Where Good Design Meets Good Business: Hear From Award Winners

Recognition through the Australian Good Design Awards carries weight across industry, signalling rigour, credibility and leadership in design.

Designers and organisations are invited to reflect on the impact of their work and how design can lead through purpose, innovation and real-world influence. There are now less than five weeks left  to enter.

We spoke to previous entrants of the Awards to understand what motivated them to enter, what winning meant to them and what keeps them coming back. 

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RECOGNITION AND CREDIBILITY 

Boost your brand’s reputation, bolster credibility and be recognised for the amazing work you do. 

Soren Luckins, Founder of Buro North who received a 2025 Australian Good Design Award Best in Class Award in the Design Research category for their project – Sydney Metro Central Station – Customer Centred Design, shared his insights on how important the Awards were to them.

“The Australian Good Design Awards carry serious industry credibility — they are respected by peers, collaborators and partners we deeply admire, which makes this recognition especially meaningful,” he shared.

“The Awards process forces a moment of pause in the middle of busy practice, projects and life to reflect, look back, and acknowledge the rigour, collaboration and care that went into the work. The Award has had a tangible impact on our studio.”

NETWORKING AND INDUSTRY CONNECTIONS

The Awards bring together companies, designers and industry experts, providing opportunities to make new connections, build relationships and meet potential clients.

Martin Rowland, Founder of GX Outdoors, received a 2025 Australian Good Design Award in the Product Design category for Pandanus: Designed to Grow. Infinite Shade. Zero Waste.

He said attending the Awards created valuable connections across the design community.

“Attending the Awards Ceremony was a real highlight for our team – hearing directly from other recipients about their challenges, ideas, and the impact they’re creating was incredibly motivating and reinforced the sense of being part of a design collective that is raising the bar on what good design can achieve.”

VISIBILITY

An Australian Good Design Award places work in front of a national and international design stage. It helps you increase visibility and awareness of your work and enhance public recognition of your brand.

Bonnie Shaw, Founder and Director at the Municipal Association of Victoria, received a 2025 Australian Good Design Award in the Policy Design category for MAVlab – Local Government Innovation.

“With a small team and limited budget, this Award is a megaphone to help raise our profile and reach a wider audience in order to inspire more practical and transformative work in local government in service of us all,” she said.

“The Australian Good Design Award played a significant role in demonstrating to a range of stakeholders (including our board) that this work has a vital and legitimate place in government.”

MARKET DIFFERENTIATION 

In competitive markets, independent recognition helps distinguish you from others. The Awards provide a trusted benchmark that signals innovation, quality and leadership to clients, partners and stakeholders.

Eleanor Pratt from Boost Design, won a 2025 Australian Good Design Award in Product Design for the M60 Survey Camera.

“They [The Awards] offer a high-impact way to update existing clients on our latest achievements, while providing new clients with an immediate shorthand for excellence by providing a third-party ‘tick’ of approval,” she explained.

“Having our work verified by an international Jury of experts has shifted the conversation from ‘what we do’ to ‘how well we do it,’ firmly establishing us as experts in our field.”

INSPIRATION

Entering creates space to pause and reflect on the ideas, process and impact behind a project. Recognition can renew momentum and inspire teams to continue pushing design forward.

Tanya Wood, Founder of Tanya Wood Landscape Architecture, received a 2025 Australian Good Design Award in the Built Environment category for Landscapes for Well-Being. She reflected on her experience entering the Awards. 

“The whole experience has been inspiring from start to finish – from submitting my work, to seeing it recognised internationally, to celebrating at the Awards Ceremony – it reinforced the value of thoughtful landscape architecture,” she shared.

“It’s rare to have an awards program that combines prestige, visibility, and genuine enjoyment – and it’s an experience I’ll always remember.”

FEEDBACK

The evaluation and judging process can provide valuable feedback, which can be used to improve current and future projects and can help companies improve the quality of their design processes and products.

Matteo Salval, Project Director at JPW, received two accolades last year, an Australian Good Design Award for 1 Elizabeth and a Good Design Award Gold for Sydney Metro Martin Place, both in the Built Environment category.

He said the evaluation process was both easy to navigate and rigorous and that receiving an Award affirmed the value of the team’s work.

“For the team, it validated the discipline, care and rigour invested in balancing design ambition with complex civic, heritage and stakeholder considerations. It was an affirmation that thoughtful, context-driven design can deliver enduring public value.

“The process is rigorous yet accessible, and the feedback culture reinforces a sense that the Awards are part of a broader design advocacy mission rather than a purely competitive exercise.”

MARKETING AND PR

The Australian Good Design Award trademark provides a recognised symbol of design excellence. This recognition supports brand storytelling and strengthens how organisations communicate the value of their work.

Benjamin Bray, Founding Partner at Nakatomi, received the 2025 Australian Good Design Best in Class Award in Digital Design for Ovum.

He said that recognition through the Australian Good Design Awards strengthens how studios communicate the value of their work to clients and industry.

“The Good Design Tick, whether spotted on an office shelf or a website banner, is an immediate signal of craft, originality and quality.

“It’s one of the rare Awards that authentically heroes the work, supports the industry, and holds itself to the same high standard as the incredible entrants it consistently attracts.

“The Australian Good Design Awards is essential for the industries it celebrates and remains the only Award we truly strive for each year, and the one we’re most proud to hold.”

ACCESS TO NEW MARKETS

Success in these Awards can open doors to new markets, allowing companies to expand their reach and grow their business.

Tom Loefler, Founder, CEO and Designer of Hullbot, won the 2025 Australian Good Design Award of the Year for their Product Design project Hullbot Autonomous Ship Hull Cleaning System

He said that the recognition helped accelerate global partnerships and growth.

“It’s [The Award] helped us build trust with major shipping operators, accelerate international partnerships, and expand our reach across new markets,” Tom explained. 

“It’s a powerful signal that Australian innovation can lead global change in sustainable maritime technology. The award proved to be a massive boon during our Series A investment run. We have a product with proven results that operates globally, and its design also recognised and validated by the wider community.”

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Less than five weeks remain to enter the 2026 Australian Good Design Awards. 

As Australia’s highest international design accolade, the program recognises work that sets new benchmarks for design, innovation and impact.

Explore our guide on how to write the perfect entry, with practical tips from the jury.
Enter the Awards here.

DESIGN THAT LEADS: SHIFTS SHAPING WHAT’S NEXT

Design shapes every aspect of our lives. It shapes how we live, decide, and move through the world.

With entries now open for the 2026 Australian Good Design Awards, themed Design That Leads, this year’s Jury shares emerging themes and trends shaping the future of design across disciplines.

Designers are stepping in earlier and reaching further. Beyond products and interfaces, they are shaping the systems behind them, from governance and policy to the data, rules, and contracts that determine real-world outcomes.

Artificial intelligence is accelerating what’s possible. Complex problems can be explored faster. Ideas can be tested instantly. But speed alone is not progress. Human judgment, ethics, and creative intent remain essential.

Sustainability, circular design and regenerative thinking is reshaping what responsible design looks like. The focus has shifted to creating work that lasts, reduces harm, and makes its values clear.

Every design decision carries consequences. It shapes commercial outcomes, aesthetic quality, and social and environmental impact.

We spoke to past Good Design Award Jurors to find out what we should be looking out for this year.

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Roya Alma Azadi 

Director, Y-Lab

Social Impact Juror 

As our practice of design expands in Australia and we become more aware of systems and institutions that are ill-equipped to meet the moment, there is an increasing shift from experience design to institutional design.

The core question is shifting from ‘how do we make this better?’ to ‘who’s deciding what better means?’ In this reframe, power – not process – is becoming the main design material.

The first trend I’d point to is that co-design is maturing beyond workshops and sticky notes. For example, we’re already seeing lived experience seats on boards and a growing practice around participatory budgeting. It’s a growing topic in the impact world, and sometimes a point of contention. 

The second trend, which I’m sure is top of everyone’s mind, is the move of AI into public infrastructure. This is also shifting the location where the design challenge sits. We used to see design in public infrastructure as service touchpoints and user journeys. Now it must also shape algorithmic rules, data governance, and decision thresholds. One of our new design questions is: how can we achieve efficiency without eroding dignity?

Designers are increasingly being asked to influence policy, contracts, and governance structures, and much more of the deeper, invisible architecture of unequal systems.

We’re finally past our hackathon era and are working toward becoming a profession that measures success in systemic and structural shifts, rather than workshop energy.

Designed by YLab. Image: Supplied.

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Daniel So

Principal Designer, Particle Design Studio

Product Design Juror 

One of the most significant shifts I see occurring is the acceleration of delivery. Artificial intelligence has already dramatically sped up designers’ abilities to deliver early-stage concepts and visualisations, but its real impact will come from using it for advanced problem-solving in highly technical product development.

In the past, obtaining niche technical knowledge, such as material behaviour, surface finishes for specific mechanical applications, or sealing strategies could have taken days to weeks, or even months to obtain. 

This often meant liaising with specialists or diving deep into particular research fields to retrieve information that wasn’t always easy to find. But now, the information is funnelled from different sources and distilled from a single chat prompt. And although you still need to fact-check it, it’s mostly all there, at a few taps of a keyboard and mouse – or nowadays, just through a voice prompt.

This acceleration allows designers to remove friction during the research phases and quickly move to synthesise the information into ideas. Allowing for more rapid iterations, faster validation of ideas, and more confident decision-making, particularly in fields such as science and technology.

What I hope to see is not just faster development of products, but better ones. Compressing timelines without compromising rigour means that designers can be more active in the complex problem-solving process. Which I hope means that we can direct our resources and energy into creating products that have a greater and more positive impact on society.

Designed by Other Matter. Image: Supplied.

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Ben Cooper

Global Executive Director, AI Products – R/GA 

Concept Design Juror

For years, we have worshipped at the altar of invisibility. “Good design is invisible.” This is no longer true. Good design is an intervention. 

Scarcity once disciplined us. If we did not understand materials, manufacturing, or proportion, we could not participate. Now, a machine can generate ten thousand variations before we have even finished our coffee. Competence is automated. Perfection is synthetic. And we applaud this as progress. 

But when everything works without effort, we stop asking why it exists. Seamlessness becomes camouflage. Defaults become ideology. Code becomes policy. The danger is not ugliness. The danger is frictionless harm – scaled globally, optimised politely. 

We speak of “user experience” while ignoring consequences. A little friction is not failure. It makes ethics visible. A pause. A confirmation. A boundary. A designer saying: “No, not this.”

Intelligence is now a material. Like steel. Like plastic. It must be shaped, limited, and understood. It has properties: bias, acceleration, and amplification. If we do not master these properties, we are not designing. We are merely styling outputs. The future of design will not be defined by how much we can generate, but by what we refuse to generate.

I hope for fewer things. Better things. Systems that declare their values openly. Products that do not hide their cost in distant supply chains or invisible datasets. Design is not about making the material disappear. It is about making intention visible. If you cannot explain the values embedded in your work, you have not designed it – you have been designed by it.

Designed by M&E Interiors & Skeehan Studio. Image: Supplied.

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Rachel Zhang 

Experience Director, Ro&Co / Telstra

Digital Design Juror 

One of the biggest shifts shaping my industry, Digital Design, is the rapid acceleration of AI and the emotional frenzy and uncertainty that came with it.

We went from an explosion of design x AI-powered tools overnight, as companies competed to be first to market – from synthesising “clusters” in MIRO, to rapid prototyping “vibe coding” in Figma, to being able to generate personas for testing and even simulate usability testing at scale with zero humans in sight.

Now we’re starting to see the trend correct itself, with an increased demand for designers, and the realisation that designers are now needed more than ever to help shape the future of design.

Not every new tool saves time. Not every automation improves quality. And companies are realising that, without strong design thinking, AI can help scale bad assumptions faster.

It’s exciting because designers are increasingly being pulled upstream, to be more strategic and demonstrate end-to-end journey understanding – to help shape how AI systems and designs behave, explain themselves, and earn trust. We’re seeing growing demand for product designers, service designers, and UX strategists who understand systems, ethics, behavioural sciences, and human decision-making – not just beautiful UI.

We’ve entered one of the most impactful and consequential eras of design since the birth of the interwebs. Designers have the opportunity to co-create the first generation of:

1. Agentic shopping experiences
2. AI copilots in healthcare, finance, and education
3. Voice-first and intent-driven interfaces
4. Human-AI decision systems

The significance of this impact is like when we designed the first steering wheel, the first remote control, Tamagotchis, or the first search engine – moments in time that shaped how billions of people would go on to use technology every day.

I hope that we use this moment to do better than we’ve done with social media. Instead of rushing to be the first, to win, to make the most money, we focus on:

1. Ethics
2. Accessibility
3. Transparency
4. Human wellbeing
5. Environmental awareness

Kate Crawford (author of Atlas of AI) emphasises that digital products don’t just live “in the cloud” but very much affect the real world, and have huge consequences on real labour, real resources, and real environmental costs.

Design has the responsibility and opportunity to shape new AI systems that reduce bias instead of compounding it, and to think about the implications on humanity, the environment, and the world. I am excited to see design take a stand for the new world we create together.

Designed by NightJar. Image: Supplied.

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Rosanna Iacono

Co-Founder & CEO, The Growth Activists

Fashion Design + Good Design Award for Sustainability Juror 

I see the immediate future of design being shaped by two massive and ideally converging forces: sustainability and artificial intelligence.

The most urgent shift is moving from a “take-make-waste” mindset toward true longevity. Design today must focus on both physical and emotional durability. We need to create products that people actually want to keep, treasure, and care for – shifting us toward a circular economy that stops overproduction and respects our planet’s precious resources.

The second force is AI. While it is a powerful tool, there is a real danger that it will lead to ‘algorithmic echoes’, making everything look and feel the same. In this world, the manmade and the artisanal will become more valuable than ever. The human touch, that spark of original creativity, is something a machine simply cannot replicate, and as a result, the truly original will command an ever greater premium in an increasingly homogenised environment.

My hope is that design becomes the ultimate “force for good”. By using AI as a partner rather than a replacement, we can elevate human creativity to solve our biggest challenges. When we combine responsible tech, a devotion to true innovation, and a deep commitment to sustainability, we create a future where business truly serves people and planet. It’s about moving past cycles to design with truly genuine purpose.

Designed by The Social Studio. Image Supplied.

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Be part of the next chapter in design

These insights show that design is leading the way. It shapes work that is ethical, purposeful, and built to last, responding to global challenges while influencing how the world operates. 

Designers are entering more conversations earlier and thinking about impact, responsibility, and sustainability in everything they create. The Australian Good Design Awards celebrate this kind of leadership in design. Entries are now open.

Start your entry now