Building and office products, furniture, robotics, energy systems — guess which ones were voted best-designed for 2017

by Brianna Crandall — January 12, 2018 — The prestigious Good Design Awards were recently announced for 2017, covering a wide variety of products including many for use in the workplace. The Awards are presented annually by The Chicago Athenaeum Museum of Architecture and Design in cooperation with the European Centre for Architecture, Art, Design and Urban Studies.

The Good Design Awards cover new consumer products, graphics, and packaging designed and manufactured in Europe, Asia, Africa, and North and South America.

Teknion's Altos Landscape wall collection and height-adjustable desk

Teknion’s Altos Landscape wall collection and height-adjustable desk were recognized with a 2017 Good Design Award.

Entries for design and innovation, sustainability, creativity, branding, ecologically responsible design, human factors, materials, technology, graphic arts, packaging, and universal design are submitted annually by various industrial design and graphic design firms working for the Fortune 500 companies.

For 2017, over 900 new products and graphic designs were selected from over 48 countries in the categories of new electronics, transportation, medical equipment, protective equipment, energy systems, robotics and bionics, building products/materials, furniture, textiles, industrial, environments, hardware, bath and accessories, kitchen/appliances, floor and wallcovering, tabletop, household products, personal, office products, transportation, children’s products, sports and recreation, lighting, tools, and graphics, branding, and packaging from Europe, Asia, and the Americas.

Awarded corporations represent some of the world’s most visionary FORTUNE 500 companies, such as: 3M, Argonne National Laboratory, Assa Abloy AB., Beltone Electronics Corporation, Bentley Motors Limited, British Telcom, Deutsche Bank AG., Fiskars Brands Inc., Fitbit Inc., Garmin International Inc., Google LLC., Herman Miller, Honeywell, HP Inc., Hyatt Hotels Corp., Lenovo Inc., LG Electronics, Inc., Leica Camera AG., Mastercard Inc., Nestlé Nespresso SA, Nike Inc., Robert Bosch Tool Corporation, Teknion*, Tennant Company, and hundreds of other leading world manufacturers.

Awarded designers and industrial design firms include: Apple Industrial Design Team, BMW Group Designworks, Bodum AG., Botta-Design, Carl Magnusson, Daniel Libeskind, Gensler, IKEA of Sweden AB, JANUS et Cie, Suzanne Tick, Tennant Industrial Design, Tools Design, Zaha Hadid Architects, and hundreds of other designers synonymous with Good Design.

All winning products and graphics for 2017 can be viewed online. All products and graphics are also published in the Good Design Yearbook for 2016-2017, available through Metropolitan Arts Press Ltd.

* For more FM-specific information on Teknion’s product offerings, see the company’s FMLink ad.