Panasonic El Works : Wins Gold & Special Awards at the Good Design Award 2017

Tokyo, Japan - Panasonic has won the Good Design Gold Award for its Rechargeable Receiver-In-Canal Hearing Aids WH-R47, 45, and 43, and has also won the Good Design Special Award 'Design for the Future' for its High Definition Wide Display System for Automotive at the 'Good Design Award 2017' organized by the Japan Institute of Design Promotion.

Panasonic has also won 5 'Best 100' awards at the 'Good Design Award 2017' on October 4, 2017 for its WH-R47, 45, and 43 Rechargeable Receiver-In-Canal Hearing Aid; High Definition Wide Display System for Automotive; Oral Irrigator EW-DJ71; Let's Remo-con AD, ST PN-L90102, 90101; and the Drum Type Washer Dryer NA-VG2200 series.

At the 'Good Design Award 2017,' Panasonic won 84 awards, the largest number of awards ever, including those that were chosen as the 'Best 100,' the best of the best.

These award-winning products are on display at the GOOD DESIGN EXHIBITION 2017 (various locations within Tokyo Midtown, Roppongi, Tokyo) from November 1 to 5, 2017.

Products selected as the Good Design 'Best 100' and their assessment (excerpt of the review committee comments from the Good Design Award Home Page (Japanese).)

Good Design Gold Award: Rechargeable Receiver-In-Canal Hearing Aid WH-R47, 45, 43

Panasonic has redesigned hearing-aids, a product that tens of thousands of people will need in the coming super-aged society. From the system to its case, Panasonic has applied a consistent design concept, and it is a very beautiful product that strikes a balance between shape, materials, and functionality. In particular, the receiver can directly receive sounds from, for example, the TV, so the user can enjoy watching TV at the same volume as other members of the family, so the product helps realize a natural lifestyle.

Good Design Special Award 'Design for the Future': High Definition Wide Display System for Automotive

This wide display system, fit for the era of sophisticated driving assistance technology, can make automobiles mirrorless by also serving as side mirrors and the back mirror. In comparison to mirrors, this reduces movement of a driver's line of sight, and using line of sight detection camera, it can display brighter the mirror image the driver is looking at to help reduce burden on the driver. Other information helpful to the driver may also be overlaid on the mirror image, making it easier, for example, to change lanes. And because it frees automobiles from the constraint of mirror locations and shape, it significantly increases the freedom in vehicle exterior design, and thereby dramatically changes the future of automobiles.

Oral Irrigator EW-DJ71

It has many of the qualities, like cleanliness and reliability, that people want in a household hygiene device. The product has been thoroughly thought through; not only is it compact, the cord can be stored nicely as it coils inward, and can help declutter the area near the sink and create a clean look. It is a well-thought, well-designed product.

Let's Remo-con AD, ST PN-L90102, 90101

It is a design full of kindness for people with restricted hand movement . Panasonic exhaustively researched the shape and size of the buttons, their coloring, and the sound effects enabling users with varying levels of physical abilities to operate the TV. Whether or not we have an impairment, we want to do things for ourselves. This is an excellent product that places people at the heart of design and sincerely addresses our fundamental need.

Drum Type Washer Dryer NA-VG2200 series

Although it preserves much of the aesthetic qualities of the current model, Panasonic now offers more options, adding a new color gray to its line-up. In addition to the popular white, the new color gray has a contemporary feel. It is simple and modern and fits in well with present-day interior. To create a completely gray design, many parts were also produced in the same color to enhance the quality. Although the exterior design may not be significantly different, Panasonic has created new value with CMF (Color, Material, and Finishing).

The Good Design Award

The Good Design Award is a comprehensive design-promotion system that picks good design out of a variety of unfolding phenomena, and aims to enrich our lives, industries, and society as a whole by highlighting and celebrating these works. It is hosted by the Japan Institute for Design Promotion, a public interest incorporated foundation.