Design News | Japan Industrial Design Promotion Organization

The 42nd adjudicatory proceedings for the 1998 Good Design Awards (G-Mark) proved to be a turning point and were innovatory in various ways.
A major change is that the Ministry of International Trade and Industry has withdrawn to the role of support, while the Japan Industrial Design Promotion Organization (JIDPO) has taken over as organizer of the Good Design Awards.
Other changes include a change from mere selection as has been the case so far to the granting of awards, a complete review of the standard items employed in the adjudicatory process, active enlistment of women and consumer-oriented individuals as judges, establishment of the Good Design Award Commission as the agency ultimately responsible for the granting of awards, and opening the final adjudicatory proceedings to the public.
This year, 717 products from 373 companies received Good Design Awards. One product was awarded Good Design Grand Prize, 14 products were awarded Good Design Gold Prize, six products were awarded theme prizes, 14 products were awarded Good Design Prize for Products of Small and Medium Enterprises, and 40 products were awarded Long-Selling Good Design Product Prize.
The Grand Prize was awarded for the first time to the design of a bicycle "Transit T20SCX" produced by the Bridgestone Cycle Co., Ltd.
In this article, Mr. Nakanishi, chairman of the jury, comments on the results of this year's Good Design Awards (G-Mark) and offers his overall assessment of the submissions.

Good Design and the Human Era:
Aims of the G-Mark System
Motoo Nakanishi, Chairman of the Adjudicatory Committee, Good Design Awards (G-Mark), 1998

In the "World Design Awards", Design News presents 15 design awards offered by ten countries are presented on this occasion.
Design for Europe (Belgium)
Golden Compass Award (Italy)
The Baden-Wottemberg International Design Prize (Germany)
Design Plus (Germany)
Red Dot Award (Germany)
iF Design Awards (Germany)
German Federal Award for Product Design (Germany)
ID Prize (Denmark)
The Good Design Award (Norway)
Good Industrial Design Award (Netherlands)
Australian Design Award (Australia)
Industrial Design Excellence Awards (U.S.A.)
Design Effectiveness Awards (Canada)
Best of Canada Awards (Canada)
Good Design Products Selection (Korea)

Rebirth of ICOGRADA

International Council of Graphic Design Associations (ICOGRADA), founded in 1963, is an international design council with a membership of 55 associations from 50 countries and regions. Membership has until recently centered on graphic design associations in Western Europe, Japan and North America. However, ICOGRADA reforms, taking other countries in Asia, South America, the Middle East and South Africa.
Graphic designers in these countries are striving to have their professional status full recognized and stand in need of international cooperation and exchange of information.
In this article, Mr. Grossman, the president-elect of ICOGRADA, talks about the new mission of ICOGRADA and the subject which graphic design must tackle in the 21st century.
David Grossman, President-elect, International Council of Graphic Design Associations (ICOGRADA)

David Grossman, President-elect, International Council of Graphic Design Associations (ICOGRADA)

Feature (2):
Wearable PC breaks from IBM Japan

The roles of the design department of IBM Japan can be divided into the interrelated fields of 1) design management, 2) design production, and 3) design research. The most important of these three roles is design research, which involves carrying out research on products and services for the coming era and formulation of design strategy in Japan. These activities are generally carried out collectively by the strategic design division in the United States, research divisions in Japan and other countries, and the development division of IBM Japan.
The result of one of these activities is the design of wearable computers which were announced in September this year. The prototype of this new type of computer was developed at IBM Japan's Design/ Yamato and is set to totally change the image of the portable computer.
In this article, Mr. Yamazaki, Design Manager, a member of the team involved in the project developing prototypes of the wearable PC, describes the process of design of the wearable PC and discusses how computing will develop in the future and the role which design has to play in this connection.

Kazuhiko Yamazaki, Design Manager, Design / Yamato, IBM Japan Ltd.

"Stingray" : the First Flying Pneumatic Muscle

"Stingray" is a vehicle of the near future which combines the features of an aeroplane with those of an airship. It can take off without a runway and can land effortlessly at its destination. This new flying machine was developed jointly by Festo, a company well-known as a manufacturer of electric tools and hydraulic valves, and Axel Thallemer, head of Corporate Design at Festo AG & Co.
Festo is expanding its sphere of operations substantially by taking the designer Axel Thallemer as Head of Corporate Design, who formerly worked as a designer with Porsche. Axel Thallemer has created a series of products involving inflation with air. These have so far included a form of inflatable architecture "Airtecture", a basket for balloons "Balloon Basket", and "Stingray". These items have provoked enormous interest in many countries because of their innovatory design qualities.
In this article, the industrial designer Mr. Masuda interviewed with Axel Thallemer, while his visiting Japan at the end of September, and describes the design of the new range of Festo products.

Fumikazu Masuda, Industrial Designer, Director of open house Inc.

New Vistas for Software Design

Justsystem Corporation has developed in pace with the evolution of highly original computer applications rooted in the culture of the Japanese language such as the kana-kanji conversion system "ATOK" and Japanese word processor "Ichitaro".
The User Interface Design Group (UID) in this company currently has ten staff, half of whose members have graduated from university within the past three years.
In this article, Mr. Ohtsubo of Justsystem Corporation discusses the activities of the User Interface Design Group, referring to the products of information manager "Full Band", and explaining the company's planning and design process and design approach. He also discusses the differences and similarities in user interface activities demonstrated by hardware and software manufacturers from the standpoint of his own experience in both areas.

Makito Ohtsubo, Assistant Manager, User Interface Design Group, Product Development Promotion Department, Justsystem Corp.

"Compactism" of Car Design

The sizes of compact cars built in the United States, Europe and Japan vary in accordance with regional difference. Accordingly, the idea of compactness is not a question merely of size but also of practical function and of a concentrated appeal which reverberates on the human emotions. The true value of a compact car is thus not a matter of ease of handling, it depends on providing satisfaction in a manner unique to this type of vehicle, that is to say enabling riders to handle it enjoyably and to behave naturally.
In this article, Mr. Kawaoka presents several of the most outstanding compact cars produced in Japan, Europe and the United States including "Subaru 360" and "Mazda Coupe R360", which have the reputation as the best compact car in Japan, and "Chevrolet Corvair", "Austin Mini", "Golf", "Smart" etc. to discuss how the idea of the compact car has influenced car design as a whole.
The writer is general manager of the Design Department at the Mazda Motor Corporation and has designed several vehicles including Mazda's "Familia", the first "Festiva" and "Demio".

Norihiko Kawaoka, General Manager, Design Department, Product Planning Division, Mazda Motor Corp.

Elements of Information Design-3
Information Design and Research

Information design is focused on because of the problems of more complex design resulting from recent new types of media, technology and materials and the possibilities for expressing hitherto unimaginable design concepts.
In the case of design in which, as in the case of magazines and furniture, information structures (transmission contents and interaction) are preexisting and are inherent within traditional forms, designers have been able to do their work concentrating on forms. However, in the case of previously nonexisting types of design involving new media, technology and materials, designers have to review the essence of design and move away from traditional formally based design. They must give overall consideration to the aims, content, context and form of their designs.
Research aimed at raising knowledge in the field of design is likely to be permit an effective response to the increasing complexity of design problems and changes in media and materials. The research we refer to here is pure academic research and not research aimed, for instance, at the development of specific products. Research involves thinking about design at a distance from real product development and provides the opportunity to conduct a fundamental reassessment of practice and education untrammeled by tradition and convention.
This is the third article in a series in which information design is looked at from a practical angle. On this occasion we take a look at this question from the standpoint of research into information design.

Suguru Ishizaki and Kerry Ishizaki, Assistance Professors, School of Design, Carnegie Mellon Univ.

Design Starting from "TOKYO STYLE"

Kyoichi Tsuzuki's photograph collection entitled "TOKYO STYLE" shows how the people of Tokyo really live and needs to be distinguished from other photographic anthologies having previous image like style book. A photograph of a small room brimming full of stuff illustrates hint at a spirit of compromise within their powerfully obsessional quality. Look closely and one observes how personalized these photos are, they seem to convey a kind of smell of the characters they depict. These photographs may be justifiably referred to as "self-portraits". The sequel to the highly praised volume "TOKYO STYLE" is currently appearing in magazines and on the Web.
In this article, Kyoichi Tsuzuki, who created the photograph collection "TOKYO STYLE" and is also the journalist in the fields of art, architecture and design, introduces his own current activities and discusses problems relating to contemporary Japanese product design.

Kyoichi Tsuzuki, Editor and Photographer + Design News

From photograph collection "TOKYO STYLE"

Splitting Plastic Shells

As a result of the popularization of computers, electronics technology has opened up to designers all kinds of new creative possibilities in fields such as computer graphics, 3-D animation and Web design. However, despite the progress of software, there has been slight change in the design of the hardware. Product designers seem to struggle to create the novel forms kneading the plastic boxes and being ruled by ergonomics and semantics. It is surely about time that designers began to create more original and unusual designs splitting their plastic shells in search of new possibilities for the exercise of their creative imaginations.
In this article, in order to discover the roles which product designers are likely to be called on to fulfill in the near future, Mr. Natsume presents designs ranging from "data cell" to "bound packet computing (b.p.c.)" in connection with a two-year study carried out at the Cranbrook Academy of Art, and examines the development of his own ideas as a designer.

Gary Shigeru Natsume, Industrial Designer

Japan Industrial Design Promotion Organization

Contens menu

About JIDPO

Activity

Communication / Press

Resources

Activity

Design News Back Number

DESIGN NEWS 244

Top Menu