On April 10, 202, the Japan Institute of Design Promotion (JDP) announced the 2024 Focused Issues.

One of the important roles of the GOOD DESIGN AWARD is to discover emerging possibilities and challenges for the future of society. The Focused Issues initiative, launched in 2015 and now marking its 10th year, is an activity through which GOOD DESIGN AWARD jurors explore new potentials of design and make proposals based on their findings from the screening process.

The theme of the 2024 Focused Issues is “A Small Step, Design Leaps.”

This year’s Focused Issues have been compiled into a 44-page report (PDF), now available on the .g Good Design Journal website. 

Printed copies will also be distributed in booklet form.

The 2024 Focused Issues were led by Seiichi Saito, Chair of the GOOD DESIGN AWARD Jury, together with Vice Chairs Jin Kuramoto and Yuko Nagayama, who served as directors of the project. Additionally, three external experts — Yutaka Nakamura, Naoki Ota, and Aki Hayashi — joined as researchers.

Together, these six members focused on the theme of “A Small Step, Design Leaps”, presenting six proposals along with examples of past GOOD DESIGN AWARD-winning projects that illustrate each proposal.

The report also features a special roundtable discussion between the three researchers and distinguished guest speakers: Audrey Tang (the former Minister of Digital Affairs of Taiwan), Arturo Escobar (Anthropologist and Professor emeritus at the University of North Carolina), and Akie Iriyama (Professor at Waseda Business School). In this dialogue, they explore how design can evolve and expand from small beginnings to broader social impact.

＜Focused Issues 2024＞
Website：
・.g Good Design Journal
https://journal.g-mark.org/en/posts/focusedissues2024_003
・FOCUSED ISSUES 2024 A Small Step, Design Leaps（PDF）
https://archive.jidp.or.jp/focusedissues/gda_focused_issues_report2024en.pdf