In the dynamic and interconnected landscape of design awards, collaboration and shared knowledge are one of the fundamental pillars that can help drive innovation and progress. It’s why design promotion organisations worldwide recognise the importance of forming strategic partnerships to leverage localised knowledge and strengths, share best practice and collectively elevate the standard of design excellence. 

Good Design Australia (GDA), as one of the leading advocates for cross-cultural design collaboration, has forged several MOUs (Memorandums of Understanding) with design bodies across the globe – all who share the view that good design is at the core of innovation and that it can help improve society, the global economy, environment and culture for mutual benefit.

This includes a long-standing MOU with the Korean Institute of Design Promotion (KIDP) which was originally signed in 2005 and renewed in 2012. The MOU allows winners of the Australian Good Design Awards to also register for the Korean Good Design Award logo. A new partnership signed this year with the Design Business Chamber of Singapore (DBCS) provides Australian Good Design Award Winners with free entry into the Singapore Good Design (SG) Mark Awards.

GDA also recently renewed an MOU with the Japan Institute of Design Promotion (JDP) which was first signed in 2013. JDP, a Promotional Member of the World Design Organization (WDO), hosted the 33rd World Design Assembly in Tokyo last year. The three-day event welcomed some of the design industry’s brightest minds both in-person and online under the theme: Design Beyond. 

Amidst workshops, inspiring panels, WDO Board elections and future World Design Capital announcements, GDA sat down with JDP to renew an MOU that was first established in 2013. It strives to enhance the collaboration and discussion surrounding design evaluation and design promotion processes.

We caught up with Good Design Australia’s Chair, Dr. Brandon Gien to dive deeper into the power of GDA’s across-the-pond relationships.

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How do the MOUs aim to impact the international design community? How will they foster greater connectivity or help drive design innovation within the wider international design community?

One of the central themes in all our MOUs is the recognition of design excellence across geographic boundaries. It’s about helping to provide award winning designers and businesses in our respective regions with additional promotional benefits so that they can reach a wider and more diverse audience. 

We believe that design award bodies that recognise and endorse good design are a positive influence in promoting the value and importance of professional design in the development of products, services and our built environment.

Through these MOUs, we share a common aspiration to promote the importance of professional design and the role it plays in creating a better, more prosperous and sustainable future. 

The spirit of each MOU is also centred around the peaceful coexistence of our respective Good Design Award registered trademarks and the importance of respecting that each award body has a unique and differentiated pathway to promote and advance good design in our region and internationally. 

These MOUs also allow us to uncover emerging technology and design trends in our regions and to share this information e.g. What are the main design challenges facing Singapore at the moment and what can Australia learn from these? What societal factors are driving design trends in Japan and what insights can our design community back home gain from this knowledge? 

What mutual benefits does GDA anticipate from these MOUs and how does each organisation stand to benefit from this partnership?

Where possible, we hope to draw upon each other’s networks to take part as judges in our respective Good Design Award programs so that we can learn from each other and improve. 

What is the best way to recognise and promote good design? What does each body use as their criteria for good design? How can we learn from each other to improve our own design award programs and create an environment of shared knowledge and progress? 

Our definition of good design is constantly evolving to ensure it best reflects what is considered good design in today’s world. For example, 20 years ago, sustainability was rarely a requirement for a project to be deemed good design. Today, we know that sustainability and circular design needs to be baked-in to the project at the very beginning to produce the best possible outcome. Collaborating with our international partners allows us to ensure we are setting best practices for good design at an international level and driving progress at a much larger scale. 

Looking beyond the immediate terms of the MOUs, what is the long-term vision for these partnerships? How does GDA envision these collaborations evolving over the next decade?

By working together collaboratively, we hope to improve our systems and processes and collectively help raise the benchmark for good design in our region and internationally. The more we collaborate, the better we’ll be at doing what we do – all in the best interests of recognising, rewarding and celebrating design excellence. 

The really unique thing about these collaborations is that they allow us all to tell the stories of our Award Winners to a much broader audience and to help spread the good design message as far and wide as possible.

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The 2024 Australian Good Design Awards are now open, with submissions closing at midnight Friday 3rd May. Join the Design Effect movement and push not only the world of the design, but our society, environment and future forward.

Submit entry

After a soft-launch at the 2023 Australian Good Design Awards, Good Design Australia is proud to formally announce that Rachel Wye has been appointed as its new Managing Director. With a transcontinental design journey and a fervent dedication to driving positive change, Rachel embodies the essence of innovation that defines its mission.

Rachel’s career trajectory underscores her belief in design as a catalyst for societal betterment. From the UK to Australia, spanning nearly 17,000 kilometres, her journey reflects a commitment to purpose-driven design aimed at shaping a more inclusive and sustainable world.

Aligned with Good Design Australia’s ethos of “Design for a Better World,” Rachel’s passion for meaningful transformation found resonance within the organisation’s community of like-minded individuals. Her tenure has been marked by a steadfast advocacy for recognising projects that contribute to a more equitable and conscious future.

Stepping into her role as Managing Director, Rachel brings a wealth of experience, a visionary outlook, and an unwavering dedication to advancing the field of design. Her leadership promises to propel Good Design Australia to new heights, fostering connectivity within the design community, showcasing excellence and driving systemic design-led change.

Delving into her experiences, aspirations and visions for the future of Good Design Australia and design as a whole, Rachel shed light on the transformative potential of design in driving positive change for both people and the planet.

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1. Your design journey has spanned almost 17,000 kilometres from the UK to Australia. What initially sent you down the design path and how did it lead you across the pond?

I don’t really remember choosing the design path – it was never really something I debated or had to choose – it’s just what made sense to me. I saw it as a tool – as a vehicle to create the change I wanted to see in the world and a way to create better systems, products and places for people to live, work, play and grow in. 

That was quite a different way of thinking about design back then. We were taught about form and function and given the technical tools you need, but a lot of design seemed to have a sort of elitism built into it. Now, I’ll be the first to defend the value of high-quality, authentic design, but I felt that design had a bigger capacity for problem-solving and for creating change. I wanted the definition to be bigger and I felt that good design should be for the benefit of everyone.

In my experience as an Industrial Designer, this seemingly unquenchable desire to make things better, to improve the world around you, to make something more beautiful or more functional or, in an ideal world – both – is innate to all designers. I was having a conversation with a friend (Jon Christensen, EY Future Friendly) last year at the Awards about exactly this. He was saying that if he wasn’t a designer, he wouldn’t know what to do. It’s as much a part of who he is, as what he does. I think a lot of designers feel that way. 

Now, how did I end up 17,000kms from home? The initial trip to Australia was actually driven by my bucket-list goal of swimming with great white sharks (now ticked off). After that I really wanted to find work that meant something to me and was going to be a useful stepping stone in my career. I remember finding Good Design Australia (GDA) and feeling excited – I felt like this company saw design the way I did and that was a first for me. 

The next day I went to the GDA office – CV in hand – and asked for a job, and a couple of interviews later I was in. But then, after six months of learning the ins and outs of it all, my visa ran out and I begrudgingly moved back to the UK with the intention of settling down.

A month or so later I got an email from Dr. Brandon Gien, the then CEO of Good Design Australia offering me a permanent job and a visa to come back. After a lot of debate and more than a few pros and cons lists, and a lot of hard conversations with family, I chose to take the leap and make the move to Australia permanent. In the end it was a gut feeling more than a logical reasoned decision – it just felt right. 

So that’s how I started. Though this year’s Awards will be my 10th Awards season, so the better question is probably why have I stayed (laughs).

2. It’s been said that Good Design Australia’s mantra of “Design for a Better World” is something that really resonates with you. Why do you think design has the potential to do so?

It is, and it’s a big part of the reason I gravitated to GDA and largely why I’m still here. Ten years ago, the concept of “Design for a Better World”, originally articulated and championed by the World Design Organization (WDO), wasn’t something you saw very often – certainly not in association with design awards programs. I see more Awards programs now re-orienting towards this overarching guiding principle and that’s great – the more, the merrier – the quicker we can get the whole industry to start truly holding themselves accountable for the change they want to see in the world – the better.

These Awards were always about something bigger – more than pure form and function, safety and quality. These Awards asked: does this project, product, system, space or place contribute to creating a better world? Does it give back to the world rather than taking from it? 

If we’re being honest, designers have historically been large contributors to the problems we’re only just starting to take accountability for and fix. The plastic packaging that dominates landfills and our oceans, the products that require scarce minerals and energy intensive manufacturing to produce and a fashion industry that accounts for 8.1% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions, to name a few. The simple truth is – as a designer, unless you commit to being part of the solution, you’ll inevitably end up being part of the problem. 

That’s why these Awards, this aspiration and this community of people all trying to actively do good is so important and so powerful. And why I’ve stuck around all these years. 

3. Throughout your career, you’ve spoken at numerous design forums and judged on design awards programs all over the world. What power lies in the gathering and celebration of the design industry?

I don’t know if it’s because I’m close to hitting my ten year chip at GDA or the lingering COVID-induced life re-evaluation everyone seemed to experience, but I found myself challenging the importance of what I spend my time doing over the last few years. Asking questions like: what is the value of awards? How important are they to achieving the change I want to see in the world?

I to’d and fro’d with it for a while actually and I went back to the basics. What was the goal? To create positive change for people and the planet. What was the biggest obstacle in achieving the goal? Designers or companies deciding they weren’t responsible for, or capable of pushing for better outcomes. How could I support that goal? By shifting the expectation of what is considered good design and empowering those that do the hard work. Through asking myself these somewhat existential questions, I felt and I feel – more than ever – that recognising and showcasing projects we consider to be good design, and celebrating the people and hard-work behind them, is not just important but essential in achieving meaningful positive change. 

The power of gathering with like-minded people and celebrating what is good and all the amazing things we have already achieved is not to be underestimated. Focusing on where we’re going and the change we can make, rather than being dragged down by what stands in our way is incredibly powerful. It gives energy and direction to the cause and having a community of like-minded people to learn from and lean on, provides the much-needed support required to push through complex challenges.

Every year the industry gets together for the Australian Good Design Awards Ceremony, to celebrate the people and projects that have been recognised for design excellence. And every year people tell me that they left full of ideas and a new found energy for their work, wanting to fight harder for more sustainable outcomes and push back against purely profit-driven design decisions. That tells me that not only do these Awards serve as a source of inspiration and create genuine community, they also motivate progress and growth and shift behaviours – which is invaluable. 

4. What’s something that really excites you about modern design? Are there any trends, opportunities or advancements that speak to you about the future of the industry?

There’s lots to be excited about in design at the moment. In terms of trends – AI is a very hot topic and there’s some strong opinions both ways. As for my two-cents, I don’t think AI is intrinsically good or bad, I think how it’s used and how we allow it to be used that will determine the outcome for each use scenario. It’s a strong example, but a knife is neither good nor bad, it has the potential to be both. The intention and the way it’s used determines what it becomes. 

I was recently in Tokyo for the World Design Assembly, listening to two very opposite sides of the argument, Ana Arriola-Kanada, co-Managing Director of IDEO Tokyo – who is by her own words, an AI optimist – and Tim Ingold, Professor of Social Anthropology at the University of Aberdeen – who encouraged us to consider a renewal of more human ways, rather than jumping head-first into a new Digital AI Age. 

What they both agreed on though – which I also feel strongly about – is that any adoption or implementation of AI will require “deep human intervention”, to help steer and navigate how this new technology proliferates into the future. I would extend that guidance to “deep design-led human intervention”. Good design practice will be essential to ensuring that AI works to support a more human world, rather than a more digital one.

I think the concern amongst many people surrounds AI’s self-learning system. Without strict, well-educated and deeply empathetic and human guidance it has the potential to develop in damaging ways and it could be hard to course-correct.

There are so many unknowns around AI, but what is certain, is that with the new tools AI creates, we will be able to create new ideas, products, systems and services at a rate never before possible. With a rapidly changing world, it has never been more important that what we choose to create, to produce, to put out into the world, is design-led.

That means design with purpose, humanity and integrity, design that holds the needs of people and the planet rather than profit, at the centre of our decisions. It’s an exciting new frontier for what is possible in the world of design and new technology always presents huge opportunities to create change – as designers it is now our responsibility to make sure that change is for good.

5. What does it mean to you to be entrusted with the leadership of GDA? Can you share with us your initial thoughts and emotions upon receiving this appointment?

Honestly, it’s a little daunting. GDA is not just an Awards program or a company, it’s a community that represents thousands of designers both here in Australia and around the world. We want to make sure we do them justice and provide them a platform they are proud to be part of – to showcase the amazing work they do. It’s their dedication to meaningful solutions and positive change that allows us to do what we do. 

It’s not an easy gig either. Designers are notoriously the most scrupulous bunch of humans on earth, and their opinion means everything to us, so we set ourselves a very high-bar every year. It’s also important to us that we practise what we preach and that means continuing to find new ways to push the boundaries of what these Awards do, represent and serve. 

All that said, I consider this job a genuine privilege. The people within our Good Design community are all outstanding humans and I couldn’t be more grateful to be immersed in a group of people with so much drive, creativity and warmth. 

6. What are your goals and vision for the future of Good Design Australia? 

GDA builds on a proud legacy that has been around for more than 66 years, constantly evolving alongside the design profession to ensure that the important work being done by designers is recognised in all areas of our society. 

To continue this trajectory, we further expanded the Awards this year, launching what I believe is the world’s-first Policy Design Category. This category not only highlights that good design is truly cross-disciplinary, but also cross-sectoral. Our intention is to help raise the awareness of the role that design plays in GOOD policy. It’s exciting because well-designed policy has enormous potential to facilitate meaningful change at-scale.

There are lots of things that I want to do, some will be new initiatives and some will be building on our existing initiatives. Already this year we have announced a partnership with Airseed – an Australian company tackling huge areas of ecosystem restoration. For every entry submitted in the Australian Good Design Awards, we will be committing a percentage towards the reforestation and restoration of landscapes around Australia. 

We also launched a new Special Accolade, the Robert Pataki Award for Healthcare Design, in partnership with the Pataki Family, which aims to inspire, recognise and support design solutions that have the potential to improve the lives of people living or working within the healthcare system – an area that unfortunately so often gets overlooked. 

Another small but useful new feature of the Good Design Winner’s Index is the ability to view all of the projects won by a particular company – just click on the company name. We have some other exciting projects in the works, but you’ll have to wait to hear about those later in the year. 

Looking at the big picture of what I want to achieve, my overarching aims are to:

• Build a more connected design community
• Continue to showcase design excellence as a beacon for what is possible
• Elevate and tell the stories of the award-winning projects and design teams
• Help to support meaningful systemic change through design
• Reinforce Australia as a leader in design

As I look forward, I’d like to also look back and acknowledge the incredible leadership GDA has had for close to 30 years. Dr. Brandon Gien’s commitment to GDA over the course of his tenure has been inspirational and leaves very large shoes to fill. I’m looking forward to building on the strong foundation that has already been established and am stepping into this new role with an enormous amount of optimism, for what is possible, for what we can achieve together and for the positive change that I know we can make. 

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The 2024 Australian Good Design Awards are open now, with submissions closing at midnight Friday 3rd May. Join the Design Effect movement and push not only the world of the design, but our society, environment and future forward.

Submit entry