Woo wins Red Dot design award

March 30, 2016. Sprout Studios has won a Red Dot Design Award for the industrial and product design of the WOO Action Sports Tracker. The WOO was chosen from a field of over 5,000 entries, from 57 countries. The prestigious Red Dot Award is only given to the most iconic and innovative products of the year and is highly coveted in the field of Industrial Design.

Sprout and WOO Sports teamed up to launch the WOO Action Sports Tracker under Sprout’s venture arm. At Sprout Ventures, they invest design resources for a reduced fee in return for equity. With lifestyle driven product startups such as WOO, Sprout feels that if all parties are invested they can make the company go further with less upfront costs. This can be a risky approach, but with Sprout’s expertise in bringing products to market they feel the rewards outweigh the risk. This Red Dot Award is a strong indicator that their combined efforts will pay off.

With over 40 world renowned design experts judging from around the world, the Red Dot Award guarantees the highest competence. The independent panel thoroughly assesses each entry, live and on site. The criteria for the award are degree of innovation, overall aesthetics, and functionality.

The WOO is designed to capture a kiteboarder’s user experience and activity by tracking jump height, airtime, rotation, landing G-Force and more. The data from the sensor can be transferred via Bluetooth through the WOO Kite app and shared through social media. The overall design is shockproof, waterproof, corrosion-resistant, easy to use and all while fitting into the extreme sports lifestyle.

The WOO has been embraced by kiteboarding pros as the performance tracking device of choice. Before its launch, kiteboard competitions were scored by judges using binoculars that often sat over a 1000 feet away on shore. Debuting at the prestigious Red Bull King of the Air competition in South Africa, the WOO revolutionized the sport of kiteboarding, by naming the rider with the highest WOO score the winner.

Sprout Studio’s Red Dot win showcases how an innovative business model and design strategy can lead to an award winning design.