent. The result is a varied catalog of requirements that is primarily characterized by convenience: clean, minimalistic design, tailored to the product environment, simple and easy to use and maintain, inexpensive to produce, flexible, smart in the details and of course comfortable. In other words: Economy Class 4.0.

Our claim is to set up tailormade teams of experts. In this case a competent team that is looking for a direct dialogue with experienced dress cover engineers. In a very short time a combination of sketch ideation, design development and virtual representation took place in order to implement first concepts right on the (virtual) airplane.

Many years of international experience in aviation, smart materials, new processing techniques and the urge for innovation: these are the ingredients of an exciting collaboration including the necessary learning effects and ongoing iterative improvements to the dress cover designs. An interdisciplinary collaboration, parallel to the development of multiple user touchpoints. In direct coordination, a kind of “ping-pong” exchange occurs at the interface between design and engineering. Connected by the common motivation to produce high quality solutions for the aviation industry.

The final visualization deliberately shows the product in its entire ecosystem: a virtual walk through the plane. From the corridors of the Business class, Economy plus and Economy class, one can sense the refreshing lightness of a contemporary travel environment. And not only the design team notices, after all, everything looks a little different on the plane than in the showroom.

If you want to design and develop publicly accessible high-convenience products, it is crucial to connect each and everything. If you can get people to feel at ease and comfortable on the plane, you will create long-term sympathy. The beginning of a journey together. Sit back, relax and enjoy the journey.