The Working-use Products Category is the domain of objects and systems that are used, taken advantage of, operated and maintained on the job and in the course of our duties. On this occasion, there were some aspects of this Category that all of us checked up on in the course of our screenings.
First, since this was the last competition of the century, we wanted to find out if the comprehensive power of design had been given full rein.
We also wanted to look at and evaluate the entries on the basis of how well they demonstrated the kind of idealism that could determine the direction of design in the next century.
In more specific terms, we asked whether the entry has the optimum configuration of module settings and sense of scale, whether it meets the objectives of simplicity and reliability, whether it has a suitable interface for interaction, and whether full consideration has been given to the selection of materials with good recycling performance, in every aspect from consumption to recovery, disposal, and repairs. We also asked whether the entry achieved a certain beauty that can lead to long life.
In addition, the products are not consumer products, but so-called "B to B" (business-to-business) products. This means that there may be differences between the values of the distributors and purchasers and the actual users on the job site. In any case, it is essential for design to find the best match with the usage environment and to take maintenance into account. This is true not only when it comes to space, but also when it comes to keeping up with current trends or taking time into consideration, as when problems with networking, connectivity, or other types of relationships are solved through design.
Therefore, the first round of screening this year had each Judge selecting his or her favorites on a computer screen over the World Wide Web. However, their judgments of which entries did not qualify for the Good Design Award were almost identical to what they would have been if Judges had checked them together. In response to the objection that this process amounted to the evaluation of an image without having seen the real thing, I can state with certainty that the combined opinions of Judges yielded completely suitable evaluations. The common trait of the entries that were eliminated in the first round included, of course, an inability to reflect the spirit of the age or solve fundamental problems of design in their design aims or concepts. For example, even if the basic design embodies the fundamental and basic conditions for design, we would like to see some cutting-edge reflection of the spirit of the times. But simply trying to increase the value of the product with cosmetic forms that cover the technological parts does not in any way amount to a design formation process. Some of the entries that once qualified for the G-Mark but were eliminated this time already needed to be updated, since they no longer seemed forward-looking or no longer seemed to be running ahead of the pack. In their usage environments, the objects should reliably function as more than support for duties at the work site: they should serve as a reason for working. Since "reasons for working" create a relationship between things and people, they lead to "reasons for living." In other words, the question is the degree to which the objects and systems that support people in their workplaces embody the ideals of the designs that construct their identities as professionals.
As a result, the Gold Prizes in this Category was awarded to a product that splendidly presented the design of this century and aspects of the next century.
Simply by virtue of embodying the idea of its design form, the Okamura's stool demonstrates the ultimate evolution of previous stools by the power of its design. Naturally, it has solved all sorts of problems, from streamlining production to easy disassembly. Furniture manufacturing in Japan began after World War II with a round wooden stool known as a "sewing machine chair." Now that we have reached the end of this century, we ought to celebrate the fact that this round stool, which we might call a symbol of Japanese furniture design, is a compendium of design in product form. Mitutoyo's manual 3D measuring device, which operates on both a digital and an analog basis, brought their own technology into the next century and achieved cost reductions that astounded all Judges. Modeled integrated design brings out the full beauty of the product, to the extent that one can be inspired by the strength of the partnership between Japan's in-house designers and engineers. The "art of making things" is in a recession domestically, but in the future, if Japan keeps on producing the kind of products that only it can produce, with this stool as a model, it will probably be able to pull the rest of Asia along with it. My personal feeling is that it is enough just for an entry to qualify as a candidate for the Good Design Grand Prize. Kodak's Computed Radiography features a system design with innovative full integration of networks and digital images that in effect rejects the company's previous technology in order to move into the next century. It promises to become the worldwide standard in the medical field. It is a truly beautiful product, featuring fine workmanship, not only in the design of the physical device itself but also in the design of the software, the visual design of the screen interface. We felt that this specific design domain points the way to the future of design.
