SUMMARY OF THE SCREENING

The product category Working Use Products Unit 1 attracted 172 entries from 89 companies in 2001. The Adjudication resulted in 93 exhibits from 52 companies receiving the Good Design Award, for a success rate of 54.1%. The level of design in this Unit was quite high, and the products ranged from series of office furniture that aimed to create a new office style as an extension of new lifestyles, to more stable and mature products such as user interfaces for distribution and shop systems and stationery supplies for supporting office work.
This year, however, we were looking for exceptionally stimulating and desirable designs that could sweep away the sluggish economic environment and the oppressive atmosphere of stagnation that hangs over us at the turn of this new 21st century. Yet although the entries seemed solid and reliable, we were disappointed to find very few stimulating designs.

The product groups entered in the competition this year may be broadly categorized into the following groups:

Underlying all these groups were the ideas of implementing and achieving the concepts of eco-products and universal design.

The IT revolution has brought about major evolutions and changes in both the tangible and intangible aspects of the working environment. In the course of the Adjudications, we strove to perceive the overall force of the design, in terms of providing individual basic solutions having function, form, significance, materials, production technology, costs, and other features compatible with the values or our times.

We made a special note of this last year, but this category includes amusement devices, such as pachinko machines and slot machines and peripherals for them. Although there is talk of the amusement industry being depressed, it is a massive industry, with revenues exceeding 2 trillion yen, and the efforts of the well-established Japanese pachinko industry to deal directly with design have begun to show results. We would like to state clearly that all the members of the Screening Committee are strongly aware, even more so than last year, that the time has come to set up a new area of design, "amusement design," and not to keep these devices in the Working Use Category. We have great expectations of the amusement industry as it reflects the values of a new era.

EVALUATION OF THE DESIGNS

The winner of the Gold Prize in Unit 1 was the Ypsilon office chair from Vitra.
This chair received the highest marks by far of any in this Unit. It anticipates the changes in working styles brought about by the IT revolution and during the five-year development process (the design prototype was announced in 1997), the major concern was the integration of comfortable tension and relaxation. The new office chair is the commercial embodiment of superb design and new materials, and it has appeared on the scene to satisfy the requirements of the 21st century.
The Ypsilon chair has masterfully incorporated into its design an anticipation of the increasingly diversified working style needs of people in the Computer Age. As a new medium for the 21st century, it is replete with design features that speak of attention to every little detail needed for supporting the mobile lifestyles of the 21st century. It is exceptionally user-friendly, and it has a marked effect on anyone who uses it. Ypsilon's formal features stimulate new working styles, and it looks like an innovation leading us toward the working styles of the future, whether in terms of its looks, its functions, or the advantageous operating costs.
We also greatly appreciate the manufacturing process that involves receiving proposals from the designers, placing absolute trust in the power of design, and moving ahead with commercialization and development. We also appreciate the ability of the company to evaluate proposals and the attitudes of the managers. With a planned total production of 5 million chairs and an anticipated product life of 20 years, the Ypsilon epitomizes for us the form that product development should take in the 21st century.

The Prize of Small and Medium Enterprises went to Iyobe's Innocent stacking chairs. Their simple, beautiful form, which fully brings out the characteristics of the materials, and the quality of their carefully worked out stacking function are signs of a superb design that strongly suggests diverse uses and lifestyles. Small and medium businesses have adopted the attitude of trying to conquer not only the Japanese market, but overseas markets as well, and we really liked this company's evident enthusiasm for manufacturing. We hope to see more entries from them in the future.

Other products that we noticed included Toshiba Tech's CVS POS System, a point-of-sale system for convenience stores, offering improved user friendliness for meeting all the diverse needs of an increasingly complicated industry. We liked the evolutionary jump in the quality of its interface. However, some of us really would have liked to see fonts, pictograms, and other interface graphics that are easier on the eyes and more attractive.
Susumo Machinery's sushi robot may look like a simple, plain rice box, but it contains mechanisms that one would never guess from its outward appearance. With Japanese sushi attaining popularity throughout the world, this product was the subject of discussions in the favorable sense as a symbol of the kind of craftsmanship that only Japan is capable of.

ISSUES FOR THE FUTURE

The IT revolution will continue to change our lifestyles and working styles even more than before. Unlike the 20th century, when efficiency was the overriding priority, we now use the advantages offered by efficiency to seek more integrated and comprehensive human functions and roles. The trend toward mobile living environments will promote a change to more autonomous and active attitudes. Whether we like it or not, the IT revolution actively affects every environment, and intellectual working styles, especially office work, will become even more significant as expressive media for future lifestyles and become more diverse.

We need to insist once again on spaces where humans take the leading role and keep craftsmanship in mind. How will people, things, concepts, and places cease being complete, independent units unto themselves and construct relationships in which they play off one another? As we look ahead to the lifestyles and working styles of the next era, will it not be important to reconstruct the ultimate relationships between people and tools and people and environments, both in the physical and mental sense?
In other words, we will require design that meets the needs of an era in which the users are no longer mere hired servants but have begun to insist on their own working styles based on their own ideas. In order to accomplish that, it will be important to create parts that stimulate the user's imagination and are attractive enough to awaken a sense of beauty in working. Will designers just follow trends and come up with finely detailed solutions for diverse problems? Or, on the other hand, will they design parts and relationships that seek the essential qualities of the product and its useful value, display an understanding of diversity, and stimulate new working styles as representations of freer, more creative lifestyles?

Craftsmanship, in its three aspects of design, production, and management, holds the key to elucidating the values of the 21st century, including environmental problems. In any case, we must understand that the power of superb design and the attractive shapes inspire people's feelings creatively, and promote good spirits and activity. In order to bring this about, good decision making procedures and common sense will be essential for managers, and the ability to create attractive products will be essential for designers.

Ichiro Shimada
Chief Jury of Unit 1
Design Consultant, TRIGONAL DESIGN SYSTEMS