Outline
RegulationsOrganizer and supportersOur IdealsScreening perspectivesProject Policies for 2023Types of AwardsMessages
Regulations
"Principal Implementation Regulations for the GOOD DESIGN AWARD 2024" stipulate the outline of the GOOD DESIGN AWARD 2024 project. In accordance with the principal implementation regulations, various relevant regulations are prescribed.
Organizer and supporters
Japan Institute of Design Promotion (JDP)
Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry / The Small and Medium Enterprise Agency / Tokyo Metropolitan Government / The Japan Chamber of Commerce and Industry / Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO) / ASEAN Promotion Centre on Trade, Investment and Tourism / Nihon Keizai Shimbun / NHK / World Design Organization
Our Ideals
Screening perspectives
Whether tangible or intangible, GOOD DESIGN AWARD evaluates the quality of things that people create to achieve certain ideals and purposes as design. The jury members will consider the following "screening perspectives" to determine whether or not the entries are good designs based on a composite of various views of design context, purpose, process, and outcome.
Whether due considerations, including usability, understandability, friendliness, etc., are given to users
Whether various considerations, including safety, security, environment, physically weak persons, etc., are given to maintain the credibility
Whether the design gains the sympathy of users
Whether the design has attractiveness and induces users’ creativity
Whether issues are skillfully solved by using new technology and materials or through creativity
Whether the entry is reasonably designed or planned with appropriate technology, method, and quality
Whether the entry contributes to the creation of a new industry or business
Whether the entry contributes to the creation of new cultures, such as a new method, lifestyle, communication, etc.
Whether the entry contributes to the realization of the sustainable society
Whether the entry suggests new value, such as a new method, concept, style, etc. to society
Whether the entry puts past contexts and accumulated achievements to propose new value.
Whether the entry proposes a highly sustainable solution from medium- and long-term perspectives.
Whether the entry represents continual improvements in accordance with the times.
Project Policies for 2024
For the GOOD DESIGN AWARD 2024, we have once again appointed Mr. Seiichi Saito as the Chairperson of the Judging Committee, with Mr. Jin Kuramoto and Ms. Yuko Nagayama as Vice-Chairpersons. This year’s theme, “Brave Attitude, Organic Design,” derived from last year’s Focused Issues, complements the usual evaluation perspectives of the GOOD DESIGN AWARD (human, industry, society, and time). In addition to these criteria, we evaluated whether each design was created with a willingness to break free from conventional practices and preconceived notions, as well as the flexibility to adapt to various people, places, and situations involved.
The main points are as follows:
Discovery of Outstanding Designs and Promotion of Applications Domestically and Internationally
During the application period, we organized numerous briefing sessions and consultations both domestically and internationally to motivate potential applicants. In mainland China, we continued collaborating with local media and used multiple channels, including social media and online ads, to promote the award. In Taiwan, we leveraged a well-established podcast channel that has been active since 2022 to share information and discussions on exemplary Japanese designs, thereby enhancing the understanding of GOOD DESIGN AWARD.
Strengthening Information Dissemination Through Owned Media
Launched last year, the “.g Good Design Journal,” an information dissemination section of the official GOOD DESIGN AWARD website, has established itself as a design media outlet by regularly publishing updates on the screening process, and showcasing winners and awarded designs. Official social media accounts on platforms like Facebook and Instagram have also continued to grow in follower count each year. By updating content in a timely and relevant manner, these accounts have enhanced their role as accessible media that bring the GOOD DESIGN AWARD and its recipients closer to general audiences.
Modification of the “GOOD DESIGN GRAND AWARD” Election Method and the Launch of the “Our Favorite G Mark” Event
This year, all of the GOOD DESIGN GOLD AWARDs, which are selected by the Judging Committee, will be considered finalists for the GOOD DESIGN GRAND AWARD, and it will be decided by a vote of the jury members and the winners only as the design professionals, to elect the one design that is recognized as the most outstanding of the year's awarded works. In parallel with the Grand Award, we also held a voting event called “Our Favorite G Mark” in which anyone who visited the exhibition could vote, creating an opportunity to raise awareness of outstanding designs.
Types of Awards
GOOD DESIGN AWARD is presented to entries recognized as excellent designs from among all entries, and then 100 winners with superior designs are chosen as GOOD DESIGN BEST100.
Next, the Judging Committee chooses winners of the GOOD DESIGN GOLD AWARD and GOOD FOCUS AWARD as well as finalists for the GOOD DESIGN GRAND AWARD from the GOOD DESIGN BEST100.
The winner of the GOOD DESIGN GRAND AWARD is chosen from the finalists for that award voting by the jury members, winners, and others.
2024/10/16
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.
2024/10/16
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.
2024/10/16
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.
