The Message from Chairperson of Good Design Award
- duc nguyen
- Jul 9, 2025
- 2 min read
2025/4/1
A Small Step, Design Leaps
Where does design truly begin? Once created, who nurtures it, and how does it make its way into society? This year’s GOOD DESIGN AWARD seeks to explore these questions.
I have long maintained that the design of objects such as products and the design of experiences, for example through “social design,” cannot be considered separately. Behind every object design lies a story—an aspect of experience design—while the output of experience design is often made up of numerous object designs. Over the past 10 years of being involved in the GOOD DESIGN AWARD screening process, I have become convinced that this applies to all forms of design. I find it particularly meaningful to reaffirm this thinking in my message for the 2025 GOOD DESIGN AWARD as I feel strongly that the traditionally dualistic view of object and experience design is finally evolving into a more integrated perspective.
This year’s theme, “A Small Step, Design Leaps,” emerged from discussions in last year’s Focused Issues. In 2023, the theme was “Design and Its Outcome,” and in 2024, it was “Brave Attitude, Organic Design.” Through these themes, we explored the directions design should take in the future and the processes required to get there as part of an ongoing exploration of what design should be in the present moment.
Looking back at the vast array of past awarded designs, two things stand out: the significance of the creator’s vision—arguably the source of all design—and the strength of the process that drives that vision through to realization. As existing systems reach a state of saturation and conventional formulas are questioned, there is now a greater expectation across all fields to generate truly necessary, beautiful, and adaptable designs from fresh perspectives. In other words, we’re moving from an era where design followed the times (driven primarily by marketing) to an era where the very act of design, in its pursuit of better solutions, leads society forward.
“A Small Step” affirms the actions of passionate individuals who discover and implement new perspectives through their interactions with society. “Design Leaps” represents the power of organizations and groups to respect these actions, bringing together diverse abilities to collectively create and expand upon them.
Seiichi Saito / Chairperson of Good Design Award .
We publish the original, unedited insights shared by Mr. Seiichi Saito, Chairperson of the Good Design Award, as a form of knowledge preservation—not just for ourselves, but for everyone.
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