The Red Dot Design Award, one of the world’s largest design competitions, highlights high-quality design, functionality and innovation.
OULU, Finland – April 9, 2018 – Finnish wearable health tech company Oura Health has been awarded the 2018 Red Dot Award for Product Design in jewelry for its new range of Oura rings. A 40-strong jury of independent design experts recognized Oura’s new ring designs for their high quality in an adjudication process that compared submissions from 59 countries.
“Success in the competition is proof of the good design quality of the products and once again shows that companies are on the right path. When I speak about good design, I am referring to more than just an attractive product. All of the products are characterised by outstanding functionality. This demonstrates that the designers have understood their clients and their needs,” said Professor Dr. Peter Zec, founder and CEO of the Red Dot Award.
The Oura design team set out to create original, contemporary ring designs that could house Oura’s wellness technology and were durable enough to cope with the demands placed on people’s hands and fingers by days – and years – of constant use.
“We set the bar very high when it came to designing the new range of rings,” says Kari Kivelä, CTO, Co-Founder and Head of Design at Oura. “The project started with numerous different design concepts, and through a process of continual refinement, we finally settled on 3 unique ring designs.“
“All eight sizes from each of the new Oura rings were designed individually, as we wanted to make sure every ring was functional – both as a piece of jewelry and technology – while still being comfortable to wear and beautiful to look at. The new Oura rings are the result of hundreds of iterative steps measured in tenths of a millimeter towards a collection of rings you want to cherish and own,” concluded Kivelä.
The nature of the wellness information captured by each ring means each Oura ring is designed to be unique to its wearer. The new designs and materials now allow wearers to make aesthetic choices that personalize the rings they wear to their own taste.
The new Oura ring was announced on November 30, 2017. The Oura ring and the free Oura app helps users get more restorative sleep and align their lifestyle to their natural circadian rhythm. More than 20,000 rings have been pre-ordered to date from more than 50 countries. The first Oura rings will be shipped at the end of April 2018. During pre-orders that end on April 30, 2018, the rings are available starting from US$249 / 264 € at ouraring.com.
About Oura Health Ltd.
Oura Health Ltd. is a Finnish health technology company founded in 2013. Oura is the world’s first wellness ring and app that shows how your body responds to your lifestyle by analyzing your sleep, activity levels, daily rhythms and the physiological responses in your body. Personalized for you, Oura guides you towards better sleep, recovery and readiness to perform. Oura has users in over 50 countries, and several top universities, research organizations, sleep clinics, and companies are utilizing the data and insights Oura provides.
In addition to the CES 2016 Best of Innovation Award, Oura Health has received among others the Fitness Award of the American Women’s Health Magazine in May 2016. In 2017, Oura Health was selected as the Best Health/Lifestyle Startup in Finland at the Nordic Startup Awards. In 2018, Oura Health was named one of Finland’s most promising startups by Business Weekly (Talouselämä). Oura Health Ltd.’s HQ and major manufacturing facilities are located in Oulu, Finland. Other locations include Helsinki and San Francisco. For more information, visit www.ouraring.com.
About the Red Dot Design Award:
In order to appraise the diversity in the field of design in a professional manner, the Red Dot Design Award breaks down into the three disciplines of Red Dot Award: Product Design, Red Dot Award: Communication Design and Red Dot Award: Design Concept. The Red Dot Award is one of the world’s largest design competitions. In 1955, a jury convened for the first time to assess the best designs of the day. In the 1990s, Red Dot CEO Professor Dr. Peter Zec developed the name and brand of the award. Ever since, the sought-after Red Dot award has been the revered international seal of outstanding design quality. Further information available at www.red-dot.de.