Mako Design Wins Three Indigo Design Awards in a Row!

That’s a hat trick! Our award-winning product design services company, MAKO Design + Invent, is now a three-time recipient of the prestigious Indigo Design Award! This year, we won bronze in the 2021 Indigo Design Award in the 3D CAD category for our client’s ROVER Packhopper. The Packhopper joins our list of previous Indigo Award designs. In 2019, we won gold for the uber-stylish Bennetti watch. Last year, in 2020, we won bronze for the fishing enthusiast’s dream, the GoFish camera.

Innovation and creativity reign supreme when it comes to this award. No detail is left unnoticed. In fact, every edge, color, and part is understood to be an intentional part of the design. Indeed, it’s an award that highlights only the most talented in our industry.

Certainly, our award-winning product design services team wowed the judges with one of the original 3D CADs of the Packhopper. If this is your first time hearing about the Packhopper, it’s a portable and durable tennis bag that functions both as a ball hopper and ball collector. It is the ultimate tennis player’s companion.

2021 Bronze Indigo Design Award Winner: ROVER Packhopper

“At the foundation of every invention at Mako is a brilliantly simple design,” says Kevin Mako. “See, the Packhopper has just three primary functions that solve a specific pain point for a niche audience: tennis players. This simple approach gives designers the flexibility to create a beautiful, sexy design without limiting functionality.”

It’s true. Whether it’s the final production model or the original prototype, our award-winning product design services team designs with “brilliantly simple” in mind. So, at first glance, the Packhopper may seem like a high-quality rolling tennis bag.

High-capacity 100+ ball storage space, a durable compartment to protect two racquets and plenty of pockets for accessories. But when you pop up the top, the Packhopper transforms into a ball hopper. Flip it over, and you’ll notice the metal grate underneath that functions as an automatic ball collector. The shape is different, yet familiar as well.

While most tennis bags are almost as small as the racquet, the Packhopper looks like a carry-on. This helps convey that it is much, much more than your typical tennis bag. The familiar design is juxtaposed by the heavy-duty buckles and sternum straps that remind you the Packhopper is built for an athlete and not for airplanes.

For the full list of recipients of the 2021 Indigo Design Awards, click here. 

About the Indigo Design Award

Annually, the Indigo Design Award competition attracts hundreds of product design service agencies and individuals from around the world who desire to showcase their creativity in their designs. Participants can submit projects in various categories, including graphic design, UX/UI, mobile design, branding, and design for social change. Winners will have their projects promoted to the Indigo Design Award’s global network of influencers, experts, and titans of the design world, helping them gain worldwide exposure and prestige.

Each member of the jury, handpicked for their innovative contributions, offers a unique design perspective to ensure the absolute best designs win. Judges include designers, engineers, and artists from some of the most renowned product design service companies and brands in the world, such as Sony, Google, and Microsoft.

To learn more about the Indigo Design Award, click here.

About: MAKO Design + Invent is the original firm providing world-class consumer product development services tailored to startups, small manufacturers, and inventors. Simply put, we are the leading one-stop-shop for developing your physical product from idea to store shelves, all in a high-quality, cost-effective, and timely manner. We operate as one powerhouse 30-person product design team spread across 4 offices to serve you (Austin, Miami, San Francisco, & Toronto). We have full-stack in-house industrial design, mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, patent referral, prototyping, and manufacturing services. To assist our startup and inventor clients, in addition to above, we help with business strategy, product strategy, marketing, and sales/distribution for all consumer product categories. Also, our founder Kevin Mako hosts The Product Startup Podcast, the industry's leading hardware podcast. Check it out for tips, interviews, and best practices for hardware startups, inventors, and product developers. Click HERE to learn more about MAKO Design + Invent!