Japanese firms look to re-engineer design mojo

Makiko Yamazaki - 

A kihiro Adachi, a 31-year-old audiovisual equipment designer at Panasonic Corp, longed for some personal space during his train rides from Osaka to Tokyo. So when his company set out to encourage innovation, he joined with some colleagues and came up with “Wear Space,” a headset that limits noise and peripheral vision.
Many at Panasonic were puzzled.
“Someone said the office full of people wearing this would look weird,” said Kang Hwayoung, another member of the 10-person design team.
But the prototype won a global design award and received positive feedback from unexpected quarters, such as sake tasters who wanted to limit sensory input.
The project is among a range of efforts in the Japanese electronics industry to reinvigorate industrial design. After losing ground to rivals such as Apple and Dyson, Japanese companies are trying to recover the processes and creative flair that produced iconic products such as the Walkman.
Panasonic, Sony and Mitsubishi Electric are among those implementing practices that have been routine at many US and European companies, such as engaging designers at every step and treating packaging as part of the product.
Yoshiyuki Miyabe, Panasonic’s technology and manufacturing chief, told reporters, “We are revamping the process so that designers can join us from the planning phase.”
The Japanese government is promoting the efforts: a report in May urged corporate executives to pursue “design-driven management, whereby a company leverages design as a primary driver of competitiveness.” It also called for tax incentives for design-related investments and new laws to better protect intellectual property. The government is set to revise such laws next year.
“Of course, we had an argument over how much the government can do and should do with private-sector issues like this,” said Daisuke Kubota, director at the government’s design registration system planning office, who was involved in the panel.
“But a lot of design experts asked us for government initiatives, saying that this is really the last chance and Japan would never be able to catch up with global rivals if this opportunity is missed.”
Another member of the panel, Kinya Tagawa, visiting professor at the Royal College of Art and co-founder of design firm Takram, says there has been a sharp increase in major companies’ requesting design lectures for their executives.
“I’m seeing a sign of change,” he said. — Reuters