Why does the GOOD DESIGN AWARD address “proposals for design”? – The role of Focused Issues –

The GOOD DESIGN AWARD and Focused Issues

What comes to mind when you hear the word “design”? In addition to graphics, fashion, furniture, and home appliances, the design field spans a broad domain, including systems development and community activities. In the midst of this diversity, the GOOD DESIGN AWARD evaluates and makes recommendations from the totality of design, not limited to a specific field.

The process of evaluating and recommending “good design” from this broad spectrum of design is a cycle of discovery, sharing, and innovation.

We make new discoveries through the GOOD DESIGN AWARD screening, share them with society together with G Mark, and link them to the next generation of innovation. Focused Issues is an effort to deepen this trend and explore the role of design in society.

Alongside the screening, the subject entries are observed, and the themes are extracted as a summary after the screening ends. We continue to reflect on the role and significance of design and its potential, and publish this in the form of proposals every year.

Further, from 2024, the theme of the previous year’s Focused Issues has been adopted as the message of the next year’s GOOD DESIGN AWARD, strengthening the links between the two.

Focused Issues discovery process

Focused Issues began in 2015. Based on the objective of “discovering possibilities and issues for the coming society,” these activities have seen repeated changes as they developed. In this article, we introduce the process leading up to the publication of these proposals in recent years.

The team in charge of Focused Issues consists of the year’s chairperson and vice chairpersons as Focused Issues directors as well as a few Focused Issues researchers chosen from among external experts.

Researchers are expected to make use of their specialist knowledge to answer questions about what attitudes and moves are required of design, politics, government, corporations, and others, making the proposals more relevant to society by ensuring that they address a wide range of stakeholders.

The team work for about a year to create the proposals. The process is broadly divided into four stages.

Step 1 starts from the initial screening for the GOOD DESIGN AWARD. Separately from the usual screening process, all the entries being screened are monitored from each person’s specialist perspective.

In Step 2, the issues which merit exploration are set based on the points in question identified through the screening. Rather than the team as a whole narrowing this down to a single issue, each member defines the issues from their own standpoint.

Step 3 is where interviews are conducted with award winners and experts, based on the issues laid down by the directors and researchers. In addition, fact-finding research is carried out to back up the decision.

Then in Step 4, the results of the discussions and research which have taken place are summarized and presented as the final proposals.

The search for Focused Issues is an initiative utilizing a bird’s eye view. This is possible because the GOOD DESIGN AWARD is the only award in Japan that focuses on the totality of design. This search also the trajectory of discussions that continue to ask questions for the future through this perspective.

This year’s theme: “A Small Step, Design Leaps”

“A Small Step, Design Leaps” has been decided upon as the 2024 Focused Issues theme. This theme was set with the idea of shedding light on the “thoughts” and “activities” which take place before the creation of design, and even the origin of these. The theme is explained in more detail in this article.

This year, too, interviews were conducted with nine winners based on the issues identified by each team member. Conversations were held over a wide range of topics, from the background behind the birth of the award winning objects to their business structure and the thoughts of and conflicts between the people involved.

A person responsible for the GOOD DESIGN AWARD, which works alongside the Focused Issues activities, also reflected on the interviews, saying, “The award winners’ earnest sense of the issues and their ingenuity of design came across clearly. These are things which cannot be understood just by looking at the award winning designs on the website. The first ‘small step’ of any project begins with impassioned feelings: an individual's hopes, wishes, anger, or questions. Although they may take different forms, I could see how designs that started with individuals could expand their scope of influence and spread to many people through their stance of trying to make society better.”

Conversations were also held this year with experts Audrey Tang, Arturo Escobar, and Akie Iriyama. They added a multifaceted perspective going beyond design.

This year marks the 10th year. The final proposals will be announced on February 25!

The 2024 Focused Issues proposals are scheduled to be announced on February 25. The proposals will be available for download from the Internet and as a booklet.

An exhibition will also be held at the Tokyo Midtown Design Hub in March. The exhibition plans to dig deeper into the background behind the proposals and introduce the award winning objects.

It ought to provide hints about our next actions, showing us design’s potential for the future to improve our lives and society. Don’t miss it!