Swim wearable device secures Australian Good Design Award

Australian sports technology company - eo, along with product designer, Boost Design, have been named the winner of the Australian Good Design Award in the sport and lifestyle category at the 2022 Good Design Australia Awards for eo SwimBETTER.

eo SwimBETTER wearable technology was created to revolutionise competitive and professional swimming and enhance the technique of athletes by giving coaches precise data.

eo was established in 2020 and co-founded by Jaimie Fuller, former SKINS boss and sport-ethics activist, Dean Hawkins, whose CV includes senior roles at adidas, SKINS, Network Ten, Alvarium and Mogo, and Dr Kenneth Graham PhD, a world-leading former NSWIS Chief Scientist; the trio bring over 70 combined years of business, brand and scientific expertise to their new venture

Following a brief from eo to deliver the SwimBETTER device, Boost Design developed a wearable device that digitally captures a swimmer’s technique, processes it, quantifies it, and presents it back to the swimmer to help them improve. eo SwimBETTER needed to be accurate, easy to use, compact, and cater for swimmers from social competitor to elite, and of course, it could not interfere with the swimming stroke.

The ground-breaking device also has the backing of Olympic swimming gold medalist and world record holder Kyle Chalmers, James Magnussen’s coach and Swimming Coach of the Year Brant Best, Swimming Australia and triathlete Vincent Luis of France.

The discrete device can fit in the palm of the athlete's hand and monitors the force and angle of each stroke to determine how best to coach the athlete to achieve their highest potential in the pool. Before, this was done only using the coach's eye and a ‘trial-and-error’ adjustment technique.

There was also a challenge to keep eo SwimBETTER durable in harsh chlorine and salt-water environments, while adhering to reasonable cost for volume manufacture and incorporating a design aesthetic that visually communicated the cutting-edge technology product that it is.

Michael Potas, General Manager at Boost Design notes “we are so humbled to see our hard work celebrated at such a prestigious awards night. We are so proud of eo SwimBETTER which we worked so hard to perfect. Our team of developers and designers are world class and they deserve all the praise they get. We loved working with the team at eo, they are a team of sports tech experts and we supported one another’s vision the whole way.”

Former SKINS boss and now Chairman and co-founder of eo, Jaimie Fuller adds “our focus at eo is to deliver highly technical and innovative products, providing untapped benefits to elite athletes’ performance and career longevity. This gives us the freedom to operate without the constraints of conventional sports brands, where it’s mainly about the evolution of existing products.

“We are very honoured to have a device that has been recognised for its design on this level in our suite at eo. We stand for defying evolution, and pushing the boundaries of human limitation and together with the team at Boost Design, we were able to achieve that. The team have done a fantastic job, and we commend them for their hard work and dedication to the future of sport and technique development.”

The 2022 Awards ceremony was back after a two year hiatus. Australia’s Good Design Awards is the oldest and most prestigious international awards for design and innovation in the country. The Awards celebrate the best new products and services on the Australian market and reward emerging areas of design including business model innovation, social impact and sustainability.

The Good Design Awards Jury commented “a cleverly simple, minimal design that brings a new aspect to the sport.”

SwimBETTER is one of five wearables in varying stages of development for eo. Other devices in the suite cover, concussion detection, sweat analysis and joint protection and rehabilitation.

Further information on the eo brand at www.eolab.com/

Image top: Good Design Awards Credit: Cassandra Hannagan; Image above eoSwimBETTER