GOOD DESIGN® the oldest and the most Prestigious Awards ProgramThe Chicago Athenaeum Museum of Architecture and Design and Metropolitan Arts Press Ltd. present the Museum’s annual GOOD DESIGN® Awards Program for the most innovati-ve and cutting-edge industrial, product, and graphic designs produced around the world. The deadline for this year’s submission is June 1st, 2024.
Each year, The Chicago Athenaeum presents the GOOD DESIGN® Awards Program for the most innovative and cutting-edge industrial, product, and graphic designs produced around the world.
HISTORY 1950-2024The GOOD DESIGN® exhibition program began as a sponsorship between The Merchandise Mart in Chicago and the Museum of Modern Art in New York City and continues today by The Chicago Athenaeum: Museum of Architecture and Design.
The program called for three shows a year: one during the Chicago winter furniture market in January, another coinciding with the June summer market, and a November show based on the previous two exhibitions. Each year, a different prestigious designer was selected to curate the installation. Charles and Ray designed the 5,300-square-foot space for the inaugural installation in 1950, followed by Finn Juhl, Paul Rudolph, and Alexander Girard.
GOOD DESIGN® is the oldest and the most prestigious Awards Program organized worldwide. Founded in Chicago in 1950 by the former MoMA curator Edgar Kaufmann, Jr., together with such pioneers in modern design as Charles and Ray Eames, Russel Wright, George Nelson, and Eero Saarinen, GOOD DESIGN® honors the yearly achievements of the best industrial and graphic designers and world manufacturers for their pursuit of extraordinary design excellence.
For more than seven decades since its inception, The Chicago Athenaeum continues the organization of the program to create a revived awareness about contemporary design and to honor both products and industry leaders in design and manufacturing that have chartered new directions and pushed the envelope for competitive products in the world marketplace.
Every year, designers and manufactures in about 50 nations are honored for their singular achievements in producing hallmarks of contemporary design. For more than 70 years, everything and anything produced in and for the environment from a paperclip to a Boeing 787 Dreamliner or NASA Space Ship have been honored. The GOOD DESIGN logo was designed by Chicago designer, Mort Goldsholl, in 1950. The black dot and square-shaped logo is used globally by winning companies to publically announce that their products and graphic designs have met the most strident and professional criteria and highest standard for international Design Excellence.
Over the last decades, the Museum has awarded approximately 40,000 GOOD DESIGN Awards for design and innovation, sustainability, creativity, branding, ecologically responsible design, human factors, materials, technology, graphic arts, packaging, and universal design by various industrial design and graphic design firms working for the world’s major manufacturers and Fortune 500 companies in over 50 countries.
CRITERIAThe emphasis of the GOOD DESIGN® program is on quality design of the highest form, function, and aesthetics a standard beyond ordinary consumer products and graphics. The Chicago Athenaeum’s GOOD DESIGN® program forwards the ideals of a design process that embodies product excellence and endurance and strong public identity.
Submissions to the program are judged by a jury of distinguished design professionals and leading industry specialists and design press on criteria established in the original 1950 program for the highest aesthetic in terms of innovative design, new technologies, form, materials, construction, concept, function, utility, and energy efficiency, and sensitivity to the environment.
Awarded design firms and manufacturers have the right to enter into a limited legal licensing agreement to use of the Museum’s GOOD DESIGN® logo to mark and identify the selected product or graphic in their marketing, publications, promotions, and communication campaigns as a public symbol of product and service quality. This public seal of approval immediately informs consumers to understand that the selected product and graphic meets the most rigorous test and criteria for absolute design excellence.
GOOD DESIGN® is an international symbol of a company’s firm commitment to innovation and superior design embodiment. Materials and products are accessed into the Museum’s Permanent Design Collection and frequently exhibited in the United States and abroad.
OUTCOMEIn this year’s edition, selected products and graphics for GOOD DESIGN® are announced to the international press in December. The Awarded products and graphics are accessioned into the Museum’s Permanent Design Collection. Selected designers and manufacturers are allowed use of the Museum’s GOOD DESIGN logo in publications, promotions, and marketing as specified in the joint legal agreement with The Chicago Athenaeum.
ENTRY FEEThe fee is $399.00 USD per entry. Checks are made payable to Metropolitan Arts Press or payment by American Express, Master Card, or VISA.Foreign checks must include a $50.00 USD additional payment for bank processing fees. For bank wire information contact the Museum at: [email protected]
