Taking on the Asics Blackout Track

A few weeks ago Buttonlight worked with Asics to create a different kind of running track, to show that today’s gadgets and distractions create a mental state of mind that takes the process away from the running.

The brief was to create a running track with no distractions, only a moving head from the inside of the track and some filling led light that only appears a few meters before the runner, ensuring the the runner cannot see in advance of them. To create this, we stylised the entrance way and rooms leading into the track room to remove any thought of external stimulation, creating walls of beams, shuttering off spaces, a soft light room for calming before a jagged industrial warm up space. Then a blacked out room with only a glimmer of light showing the way to the track. As the runners prepared for their 20 kilometre run they were only guided by production to the start, then followed the lights leading them through the space. The results of this new approach to running have been published in scientific papers.