What can we learn from the Good Design Awards 2019?

As one of the judges of the Good Design Awards in Australia, I'm incredibly inspired and humbled by the amazing work being done in this field, both here in Australia and overseas. I gave this talk at the September Sydney Design Thinking meetup, as a (very biased and cherry-picked) overview of the awards winners, what it's like as a judge, and the judging process.

I gave some commentary that you won't get with these slides here, but I hope just looking at the variety will inspire you, too. If you were a judge, what criteria would you set for the awards? And: would you set yourself the same criteria? How are you going, in your field? Let's keep spurring each other on, inspiring each other, and sharing our best.

Transcript

1. WHAT WE CAN LEARN FROM THE GOOD DESIGN AWARDS 2019 Ben Crothers Author, Presto Sketching Principal Designer, Atlassian @bencrothers @prestosketching HOW GOOD IS DESIGN?
2. WHO AM I TO 
 JUDGE?
3. 61 YEARS 2019: 700 ENTRIES ARCHITECTURE COMMUNICATION ADVERTISING BRANDING AND IDENTITY PACKAGING PRINT APPS AND SOFTWARE GAME DESIGN ANIMATION WEB AND INTERFACE FASHION AUTOMOTIVE COMMERCIAL AND INDUSTRIAL CONSUMER ELECTRONICS DOMESTIC APPLIANCES FURNITURE AND LIGHTING HOUSEWARES AND OBJECTS MEDICAL AND SCIENTIFIC SPORT AND LIFESTYLE SERVICE STRATEGY ENGINEERING SOCIAL IMPACT NEXT GEN
4. WHAT IS GOOD DESIGN? IF YOU RAN THE GOOD DESIGN AWARDS, WHAT CRITERIA WOULD YOU SET, 
 TO ASSESS DESIGN SUBMISSIONS?
5. CRITERIA DOES IT SOLVE A GENUINE PROBLEM? HAS IT BEEN CREATED THROUGH EMPATHY AND INSIGHT? DOES IT USE MATERIALS AND RESOURCES IN A MORE SUSTAINABLE WAY? DOES IT INCREASE SOCIAL WELLBEING AND PROSPERITY? DOES IT PUSH US FORWARD IN SOME WAY, IN INNOVATION, ECONOMIC GROWTH, EXPORT AND PRODUCTIVITY?
11. CELEBRATING THE 
 VOICES OF DESIGN
12. WOMEN IN DESIGN AWARD Sharon Gauci Executive Director of Industrial Design, 
 General Motors
13. INDIGENOUS DESIGNER AWARD Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Career Pathways Service Queensland Department of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Partnerships
14. GOOD DESIGN AWARD, 
 NEXT GEN CATEGORY Gecko Traxx Ryan Tilley and Huy Nguyen
15. CELEBRATING THE 
 DIVERSITY OF DESIGN
16. Sans Forgetica RMIT University GOOD DESIGN AWARD, 
 COMMUNICATION CATEGORY
17. GOOD DESIGN AWARD, BEST IN CLASS,
 APPS AND SOFTWARE CATEGORY Remote hearing health check Cochlear and Amberdew Experience Design
18. GOOD DESIGN AWARD, GOLD WINNER,
 APPS AND SOFTWARE CATEGORY Momatu Isobar Australia
19. GOOD DESIGN AWARD, BEST IN CLASS,
 WEB DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT CATEGORY headtohealth.gov.au Liquid Interactive and
 Core Community Group
20. GOOD DESIGN AWARD,
 BEN’S KEEPING-IT-REAL CATEGORY Welcome to Wasteland Kyle Mac Matthew Tambellini solar.friendsand.associates
22. CELEBRATING THE 
 AGENDA OF DESIGN
23. GOOD DESIGN AWARD, 
 FASHION IMPACT CATEGORY G-Star Raw
 Elwood RFTPi jeans fashionpositive.org/materials-collection
24. CELEBRATING THE 
 WINNERS OF DESIGN
25. GOOD DESIGN AWARD OF THE YEAR Rastrum 
 3D Bioprinter Inventia Life Science and Design+Industry Helps to fight cancer by building 3D cell structures which are then used to test a range of therapies
27. GOOD DESIGN AWARD FOR SUSTAINABILITY RangerBot Queensland University of Technology and
 DesignWorks
28. CRITERIA AM I SOLVING GENUINE PROBLEMS? AM I CREATING THROUGH EMPATHY AND INSIGHT? AM I USING MATERIALS AND RESOURCES IN A MORE SUSTAINABLE WAY? AM I INCREASING SOCIAL WELLBEING AND PROSPERITY? AM I PUSHING FORWARD IN SOME WAY, IN INNOVATION, ECONOMIC GROWTH, EXPORT AND PRODUCTIVITY? er in
29. REFLECT 
 DISCOVER LEARN FOCUS CHALLENGE SHARE INSPIRE
30. LET’S TALK Ben Crothers Author, Presto Sketching Principal Designer, Atlassian @bencrothers @prestosketching good-design.org