Japan Industrial Design Promotion Organization

In a severely competitive corporate environment, Japanese corporate design divisions are expected to be highly versatile during the late 1990s.
At the same time, companies are reorganizing their design divisions and revamping their design management.
JIDPO has been looking into the activities of the corporate design divisions of 153 leading Japanese manufacturing companies. Replies to a series of questions were returned by 87 of these companies. The aim of JIDPO's survey was to get an idea of current activities in corporate design divisions, specifically in connection with how design divisions are being reorganized, how design is assessed, and new design activities. The intention was also to bring to light the problems which corporate design divisions will face in the future. In this and the following issues, Design News will attempt to analyze and comment on the results of this survey and on the present state of the design divisions in Japanese companies.

Edited by Design News.

We live in an age when people own four watches on the average and take pleasure in the small differences between them.
There is now more opportunity than ever before to acquire watches of various kinds, and people are increasingly turning toward collections, restricted sale items, and original items.
"Tokei-Kobo My Creation" is a new type of design development centering on a computer network whereby customers can take charge over the four stages in the watch-making process. Using software developed specifically for this purpose, customers are able to design their own personalized watches by selecting the parts and incorporating their own designs and messages on the dial.
They then record their own choices on each of floppy disks which they mail to the manufacturer, with the appropriate charges. The watch is then manufactured in line with the data received and the completed product is sent to the customer about ten days later.
Citizen is currently working on making this customerled form of design development commercially available. Koji Kudo, who has originally devised "Tokei-Kobo My Creation" project, reports the aims of this experiment and the prospects of watch design in the future.

Koji Kudo, Manager, Watch & Clock Domestic Division, Citizen Trading Co., Ltd.

"Look at everything that has your corporate name on it. Electronic forms, business stationery, core products, retail packaging, delivery trucks, building lobbies - an overwhelming array of images, products and environments that represent your company. Collectively they can express a unified vision to your clients and customers, or they can wreak havoc on your best efforts. Over the years, we've become convinced that coherently managing these messages is a powerful way to earn mindshare, mediashare and moneyshare.
We call our methodology Integrated Strategic Design. ISD is the way that we coordinate our core competence with your core competence."
This year frogdesign inc. opened an office in San Francisco and will be opening the office in New York in February next year. They are planning to assume a global position in the field of design business with six bases of operation worldwide and 120 staffs.
In this report, Dan Harden, frogdesign's vice president, looks at the approach underlying Integrated Strategic Design (ISD) as a means of responding to commissions from clients by integrating all the elements contributing to the creation of a corporate image, ranging from industrial design to graphic design, engineering, and new media.

Dan Harden, Vice President, frogdesign inc.

"Lifestyle" is a brand of accessories released by BMW on September 8 and is based on original designs created by a team under the supervision of BMW's director of design, Christopher E. Bangle.
The new collection features a wide range of products in the five categories of textiles, leather wears, bags, ties and scarves, and jewelry and accessories. It also includes everything from small items such as key rings and mechanical pencils to large products such as golf bags and mountain bikes.
In this article we report on the release of this new brand in Frankfurt and take a look at the strategy behind this collection and the aims of the design from the interview with Christopher E. Bangle during his visit to Japan in October.

Edited by Design News