Gold Pet Care, Toys, Supplies and Products for Animals Design · 2024
JK9 Sync Smart Dog Harness
by Alberto Vasquez, Istvan Vincze and Gyula Sebo
- A' Design Award 2024 Gold Winner in Pet Care, Toys, Supplies and Products for Animals Design
- Awarded April 15, 2024
- CLIENT: Julius-K9
- Estimated Number of Design Views: 304,321
- Verification code DAEAE1B413 · Verify this award
About JK9 Sync Smart Dog Harness
JK9 Sync is designed to make city living with dogs safer and more comfortable. Thanks to its high-tech knitting material the extremely breathable harness provides an ultra-ergonomic fit while also has extreme tensile strength for control. Its integrated hardware provides high accuracy geolocation to help you find your dog if it gets lost. The hidden LED lights automatically switch on when it's getting dark creating a safe visibility in the city. Built-in movement sensors track your dog's activity level and signals when it drops below healthy.
This compelling presentation of the JK9 Sync Smart Dog Harness by Alberto Vasquez situates itself within the evolving tradition of design documentation that celebrates the intersection of technological innovation, ergonomic intelligence, and aesthetic refinement in products created for companion animals, the image functioning simultaneously as product demonstration and lifestyle aspiration while honoring the dignified partnership between humans and their canine companions, the designer appears to have approached the harness development with careful attention to the biomechanics of canine movement, as evidenced by the visible articulation points and strap positioning that accommodate the natural gait cycle without restriction, the chromatic selection of saturated red against complementary blue-gray suggests a sophisticated understanding of color psychology and visual hierarchy, ensuring the product maintains visibility and identification while integrating harmoniously with contemporary aesthetic sensibilities, the choice to present the harness on a Vizsla, a breed renowned for athletic elegance and noble bearing, reinforces the premium positioning while demonstrating the harness's adaptability to medium-large sporting breeds, the architectural setting, with its soaring geometric ceiling structure and pristine surfaces, contextualizes the product within environments frequented by design-conscious consumers who seek products reflecting their broader aesthetic values, the coordinated attire of the human companion extends this visual narrative, suggesting that thoughtful design permeates all aspects of the contemporary active lifestyle, technically the image achieves remarkable balance between documentary clarity and atmospheric mood, the selective focus drawing attention to the harness construction while the environmental softness creates aspirational context, viewers might contemplate how functional objects designed for daily use become expressions of care, technological advancement, and the evolving relationship between humans and the animals who share their lives
Press Kit
- Unique Properties
- JK9 Sync is designed to make city living with dogs safer and more comfortable. Thanks to its high-tech knitting material the extremely breathable harness provides an ultra-ergonomic fit while also has extreme tensile strength for control. Its integrated hardware provides high accuracy geolocation to help you find your dog if it gets lost. The hidden LED lights automatically switch on when it's getting dark. Built-in movement sensors track your dog's activity level and signal its healthy range.
- Dimensions & Packaging
- Dimensions on dog (size L): 200 x 300 x 400 mm
- Tags
- wearable, technology, app, pet, smart, harness, dog, knitting, sync, jk9
- Production Technology
- Developing 3D knitting we combined normal polyester yarns and ultra strong thermo-yarns in a special knitting pattern which allows durable 3D forming through steaming and pressing processes. Thanks to high-tensile knitting, the straps can be grown out of the saddle part, creating a seamless unibody construction and a perfect fit on dogs' body. No die cuts (and no waste of yarn) in the process. While normal dog harnesses consist of almost 40 parts, the JK9®Sync only consists of 2 knitted layers.
- Design Challenge
- One of the striking things that made development complex is that dogs and humans are simultaneous users of this product with very different needs – in addition these dogs live in urban environments that weren't designed for animals in the first place. To meet these complex requirements, we must ask somehow animals too about their needs. This made us to involve a team of animal experts and advisors to be able to identify the needs of animal users the same level as their human companion.
- Project Duration
- Core development started in 2019 and finished in 2021 in Budapest, Hungary. After that a two-year testing and DMF session started.
- Operation Flow
- The App of the Sync Harness allows you to manage the most important geolocation, lighting and lifestyle functions. Its GPS system signals the dog's position accurately to 10m. If your dog strays, the GPS can track your dog for two weeks. With built-in motion sensors the harness always know whether your pet is standing, sitting, playing, or sniffing about and by analysing the patterns of movement and behaviour, it keeps track of your dog's activity level and signals when it drops below healthy.
- Research
- Core field of research was the future of urban dog keeping culture and application of interspecies design for dog harness development. We made both quantitative and qualitative research: we surveyed 1500 dog owners in 10 countries and made 30 in-depth interviews in 5 countries about their lifestyle. One of the most important issues for owners is coexistence: the quality of the symbiosis of dogs, people, and the city, which is crucial considering that by 2050, 70% of people will live in cities.
- Inspiration
- The Sync smart harness project was launched in pursuit of exploring the next-gen experience of urban dog walking and accessories. How are we going to walk the cities in the future? What will dog harnesses be capable of? What will they be made of? Our aim was to develop a dog harness that utilises the potentials of cutting edge material, hardware and software technologies to make city life for dogs safer and more comfortable.
- Image Credits
- JK9 / Tamás Szigeti
- Patents
- Julius-K9®