Official IBU App receives prestigious Red Dot Award: Brands & Communication

The IBU App has received the globally renowned Red Dot Award: Brands & Communication in the subcategory Sport Apps in recognition for its engaging and user-friendly design helping to bring biathlon closer to its fans.

The Red Dot Design Award is one of the world’s largest design competitions and receives roughly 20,000 entries every year. Since the 1990s the “Red Dot” has been the revered international seal of outstanding design quality.

The IBU App was designed by Finnish designers Petri Pennanen and Mikko Kiviniemi and launched in November 2021 to bring fans closer to the action, ensuring they never miss a shot of their favourite athletes. The App, which is available on Apple and Google Play Store, provides live updates from every single IBU competition, information on athletes and teams, and competition statistics and athletes’ profiles. Users can personalise their App experience by following their favourite biathletes to receive targeted statistics, performance data and more.

IBU Communications Director Christian Winkler said:

“We are honoured to receive this globally recognised design award. We are grateful to Red Dot and of course to the experts who developed this service design for their excellent work. Our priority from the beginning has been to provide our fans with an App which is easy to navigate, user-friendly and informative. We believe that this Red Dot award reflects that the design of the App has helped to achieve these goals and allows for an enjoyable experience for our fans.”

Petri Pennanen said:

“We feel honoured to receive the Red Dot award for our IBU App service design. Our customer-centric approach and the involvement of biathlon fans in the development process has proven successful in designing a world-class digital experience that supports a huge variety of use cases throughout a biathlon year. We are thrilled to see that we were able to reach our client’s goal to create a digital product that captures the thrilling and engaging nature of biathlon and is not used only by hardcore fans but makes biathlon accessible for all fan segments.”

Kiviniemi also provided the service design for the latest updates of the IBU App, which are integrated event services for fans attending IBU World Cups and World Championships. This latest release, which also includes a German version of the App, is available in the Apple Store and Google Play Store from today. Fans attending the IBU events benefit from benefit from direct notifications from the organisers, improving their on-site and overall event day experience. Moreover, all necessary information and updates on travel, tickets and schedules for every event can be found in the new venue section of the IBU App.

These features can already be used during the Summer Biathlon World Championships which are taking place in Ruhpolding, Germany, from today until Sunday (28 August). Approximately 400 athletes from 28 countries are competing in 12 competitions to become Summer Biathlon World Champions.

Vincit Plc, the Finnish digital transformation and software development company, was the IBU's partner responsible for the implementation of the design and the development process end-to-end and for maintenance of these services.