Purpose

Documents published at the time the Good Design Awards (the G-Mark system) were initially established describe its purpose as "selecting and publicizing awards for good design.... in order to improve lives, foster industrial development, and promote export and trade by enhancing the quality of the products on the market." Despite its nearly 50-year history, the mission of the Good Design Award remains the same today. As the scope of both industrial enterprise and design focus has expanded considerably over the course of the past half-century, our purpose has naturally broadened in response to encompass "improving the quality of lives and further advancing industrial activity." The Good Design Award functions to "incorporate design into the innovative moves to advance society as a whole."

While the expressions "improving life" and "advancing industry" may seem like trite phrases found in every official document, the "and" in this context is, in fact, significant. There are a myriad of ways and means available to achieve one or the other either to improve lives or advance industry. The only tool available, however, to achieve both sides of this equation simultaneously is the one offered by "design." The most specific aspect of the Good Design Award mission is to clarify what it is that "can only be accomplished through design."

In more concrete terms, Good Design Awards are conferred on those products that are expected to bring greater abundance to our lives. This expectation is communicated to those who will live with these products by virtue of the G-Mark affixed to products that have received the award. With approval from consumers, the mark becomes a symbol of excellence, and industry is able to redirect the course its activities will take. And, a new direction in industrial activity gives rise to new design. The Good Design Award has evaluated these new designs each year for nearly 50 years.

This focus can also be thought of as "creating a positive cycle that links industry and life," a cycle which today, in the 21st century, proves more important than ever. Industry and those living with the goods it produces are not always in tune with one another, and at a more fundamental level, no social consensus has yet been reached on the question of what it is society should value as we move forward. Against the backdrop of these questions and relationships, design is expected to play an even greater role in our lives. Fulfilling these growing expectations, however, will not be as easy as it has been in the past. Today, the Good Design Award faces the task of focusing on "innovative moves to advance society" when evaluating and recommending the product designs that result from an extensive process of trial and error.