The Red Dot: Best of the Best, Elan’s latest accolade, is conferred only to the best products in their respective categories, set apart from their competition by their ground-breaking design. Elan’s latest ski – the Voyager – is the world’s first fully-functional folding all-mountain ski, which blazes an entirely new trail, winning a series of awards after just hitting the market. The winning combination, Elan’s technical innovations and product graphics by Gigodesign, is set apart by its adaptability and is a natural fit for the new ways in which we experience sports and nature.
“Functionality, intuition and sustainable quality were the three main design imperatives. The foldable functionality, never before seen in the skiing world, is an important part of this context. At its heart is a special mechanism that is never perturbed by snow or ice, with the components being sturdy enough to allow for a virtually infinite number of uses,” Melanja Korošec, Global Brand Director at Elan, described what sets the Voyager ski apart.
Elan, the lead innovator in the skiing industry, is certain that a great team is the only means of developing products on such a high level, with trusted long-time external partners providing quality guidance in their professional areas. Gigodesign helped Elan decode their corporate DNA using the Business Genome tool, sketching out the approach to design on a company level. The Voyager ski was the first product developed after applying this methodology, which translates the company’s values on all levels of operation, including product design. The Gigodesign team stepped in again on the final stretch, producing aviation-inspired product graphics.
Matevž Medja, Co-founder and Design Director at Gigodesign, is certain that “the ‘recipe’ for developing a strong product is really quite simple, but surprisingly few companies actually apply it. The technical innovation must have a clear benefit to the user, creating so much value that the user becomes a customer. The industrial design must translate the innovation into a useful and aesthetic form, the product graphics help make it understandable and desirable, and the branding must position it in relation to both the user, for whom the product is intended, and the corporate DNA of the brand. It’s simple and straightforward, but requires discipline and competence to execute properly.”
The collaboration between Gigodesign and Elan has already garnered a vast array of international awards, with the Red Dot: Best of the Best being their 10th Red Dot accolade. The Voyager ski was just recently named Gold Winner at the ISPO Awards and the Plus X Award – some of the highest recognitions for product design in the sports sector.
