DESIGN FOR A BETTER AUSTRALIA

Good Design Australia is an international design promotion organisation responsible for managing Australia's annual Good Design Awards program as well as a number of leading industry award programs including the Victorian Premier's Design Awards, the Design Entrepreneur Awards  and the Young Australian Design Awards program.

With a proud heritage dating back to the Industrial Design Council of Australia (IDCA) established in 1958, the Australian Good Design Awards is recognised by the International Council of Societies of Industrial Design (ICSID) as Australia’s peak design endorsement program.

The Good Design Awards is Australia’s longest standing national design award and promotion program, and one of the few forums for professional Industrial Designers and manufacturers to showcase their design expertise to national and international audiences. As a result of more than 50 years of design benchmarking, the program has focused on progressively raising the standard of design and innovation in Australia.

Good Design Australia is committed to:

1. Promoting the value and benefits of design to business, industry, government and the general public

2. Fostering a culture of design, creativity and innovation in Australia and internationally

3. Rewarding excellence in design and design-led innovation through the annual Good Design Awards and other design related events

4. Positioning design as a driver of innovation, competition, export and productivity

5. Demonstrating the importance of design in the link between innovation and the commercial success of products and services

6. Providing opportunities for emerging young designers to showcase their talent to business in Australia and internationally

7. Fostering collaborative partnerships with Australian and international organisations committed to the advancement of design

Good Design Australia is dedicated to driving a greater demand for good design through:

1. Consumers and end-users of design that drive demand by purchasing professionally designed products and services that are functional, safe, innovative, high quality, offer good value for money and are less harmful to the environment.

2. Businesses that are committed to professional design in the products and services they develop, market and distribute.

3. Designers that are engaged to create better products and services for their clients.

4. The Good Design Awards that endorses good design and provides consumers with a clear indicator of the cornerstones of good design: form, function, quality, safety, sustainability, commerciality and innovation.

COMPETING BY DESIGN

The promotion of design and its importance to a country’s economic competitiveness and social well-being is an increasing trend in a global context. Typically, governments in the United Kingdom, Korea, Taiwan, India and China are investing millions of dollars in strategic design promotion and the development of national design policies. These countries have concluded that successful economies of the future will be those that drive new design thinking and research, and use professional design to generate innovative solutions to complex social and environmental problems.

Businesses that integrate design into their corporate vision and strategy are unmistakably growing at a faster rate than those who view it simply as a corporate facelift. Design-led innovation has been identified as a critical path to developing new products, better services and increased productivity. More specifically, good design results in products, systems or services that are functionally, aesthetically and commercially more efficient, improving people’s lives and leading to the smallest possible impact on the environment.

Design award programs and competitions lie at the heart of efforts to promote the benefits of design to governments, industry and consumers of products, services and systems. Many kinds of good design competitions and awards are held annually all over the world. These include awards for excellent or good design outcomes for such professional disciplines as Architecture, and Interior, Industrial, Furniture and Fashion Design. Progressively, these design award schemes have contributed to a better understanding of the role of professional design by showcasing examples of design excellence and highlighting the value of good design to business, industry, government and the general public.

Good Design Australia strives to provide a framework that leads to the continual improvement, competitiveness and motivation of businesses that invest in professional design.

The Good Design® Selection and Good Design Award® registered trademarks are a clear indicator of a business's commitment to professional design. These internationally recognised symbols offer businesses a competitive advantage and lead to increased sales, point-of-sale differentiation and a greater value proposition for their products and services.