This is not the first time the Flying Object design studio team (teacher of the Vehicle Design programme at MOME’s Design Institute András Húnfalvi, Product Design MA alumnus Ferenc Laufer and Product Design MA alumna Anna Naszádi) has flown to Singapore to accept one of the world’s most prestigious design awards, the Red Dot Design Award.  

 The smart training system Nort Complex received the Best of the Best recognition, an accolade awarded to just 1% of the contenders. The award ceremony took place on 27 September. 
  
In recent years, personal training has shifted increasingly to the digital space, a process further intensified by the pandemic. Though hitherto unprecedented solutions emerged to facilitate communication between coaches and athletes and boost the efficiency of trainings, no similar development occurred in team sports. For example, the modus operandi for giving instructions is still yelling, even when it comes to coaching professional athletes.  
The originator of the concept behind Nort Complex Roland Németh is a football coach himself. When coming up with the idea for the system, his goal was was to develop a device to improve psychomotor, communication and cognitive skills of the players in addition to making his own job easier.  

The resulting concept for a system based on visual signals was implemented together with the designers of Flying Objects and the engineering team of Cad-Terv.  

Cognitive development and displays to replace yelling 

Nort Complex consists of 1 to 8 displays positioned around the football field and controlled with an easy-to-use tablet application that functions as the brain of the system. The system is ideal for every level, from team practices for young children to national league trainings. 
 The displays are placed at head height to keep the players’ line of vision focused higher than their feet and the ball. The signals keep the players’ attention alert, helping them remain focused and responsive.  

 This high level of presence develops skills that are useful in daily life, and indispensable for a professional sports career. 
 The signals are agreed and selected by the team, can be set as desired, and can be used by the coach to instruct the players via the app.  
 

Unique, award-winning development process 

It is always ideal to have product development and engineering running parallel with design processes. In the case of Nort Complex, nothing testifies to the success of this collaboration better than the Red Dot award.  

Flying Objects has been involved in the early stage of the concept implementation, including participation in the trainings with the first prototypes. This was not just a great help when developing the physical appearance of the product, but also in designing and testing the app.  

The highly resistant, injection moulded casing can easily withstand impact of misfired balls and toppling over. The units are equipped with universal connectors on the bottom for fitting onto powerful stands, as well as flaps that can be folded out from the aluminium insert of the back panel for hanging onto the side netting or side fence. The powerful LED panels are visible even in sunlight, and the units are operated by high capacity batteries. The app follows the understated and functional design approach of the displays.  

 Despite the high level of complexity of the programmable features, the UI is simple and transparent. It gives the coach a completely free hand in the structuring of the trainings, and makes it easy to respond or adjust the training programme during playing. Every element of the system is strictly functional and ensures seamless control during fast-paced trainings. 

The system was produced in close collaboration between football coaches, psychologists, engineers and designers, as a result of hundreds of hours of testing.  

Nort Complex has been used regularly since autumn 2021 for football trainings.