News

August 15, 2020

MICK FANNING SOFTBOARDS WINS AUSTRALIA’S COVETED GOOD DESIGN AWARD FOR DESIGN EXCELLENCE

The winners of Australia's peak industry design awards – the highest honour for design and innovation in the country were announced at the 61^st annual Good Design Awards Ceremony.

Mick Fanning Softboards received a prestigious Good Design Award Winner Accolade in the Product Design category in recognition for outstanding design and innovation.

The annual Good Design Awards is Australia’s most prestigious international Awards for design and innovation with a proud history dating back to 1958. The Awards celebrate the best new products and services on the Australian market, excellence in architectural design, engineering, fashion, digital and communication design and reward emerging areas of design strategy, social impact and design entrepreneurship.

The Good Design Awards Jury spent several days evaluating each entry according to a strict set of design criteria which covers ‘good design’, ‘design innovation’ and ‘design impact’. Projects recognised with a Good Design Award must demonstrate excellence in all areas and convince the Jury they are worthy of recognition.

Dr. Brandon Gien, CEO of Good Design Australia said: “Receiving a Good Design Award at this level is a significant achievement given the very high calibre of entries received this year.”

“Australia’s Good Design Award is more than a symbol of design excellence, it represents the hard work and dedication towards an innovative outcome that will ultimately improve our quality of life. These projects showcase the brilliance of design and the potential it has to improve our world,” said Dr. Gien.

The Good Design Awards Jury praised Mick Fanning Softboards commenting: “ Elegant, simple and understated design with high quality materials and fit for purpose manufacturing. The true innovation in this board design lies with the construction techniques and material selection that has resulted in a high performance, professional surfboard normally associated with traditional hardboards. The design team has cracked the design code that allows softboards to be accepted by what is a fairly traditional surfing industry. The impact of this will open up the surfing industry to a much wider market. Every aspect of this product has been really well designed - form, function, material selection, aesthetics, design for manufacture - all coming together to create an excellent product with mass market appeal. Well done.”

Kurt Henson, MF Softboards Creative Director said: “It has been extremely rewarding to be tasked with creative direction of Mick Fanning Softboards from first concept through to global release. Creating a softboard brand that ensured a positive representation of Mick Fanning’s personal brand and producing a product line that enables Mick as an elite athlete to perform at a high level has not been an easy task! It is a pleasure working alongside Mick during each phase of product development and I would like to thank the team for their hard work and dedication. It is humbling that Mick Fanning Softboards has received this prestigious award alongside Australia’s most talented creatives!”

“Working alongside Mick and Kurt to create the branding for this revolutionary product was a breeze. Functional fun was the perfect brief, allowing me to build a clean, minimal, timeless and most of all utilitarian hierarchy through the top tier branding but also get a little loose with the nitty-gritty.” said Jack Bailey - Branding Creative.

Mick Fanning 3x World Champion said: “The entire team has done an amazing job developing the MF Softboards range and bringing it to market, what a great achievement and a deserving award! Thank you to the Good Design Awards jury for their kind words and positive feedback!”

The Good Design Awards attracted a record number of submissions with close to 700 design projects evaluated in this year’s international design awards.