by Brianna Crandall — February 14, 2020 — The prestigious Good Design Awards were announced at the end of the year, celebrating the latest, most advanced products and designs for their innovation and invention from a global pool ranging from well-established manufacturers and corporations to the latest emerging start-up companies. Winners for the 69th program include several companies who supply products that are of interest to facilities managers (FMs), highlighted below.
Touted as the oldest and most recognized design awards program, Good Design covers new consumer products, graphics, and packaging designed and manufactured in Europe, Asia, Africa, and North and South America.
Teknion Emote transforms the private office into the creative office, with a fresh look and the freedom to function in multiple ways. Image courtesy Teknion
From underwater sea drones and new autonomous cars to everyday objects, 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 Fortune 500 companies.
For 2019, over 900 new products and graphic designs were selected and awarded from over 47 countries for 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.
Awarded corporations represent some of the world’s most visionary manufacturers and private companies, such as 3M, The Coca-Cola Company, Dell Technologies, Ducati Motor Holding, Ferrari SpA., First Alert, Fiskars Brands, Fitbit, GE Healthcare, General Motors Corporation, Google, Johnson & Johnson, Kia Motors Corporation, Lenovo Group Limited, Logitech, Milwaukee Tool, Motorola Solutions, The Procter & Gamble Company, OXO International, Microsoft Corporation, Pepsi-Cola Company, Porsche AG., Simplehuman, Smithsonian Institution, Verizon Wireless, Volvo Cars, and many more.
Among the companies designing and manufacturing products of interest to facilities managers (FMs) are: Allseating, ASSA ABLOY AB., Haworth, Herman Miller, Kohler Co., Inc., Mohawk Group, Robert Bosch GmbH, Tarkett North America, Teknion Corporation, Tennant Company, as well as several design firms that create innovative architecture and furnishings.
Teknion Reception takes an innovative design and customization approach — from classic to communal — in addressing today’s evolving reception area requirements. Image courtesy Teknion
In particular, two new Teknion workplace products — the Emote Private Office and the Teknion Reception Desk Program — received Good Design Awards in the Furniture category of the 2019 international competition. In addition, two of Studio TK’s latest furniture designs — the Freehand Occasional Tables offering and the Havn Seating Collection — earned awards, also in the Furniture category. For more FM-specific information on Teknion’s product offerings, see the company’s FMLink page.
Good Design is presented by The Chicago Athenaeum, together with The European Centre for Architecture Art Design and Urban Studies. The criteria for selection follow the original 1950s program and include, for instance, the innovation or the functional impact or even the ecological impact of each product selected.
Photos and descriptions of the winning products and graphics for 2019 can be viewed on the Good Design website. All products and graphics are also published in the Good Design Yearbook for 2019-2020, available through Metropolitan Arts Press Ltd.
Green Good Design Awards
The Green Good Design Award winners for 2019 were also announced more recently, in the areas of green architecture, green corporate, green product / graphic design, green transportation, green urban planning / landscape architecture, and research/technology. Photos and descriptions of the winning products are available online.
