Finalists decided! Special Awards Panel for the Present and Future of Design

The special awards to be screened this time will be chosen from the GOOD DESIGN BEST 100 decided at the Second Screening Panel in August. The judges include only the Chair, Vice-Chair, and unit leaders, who will deliberate on all award-winning objects across units.

First of all, the “GOOD DESIGN BEST 100 Presentation Screening” was held in order to gain a deeper understanding of the award winning objects selected as the BEST 100.

Presentation of designs that open up tomorrow and suggest the future

The “GOOD DESIGN BEST 100 Presentation Screening” is a screening conducted as part of the Special Awards Panel. The winners of the BEST 100 give an online presentation about their designs. The presentation period is 4 minutes, followed by a 2-minute Q&A session with the judges. Presentations from overseas were conducted with interpretation by our staff members.

The 100 award-winning objects were divided into four rooms, and four to five judges per room listened to about 25 presentations.

In the presentations, the award winners talked about the thoughts behind their designs such as the inspiration for their ideas and what kind of society they are aiming for. During the Q&A session, specific questions were asked about the background and methods used to achieve the new designs, as well as the possible challenges based on judges’ industry knowledge, and how they meet them.

Designs that will be a message for 10 or 20 years from now

After the presentation, the Special Awards are discussed. The deliberation started with an introduction by each unit leader about the award-winning objects that left an impression on them. The voting was conducted after the evaluation perspectives of designers active in Japan and overseas as well as that of various experts were shared.

Each of the Special Awards, including the GOOD DESIGN GOLD AWARD, and the finalists represent design of the year 2023, and the message to society sent by the GOOD DESIGN AWARD.

The discussions deepened on whether the designs are meaningful from both perspectives of manufacturing design aspect and intangible design aspect, whether the designs should serve as a model for society as a whole after receiving this award, what the GOOD DESIGN AWARD is in the first place, and what kind of future the GOOD DESIGN AWARD should represent.

Among the Special Awards, the GOOD FOCUS AWARD includes categories such as “Disaster Prevention and Recovery Design” and “New Business Design.” Each of the Special Awards were carefully decided after careful discussion of “What is disaster prevention?” and “What is new business?” in 2023, and by breaking down the direction of the goal to be aimed for under this year’s theme of “Design with Outcomes.”

GOOD DESIGN AWARD to Support New Winds

Finally, we asked the judges who had completed the Special Awards Panel about this year’s GOOD DESIGN AWARD. “I was impressed that even in the unit mainly for hardware products, many of the objects clearly show the social challenges that need to be solved beyond manufacturing,” said Takashi Shigeno, leader of Unit 08 Equipment and Facilities for Manufacturing and Medical Care, referring to changes in design in the manufacturing sector.

In addition, Daisaku Kawase, leader of Unit 16 Media and Contents said, “This year, I found a new way to create designs, which is not Tokyo-based designs spreading to the whole country,” and “This is an award that supports not only the designs of big companies but also new winds starting from small companies.” We felt the value of the GOOD DESIGN AWARD, which focuses on all kinds of designs.

Two more weeks until awards announcement!

Finally, it is about two more weeks until the awards announcement on October 5! Next time, we will report on the press conference for the GOOD DESIGN AWARD 2023. This year’s GOOD DESIGN AWARD, the GOOD DESIGN BEST 100, and the Special Awards and the finalists selected this time will be announced. Please look forward to it!