Running with or towards technology?

I'm beyond excited to share my first article here at Biz News, and I can't think of a better way to start than with something that genuinely means a lot to me.

Earlier this year, I had my first research paper published and presented at SportsHCI 2025  the first annual conference on Human-Computer Interaction and Sports, held in Enschede, Netherlands. It's a milestone I'm proud of, and I wanted to share not just the what, but the why behind it.

It started with a simple frustration. Runners today are surrounded by technology smartwatches, chest straps, phone apps all designed to help them perform better. But there's an irony buried in all of it: to get information from these devices, you have to stop being a runner for a moment. You break your stride, shift your focus, glance at your wrist. For something as rhythm-dependent as running, that interruption matters more than it might seem.

That tension is what drove the project. What if the feedback came to you instead — quietly, at the edge of your vision, without asking for your attention?

That question led to "Into the Zone"  a wearable prototype built around a pair of running goggles with an integrated ambient LED strip that communicates your heart rate zone through color, right at eyebrow level. No tapping, no glancing down, no breaking flow.

The project was developed at the University of Salzburg, and I'm proud to say the demo won the Best Demo Award at the conference. It has since been published openly in the ACM Digital Library.

The recognition didn't stop there. ACM Communications covered SportsHCI 2025 in a feature on the future of sports technology, and the project was singled out as a highlight. The conference's general

chair, Mike Jones, called it "the most interesting demo at the meeting"  noting how it addresses something runners genuinely struggle with every day.

This project reminded me why I care about design in the first place. The best solutions don't add complexity they quietly remove it.

👉 Read the full paper