Platinum Toys, Games and Hobby Products Design · 2017
Makedo Toolkit Cardboard Construction System
by Paul Justin
- A' Design Award 2017 Platinum Winner in Toys, Games and Hobby Products Design
- Awarded April 15, 2017
- CLIENT: Makedo
- Estimated Number of Design Views: 508,192
- Verification code 43CF4D2A97 · Verify this award
About Makedo Toolkit Cardboard Construction System
Makedo Toolkit is a reusable set of tools for creative cardboard construction. The toolkit holds a Safe-saw, a Scrudriver, twenty-one Scru connectors and seven Scru XL connectors in a resealable pouch. With these three tool types, children from the age of four can cut cardboard, punch holes and join layers securely. Scissors, blades and tape place safety and function limits on young makers, so the toolkit was developed to remove those limits. Found cardboard can be built into objects of any size, alone or in groups, in classrooms, maker spaces, museums and homes.
Within the expanding landscape of educational design objects that bridge play and purposeful making, this cardboard construction system emerges as a thoughtfully conceived toolkit that democratizes creative building for diverse age groups and skill levels. The design reflects contemporary movements in maker education and STEAM-focused learning, where open-ended construction systems encourage problem-solving, spatial reasoning, and imaginative expression without prescribing specific outcomes. The packaging design itself demonstrates sophisticated visual communication, employing clear diagrammatic illustrations that transcend linguistic barriers while establishing an approachable aesthetic through rounded typography and friendly color relationships. The choice of kraft paper as the primary packaging substrate signals environmental consciousness and aligns with the system's fundamental premise of transforming discarded cardboard into valued creations, establishing material coherence between container and concept. The distinctive turquoise hue selected for the reusable components achieves multiple communicative functions: it provides high visibility against neutral cardboard tones facilitating easy location during building activities, it creates gender-neutral appeal through its position between traditional blue and green associations, and it establishes strong brand recognition through chromatic consistency. The tool designs demonstrate careful consideration of child safety and ergonomic appropriateness, with the safe-saw featuring finger-loop handles that ensure controlled cutting motion while the screwdriver incorporates textured grip surfaces accommodating various hand sizes. One observes how the scattered arrangement of components in this presentation functions as visual abundance signaling, communicating value through visible quantity while simultaneously demonstrating the variety of connection possibilities. The viewer might contemplate how such design systems cultivate creative confidence by providing reliable structural solutions while leaving aesthetic and functional outcomes entirely to the maker's imagination, embodying educational philosophies that value process over predetermined results.
Press Kit
- Unique Properties
- Makedo is a simple to use, open-ended, reusable system of tools for creative cardboard construction. With just three customised tools: the Safe-saw, Scru and Scrudriver, children as young as four can safely cut, punch holes in and securely connect layers of cardboard. Makedo is designed for girls and boys, young and old, individuals and groups of all skill levels to make anything imaginable, of any size with found cardboard.
- Dimensions & Packaging
- Resealable Pouch: 12 (W) cm x 4 cm (D) x 24 cm (H) Contents: 1x SAFE-SAW, 1x SCRUDRIVER, 21x SCRU, 7x SCRU XL. A growing library of free 3D print files is available online (hinges, brackets, tools) to extend and enhance the Makedo system.
- Tags
- stem, steam, education, maker, cardboard, imagination, play
- Design Challenge
- Using cardboard as a making material for creative projects is not a new idea. There are however inherent limitations with the use of standard ubiquitous tools such as scissors, blades and tape to craft cardboard. They pose safety risks to the maker and functional limitations on the making itself but more importantly they set limitations on what can be achieved by young makers independent of adult intervention. The focus for this project was therefore in developing tools to empower young makers to work with cardboard safely and intuitively to manifest their ideas from minds eye to 'I made it'.
- Operation Flow
- Find some cardboard, grab some Makedo tools and get started. The awesomeness of Makedo is that children learn by doing, creating, experimenting, failing and maybe succeeding but that's not essential. The creations then open the door to imaginative play where the child is protagonist in a hack-able world of their own making. Makedo comes to life in collaborative creative environments such as classrooms, maker spaces, museums and of course homes.
- Inspiration
- The story behind Makedo is the tale of a designer working from home and having his day punctuated by his children requesting 'props' for their imaginative play. A shield here, a helmet there, possibly a turreted castle with working drawbridge! The desire to support his children to manifest their wild imaginations in the real world (and get some work done!) precipitated a light bulb moment for Paul Justin and Makedo was born. Makedo now empowers kids the world over to create a hackable world of their own making.
Makedo aligns with global shifts in education wherein creativity, critical thinking, communication and collaboration are integral to learning. Makedo fosters the natural inclination of the child to learn by making and doing. - Image Credits
- Makedo