Red Dot Design Award 2017 for Mellow Boards

Hamburg, 3 April 2017

After a successful Kickstarter campaign and coinciding with the start of product delivery, Mellow Boards has been decorated with the internationally sought-after Red Dot Design Award for its innovative electric skateboard drive. After reviewing thousands of products from all over the world, the expert committee chose the Mellow Drive as dignified laureate of the Red Dot Award: Product Design 2017.

“Our focus was to create a holistic user experience, for which the interaction of product and interface design plays a decisive role. After three years of intense development, we are happy to have our efforts recognised by the experts of the Red Dot panel,” says Andi Kern, UI & UX designer for Mellow Boards. The Red Dot Award for outstanding design is a further seal of quality for the electric drive “Made in Germany”.

The Mellow Drive is a mountable electric drive that fits on almost any skateboard or longboard, which makes it the most compact e-mobility solution for the city. Core component is a magnesium frame that protects the electronics and the battery pack. Inside the skateboard wheels there are two motors that accelerate to top speeds of up to 40km/h.

“With the Mellow Drive we set new standards for quality, safety and design. From the first drawing to the final product, engineers and designers worked closely together. Producing in Germany, we emphasize the perfection of each individual part to ensure longevity and enjoyment of the product,” explains Christoph Philipp Schreiber, product designer and engineer for Mellow Boards.

The user interface of the Drive is just one button surrounded by an LED display showing the battery’s state of charge. The Mellow Remote is an intuitive slide control that moves forward to accelerate and backward to brake safely. With all functions at the fingertips riding modes from rookie to pro can be switched while checking the remaining power. Whoever wants to go further than 15km benefits from the swappable battery pack extending the range easily on the go.

“The Red Dot winners are pursuing the right design strategy. They have recognised that good design and economic success go hand in hand. The award by the critical Red Dot jury documents their high design quality and is indicative of their successful design policy,” summarizes Professor Dr. Peter Zec, founder and CEO of the Red Dot Award.

This year, the Red Dot competition received more than 5,500 entries from 54 countries. The jury of around 40 independent designers, design professors and specialist journalists tested, discussed and assessed each individual product, awarding the Honourable Mention for a well-conceived detail solution, the Red Dot for high design quality and the Red Dot: Best of the Best for groundbreaking design.

The Red Dot Award will culminate in Essen at the Red Dot Gala award ceremony on 3 July 2017. Also starting at that date, all the prize-winning products will be showcased in the Red Dot Design Museum Essen as part of the world’s largest exhibition of contemporary design.

About Mellow Boards

Mellow Boards is a Hamburg based start-up providing a smart alternative for urban transportation. It all started with the dream of the Endless Ride – bringing the feeling of surfing and snowboarding to the streets. Three years of design, prototyping and fine-tuning of more than 300 custom-made individual parts followed. The result is a mountable electric skateboard drive – a high quality product for high-performance use, made in Germany. With the help of a successful Kickstarter campaign in 2015 and the cooperation with investor and production partner TQ Systems, Mellow Boards launched the final Mellow Drive in March 2017.

About the Red Dot Design Award

In order to appraise the diversity in the field of design in a professional manner, the Red Dot Design Award breaks down into the three disciplines of Red Dot Award: Product Design, Red Dot Award: Communication Design and Red Dot Award: Design Concept. The Red Dot Award is organised by Design Zentrum Nordrhein Westfalen and is one of the world’s largest design competitions. In 1955, a jury convened for the first time to assess the best designs of the day. In the 1990s, Red Dot CEO Professor Dr. Peter Zec developed the name and brand of the award. Ever since, the sought-after Red Dot award has been the revered international seal of outstanding design quality.

Mellow Drive Product Video

https://youtu.be/lLWgQMvTimk

Pictures

https://www.flickr.com/photos/143790339@N08/

Further information

https://www.mellowboards.com/en/press/

Press Contact

Sanna
Public Relations & Press
Email press@mellowboards.com
Mobile +49 40 882 1592-0

Mellow Boards GmbH
Budapesterstraße 49
20359 Hamburg, Germany
Website mellowboards.com

Mellow | The Electric Drive that fits under any Skateboard – Mellow Boards GmbH Keep Riding. Stay Mellow.