Brave Attitude, Organic Design

Today, the ability of design to improve products and processes is becoming even more sought-after in a variety of settings and circumstances.

There was a time in the past when design was considered to function only on a physical level. However, today design is needed in the process of creating things, and indeed in thinking itself. Within this environment, The GOOD DESIGN AWARD provides a global design award program that is unique in the way it analyzes each creation from a multifaceted perspective, with Judging Committee members from a variety of backgrounds evaluating submissions in shared discussions to agree on an outcome.

The designs the GOOD DESIGN AWARD is currently seeking have the power to help solve different problems and issues faced by all people, and in doing so enhance their quality of life. These kinds of design can be only discovered when the people involved with their practical creation engage in fine-grained analysis, rather than treating society as just a single, large group.

The theme for FY2024, “Brave Attitude, Organic Design,” emerged in the process of editing last year’s “Focused Issues”, in GOOD DESIGN AWARD’s online journal. People involved with design must have the brave attitude to take the first step and implement ideas in society through flexible, beautiful organic ideas and systems tailored to suit the setting and circumstances. I hope to further explore these design trends and discover powerful designs – sometimes bold, sometimes modest – for products and processes created in a variety of disciplines and fields of operation.

This year, I’m looking forward to encountering “Brave Attitude, Organic Design” which creates a better society.

The Power to Find Potential in Current Circumstances

This year’s GOOD DESIGN AWARD will begin soon.

We based this year’s theme, “Brave Attitude, Organic Design,” on trends we identified in last year’s screening sessions.

Our daily lives are under threat from climate change and major natural disasters. Our economy and society are enveloped in a sense of stagnation, gradually but steadily sapped of their vital energy. Common sense, which we used to believe was shared by all, has been transformed into war and conflict, leaving us in a state of shock. Yet even in conditions such as these which make it difficult to describe the future in optimistic terms, the ability of people to hope for change for the better, as seen through the process of manufacturing, appears extremely positive and bright with potential.

Right now, one thing that design needs to give us is the power to find potential in our current circumstances.

New ideas are proposed through the courage and resolve of individuals who raise their voices in opposition to the stagnating status quo, and in response, by companies and organizations that organically join hands to accept their ideas and take action together, creating a ground swell to implement them in society. The activities we know collectively as “design” have that power.

We expect the ideas envisioned by creators to permeate our lives and bring positive change. And at the same time, we want to see them co-exist in perfect balance with the natural environment and the world’s plants and animals. We want to encounter a sweeping, socially-oriented vision, but also dedication to manufacturing that extends to the finest level of detail.

This year, I look forward to being exposed to designers’ resolve and a diverse range of proposals through the GOOD DESIGN AWARD.

Beyond the Power of Design

Last year, I penned a message asking, “Do you believe in the power of design?” This year, I'd like to go a step beyond to consider “Where is the power of design heading?”

Our theme for the GOOD DESIGN AWARD 2023 was “Design and its Outcome.” This year’s theme, “Brave Attitude, Organic Design,” was synthesized from the overall trends of 2023’s awarded works. It evokes people embarking on a courageous journey while engaging in agile collaboration that organically transcends individual disciplines. When they take that first step, where are they heading? This is extremely important.

Will that first step ultimately bring them to a road that leads to a better future? If they head off in the wrong direction, all their hard work could end up wasted. We generate lots of ideas and then decide on a design. Consequently, we should recalibrate our understanding of what it means to waste ideas, just as we have done with regard to wasting resources. There are limits in terms of both time and quality on how many ideas an individual can come up with, and we need to ensure we are headed in the right direction if we wish to maximize the power of design to drive progress. That said, identifying the correct road is a difficult task, and the only way to determine it is a sustained process of trial and error.

In any case, the designer must expend a lot of effort on finding the right road, and then even more on design itself before they can finally reach their goal. There is a limit to what an individual can accomplish, but if the trial-and-error efforts of a large number of people can be shared, we should be able to set more distant goals, and achieve them more quickly. I believe this is the core message of these Awards.

I hope this year’s GOOD DESIGN AWARD will provide a venue for everyone to exchange ideas, share their processes, and inspire each other. Under the theme of “Brave Attitude, Organic Design,” we invite you to share entries that show how you confronted difficulties and overcame them, organically and with a brave attitude, in the design process.

With the Noto Peninsula Earthquake that struck on New Year's Day, Japan has had a difficult beginning of the year. We express our sincere condolences to everyone affected by the disaster, including those who lost loved ones. But we also have good news: a water recycling system that won the GOOD DESIGN GRAND AWARD helped individuals affected by the disaster. This is a region known for its traditional craftsmanship and production methods, and we hope that design will continue to encourage and inspire communities while they recover. For this year's GOOD DESIGN AWARD, we will do everything we can to support reconstruction efforts, such as by waiving the application fee for companies and designers based in Ishikawa Prefecture.

Since last year, we have further strengthened “Focused Issues,” our initiative to leverage the screening process and find issues in design that need to be addressed. The Chairperson and both Vice Chairpersons of the Judging Committee served as directors and compiled recommendations based on nine perspectives. We incorporated these recommendations in our themes for FY2024, and will be communicating them to all stakeholders, including government entities, companies and related organizations, and designers. We look forward to further discussions this year on the future of design and the role of design in our society.

The GOOD DESIGN AWARD also serves to build networks through design. We aim to create as many opportunities as possible for people engaging in design to interact with each other and learn about new aspects of design. Therefore, we are expanding the size of the venue for this year's Grand Award Election and Award Ceremony, and following our success last year, we will once again exhibit all awarded designs at the GOOD DESIGN EXHIBITION. In addition, to keep the GOOD DESIGN AWARD global, we will once again invite jury members from other countries to participate in the screening and strengthen the international exchange among design professionals.

Thanks to your support, every year, the GOOD DESIGN AWARD continues to receive excellent entries that come from a wide range of fields. Our role at the Japan Institute of Design Promotion is to showcase the power of design throughout society. We remain committed to discovering and promoting good designs, and as always, look forward to receiving your entries this year.