Tricky Jigsaw wins coveted Good Design Award for Design Excellence for Blend Week initiative

Blend Week, an initiative designed by M&C Saatchi’s Tricky Jigsaw and UTS that aims to give students a diversified skill set in readiness for the complexities of current and future jobs, has been awarded the coveted Good Design Award for Design Excellence.

The inaugural Blend Week was held in November 2017 and has since been made an ongoing part of the UTS syllabus with the program ‘blending’ three different streams of UTS students to create dynamic working teams mimicking real-world working environments.

The initiative was recognised in the Service Design category for outstanding design and innovation. The Good Design Awards Jury praised Blend Week commenting: “Highly positive initiative. There is a real need to engage more students with the concepts of strategy design and design thinking. Blend Week is a great example of how this can work in practice. In particular, the involvement of industry makes this an impactful learning experience that we need more of in Australia.”

Says Ben Cooper, managing director, Tricky Jigsaw: “In our business, we’re seeing an increasing demand for ‘blended’ skill sets. Deep subject knowledge is important but a collaborative mindset and openness to other inputs help tackle the increasingly complex business environment. University is the optimal time to start nurturing these skills and we’re thrilled the Good Design Awards judges agree.”

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.

Says Dr Brandon Gien, CEO of Good Design Australia: “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.”

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