Combining today’s appeal of computer games with classic climbing and play equipment, ICON is an advanced playground encouraging health, movement, learning and social integration. Designed by Denmark-based Kompan, ICON was awarded the 2011 Design Award™ of the Year including the Best in Category design award in the Sport and Leisure category at the Australian International Design Awards (AIDA), presented by Good Design Australia.

The AIDA is Australia's foremost design endorsement scheme, rewarding companies that differentiate their products and services through design. Joining the success of this year's State of Design festival, the co-located design awards saw the biggest line-up ever with 232 Australian and internationally-designed products physically assessed by a panel of international design experts, and a total of127 making the finals.

We spoke with Managing Director of Good Design Australia, Brandon Gien after the winner was announced to reflect on the calibre of entrants, how picking this year’s winner was a `no brainer’, and his thoughts on the State of Design Festival.

 

 

Brandon Gien is the Managing Director of Good Design Australia and the Chair of the Australian International Design Awards. He represents Australia as an Executive Board Member and Treasurer of the International Council of Societies of Industrial Design [ICSID], a Member of the International Design Alliance, a strategic venture between the peak international organisations representing design.

 

What did you think of the calibre of this year’s entrants?

It was higher than ever. The one thing that was clearly different this year was the fact we had the highest number of entries we have ever had. The quality was so high it was extremely hard to pick a bad product. You just need to take a look at the brands that are entering now since we opened it up to international entries as well, and it’d be very hard to pick a brand on the Australian market that hasn’t entered. It is very positive from a design perspective, to see that these organisations are taking design very seriously. So the quantity has been fantastic, but the quality has been through the roof and continues to get better and better very year.

How difficult was it to choose between them when deciding the winner?

It is a pretty lengthy process as there is such a broad range of products. We have a common set of criteria that is applied to all products and categories and we do have different judges with different specialities, from motor car experts, design experts and medical experts. But it is difficult to select the top winner, it always is, because it’s the one that gets throw up into the spotlight. It’s also tricky as each of the judges come from different perspectives, looking at it from their industry, and they ask in-depth questions such as what is it going to say about where design is heading? what will it say about society? In the past we have been known to deliberate for up to 2 days, however this year was easier than most years. It was a children’s playground by a Danish company that took out the top prize, but it was the way they positioned this product in the market and the way they backed it up with the research,. Their story behind it told of how child obesity is going through the roof and how this generation of kids are fascinated by electronics, it’s all about playstation and sitting on the couch. So they thought the obvious thing was to put electronics into the playground, drag kids off the couch and out and active. Once that story was explained and the judges saw the quality of design and thinking, they just went look it’s a no brainer. When you see this thing in the flesh it’s beautifully executed, from the finish on the nuts that held the fixings together to the quality of the plastics, its environmental aspect how it runs on low voltage right through to the materials used that are all environmental friendly. Every single box had a big tick on it. The press here and internationally has been phenomenal. They are hoping to install more of these things across Australia. They flew the director of the company out to accept the award and it was just beautiful to hear what he had to say, that this award is for the kids, but he really meant it. This whole product was designed from the start to get kids healthier.

Do you have a personal favourite from the series of winners? Or if you don’t wish to select one favourite, tell us which ones stood out to you most and what do you like most about them? 

It is hard not to be attracted to the playground. I have two small children and I hope they put one near me in Sydney. As I said before, I have been running the Design Awards for the last 15 years and we've had cochlear implants and other incredible designs that have received awards, but this playground was just a beautiful consumer product that also had this really nice feel-good for society and environment message. I was the first person to go and see it when they installed it in Springfield, just outside of the Gold Coast. The minute I stepped onto it, I just went `wow this is unbelievable'. They said to me `we are not actually going to give you a demo, just sit here and watch'. They weren't selling it to me, I just sat there for half an hour and watched the kids play. So I can’t go past it.

What did you think of the state of design festival this year?

I thought it was brilliant. I am envious of what is going on in Victoria, being someone from NSW I think we are still figuring out what to do design wise. I think it is brilliant how the Victorian Government is behind it down there, just to see the volume of people coming through the exhibition and all the events going on, the more the merrier. We need something like that in NSW. I think it’s excellent and it just continues to grow and grow.

 

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