V-Gard™ Line of Safety Vests

Date: Spring 2009

The V-Gard™ Safety Vest was a vision made possible by MSA, Carnegie Mellon professor Jonathan Cagan's world-famous product design course Integrated Product Development, and the efforts of teammates Bryony Dupont, Aaron Pavkov, Gregory Siegal, Benjamin Wojtyna, Zhiyong Fu and Nicholas Selman. Assigned the task of developing a next-generation product that would improve the safety of highway and bridge construction workers, the team created a vest that would communicate the direction the wearer is facing (day or night), that would interface with mobile communication devices, and that wouldn't snag or otherwise hinder work-in-progress. Most importantly, its high-design would create desire to wear it-- a notion that enhances safety in its own right. The multi-disciplinary team interfaced with industry experts in research, developed a marketing plan and financial analysis, and finally pitched the concept to a large group of MSA executives.