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SUMMARY OF THE ADJUDICATION
The category Working Use Products Unit 3 includes
industrial machines and facilities that have beneficial effects
on the users' work, and as such, it is the Unit for production resources
that support the highly-sophisticated manufacturing that Japan is
so proud of. This year, 96 companies sent 171 entries, of which
103 were selected for the Good Design Award, yielding a high success
rate of 60.2%.
This demonstrates that fortunately, the quality of design has improved
overall, but on the other hand, the success rate is also due to
the many conventional designs that gave us no particular reason
to assign them failing marks. Whether or not this is another sign
of the poor health of the industrial sector, the dismissive attitude
that this level of design is just fine for production resources
may be setting us up for a situation in which we will be unable
to create the kind of exciting, adventurous designs that will open
the way to a new era.
EVALUATION OF THE DESIGNS
Given the characteristics of the products
in this Unit, we emphasized two aspects during our Adjudications.
Since the design and development of production materials play an
especially large role in determining the function and performance
of a product, our first concern was to look carefully at questions
such as whether the designers had dealt with solving these issues
or whether the designers had shown sufficient concern for the use
environment. The second aspect was determining the level at which
the design should be evaluated, based on the degree of maturity
of the product category and the characteristics and sizes of the
companies providing the entries. We also judged the development
of the product over time, looking at such things as efforts at continuous
improvement and the degree of evolution that had occurred.
I would like to use the Gold Prize-winning product, the three-directional
shock and acceleration recorder developed by a small company, Art
Heaven 9, as an example of the directions and forward-looking trends
in design this year.
This is set on precision instruments that are sensitive to shock
at the distribution stage or during installation, and it uses a
miniature acceleration sensor to detect and record vibration that
the instrument is subjected to from three directions. We particularly
liked this device because even though it is an accessory installed
where no one can see it, it has an attractive form that is beautifully
and painstaking finished down to the smallest detail. We also liked
the way that light emitting diodes (LEDs) were placed in three directions,
to dim when three-dimensional shock acceleration was applied, which
showed that the designers had thought of the mental image of the
LED devices as sentries and had therefore used their placement to
symbolize this.
The design of this product give it the power to act as a proxy for
the quality control manager who wants the product shipped so that
it is delivered to the customer in perfect condition. This reminds
us that even in such logic-oriented fields as the design of production
resources, there is a need for design that bridges the ideas of
the manufacturer and the user.
Prize of Small and Medium Enterprises was awarded
to the pulse pump developed by Takumina. This series already has
a history in this competition, having been selected for the G-Mark
in 1999, but it has been subjected to continuous improvements in
order to bring it closer to the ideal designs proposed in sketches
at that time, and this process is now complete. It is a simple,
unassuming design, but it has been the object of diligent and painstaking
work by engineers and designers, under the guidance of managers
who understand design. High marks were given to the design development
position of this small business whose activities are aimed at continuous
evolution of their products.
Although they were not selected for any special prizes,
Hitachi Construction Machinery's hydraulic excavator and Kubota's
combine harvester were worthy of particular mention. In both cases,
the design and engineering departments worked together closely,
and we liked their superior designs, which thoroughly blended attractiveness
and improved functions in these products.
Whether we liked its design or not, an entry that exemplified the
new field of production resources design was the Tea Machine, entered
by Design Stream, Ltd. It is a machine that supplies high-quality
loose-leaf tea at tea retailers' shops. It is full of features that
allow people to enjoy the process of brewing tea. One could almost
call this area "entertainment design." Design that provides
fun and excitement is needed to set the scene for workplaces that
support more effective operations in the service industries and
other areas. If the category of products having the same objectives
expands further, we may need to combine it with commercial game
machines and similar devices to create a new product category for
the G-Mark.
ISSUES FOR THE FUTURE
On the other hand, we also saw products whose
features could be interpreted to mean that design was considered
part of marketing, or that the designers had not spent enough time
discussing things with the engineers and had their eyes on competing
products as they hastily added coloring and styling. For example,
a medium-sized company that features finely crafted products with
unique plans entered a highly desirable riding mower with four-wheel
drive and four-wheel steering, and it was selected for the G-Mark,
partly in the interests of encouraging such efforts. However, even
if giving the product a name that is a pun on a celebrity's name
is nothing more than a clever marketing device, its layout forces
the rider to assume a cramped position, and its markings, which
resemble those of a racing car, make it look like the go-carts at
an amusement park. As such, it does not look like a mower that an
adult would use with pride. Next time, we hope to see that the company
has worked on the more substantive dimensions of design.
A small tractor entered by a large corporation offers
a high level of design and functionality. Even so, if the vital
steering wheel components—likely to be used by hobby farmers,
women, and the elderly—had shown evidence of the same advanced
efforts at interface design seen in the motorcycles and passenger
cars of that same company, this product would have added a new dimension
of enjoyment to farm work. In the future, we would like to see new
proposals from this otherwise leading company in design.
In addition, the electric power generators, measuring
devices, and hand tools that commonly win the G-Mark do not have
particularly bad designs, but they all more or less resemble one
another, and there is not much to distinguish them. Regrettably,
there were very few forward-looking products that took the lead
in finding and solving issues in their design area. Even though
it was part of this group, Regulated DC Power Supply from Kikusui
Electronics Corp. followed orthodox lines, but it received high
marks for creating a fresh corporate image with a systematic composition
and pleasing design. If Japanese industries are regain their vitality
in the 21st century, design cannot be treated lightly as a mere
narrow bridge linking marketing and engineering. Instead, I would
like designers to show us that they have the ambition and confidence
to bring attractive, daring plans to fruition. The concerted efforts
of designers themselves will be essential for making this happen,
but I would like managers as well to take an active role in throwing
challenging problems at designers and design departments and letting
them show what they can do.
Satoru Baba
Chief Jury of Unit 3
President, Crew Inc.
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