The Good Design exhibition series was an industrial design program organized by the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York, in cooperation with the Merchandise Mart in Chicago, held between 1950 and 1955. No awards were granted to designers whose work was put on view in these exhibitions, despite misinformation suggesting otherwise. History The exhibition series Good Design was spearheaded by Edgar Kaufmann, Jr.,Wendy Kaplan: California Design, 1930-1965 : Living In a Modern Way. MIT press, 2011, pg 295. who was then director of the Industrial Design Department of MOMA. Predecessors to this series were two other exhibition series on modernist design, including a series that began with Useful Objects Under $5 (later the maximum price climbed to $10 and eventually $100), the other a series of international design competitions.Michael Kimmelman: Celebrating ‘Good Design’ at MoMA: The Nut Dish and Other Populist Gems. In: New York Times, 6 June 2019. An agreement to launch the Good Design exhibition series was struck between Rene d'Harnoncourt, director of MoMA, and Wallace O. Ollman, general manager of the Merchandise Mart.Arthur J. Pulos: The American Design Adventure, 1940-1975. MIT Press, 1988, pg. 110. Good Design had five editions: 1st Good Design exhibition, held from 21 November 1950 to 28 January 19511st Good Design on the Exhibition Archive of MoMA 2nd Good Design exhibition, held from 27 November 1951 to 27 January 19522nd Good Design on the Exhibition Archive of MoMA 3rd Good Design exhibition, held from 23 September to 30 November 19523rd Good Design on the Exhibition Archive of MoMA 4th Good Design exhibition, held from 22 September to 29 November 19534th Good Design on the Exhibition Archive of MoMA 5th Good Design exhibition, held from 8 February to 20 March 1955Good Design, fifth anniversary on the Exhibition Archive of MoMA

The Museum of Modern Art developed a circular Good Design tag, designed by Morton and Millie Goldsholl of Chicago, which manufacturers of products chosen for exhibition could use in advertising and sales. Critic Michael Kimmelman of the New York Times called this tag a "version of the Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval", and compared it to efforts of similar institutions like V&A in the UK or Bauhaus in Germany in promoting modernist design.

MoMA has staged retrospective exhibitions called What Was Good DesignWhat Was Good Design? MoMA’s Message, 1944–56. Exhibition held at MoMA from 6 May 2009 to 10 January 2011. (Archive) (2011) and The Value of Good DesignThe Value of Good Design, Exhibition held at MoMA from 10 February to 15 June 2019. (Archive) (2019).

The Japan Institute of Design Promotion also sponsors an annual Good Design Award which is unrelated to the American award.

Notable people

Joel Robinson (c. 1923-?), graphic designer, exhibited at MoMA's 1951 Good Design show Florence Knoll, Good Design Award 1950, 1953

See also Good Design Movement Chicago Athenaeum

References

External links

The Seventy Year History of GOOD DESIGN