Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Announces 2025 Stanley Caplan User-Centered Product Design Award Winner: Peloton

The Human Factors and Ergonomics Society (HFES) today announced the winner of its 24th Annual Stanley Caplan User-Centered Product Design Award: Peloton for its Strength+ iOS app. The award honors Peloton’s outstanding commitment to human-centered design and innovation in the health and wellness space.

Please join us to hear directly from the winning design team on November 19, 2025, at 12:00 PM Eastern. This special HFES session will include a presentation from Peloton about the design and development of the award-winning product. The session is open to all HFES members and the general public.

The Strength+ app was recognized for its ability to create a seamless, motivating and educational digital strength experience to support those training in the gym.

Key Factors Contributing to the Selection of Peloton:

• Engagement & Motivation – Judges praised Peloton’s methods for sustaining engagement through gamification, intelligent guidance, and dynamic instruction.
• Inclusivity – The platform was lauded for its inclusivity and adaptability, supporting diverse user needs and fitness levels. It addresses key needs ranging from overcoming intimidation in the gym to approaching progressive overload safely, and while it is designed to be used in the gym, it also supports at-home and on-the-go workouts.
• Commitment to Iteration – Judges noted Peloton’s ongoing improvements based on user feedback, and use of gold-standard benchmarking, showing a strong dedication to continuous human-centered design.

Judging Panel (2025):

• Andrea Berman
• David Aurelio
• David Gilmore
• Eric Bergman
• Junyao Liu

About the Stanley Caplan User-Centered Product Design Award:

The Stanley Caplan User-Centered Product Design Award is presented annually to teams and individuals who demonstrate outstanding innovation in user-centered design. Named in honor of Stanley Caplan, an HFES Fellow, the award highlights efforts to promote user-centered research and design across multiple industries. The award is open to consumer, commercial, and medical products, and participants need not be HFES or PDTG members to be considered.

This year’s judging criteria included ease of operation, creativity and innovation, functional obviousness, concept development, design, and evaluation. The award is chaired by Adam Shames.

Looking Ahead:

Nominations for the 2026 award are due by April 30, 2026, and can be submitted at www.UCDaward.com. The 2026 award year will be especially meaningful, as it marks the 25th anniversary of the Stanley Caplan User-Centered Product Design Award — a milestone in celebrating a quarter-century of human-centered design excellence.