History of Design
Design has changed its shape with each era. Its focus has continued to expand from industry to information, from experience to businesses and organizations.
- 1950s—TargetIndustrial design
Industrialization
- 1990s—TargetInformation design
Information age
- 2010s—TargetExperience design
Mobile apps and services
- 2020s—TargetTransformation design
Business and organization
Design's focus is moving toward more abstract and management-level domains.
The Essence of Design
In Japan, design has long been misunderstood as something only visual or decorative. The true role of design is to identify essential value and latent needs that have not yet been verbalized, and to maximize that value. It moves between concrete and abstract, designing strategy, requirements, structure, skeleton, and surface.
The diagram shows the design process moving from concrete to abstract through five layers: surface, skeleton, structure, requirements, and strategy.
A design process moving from concrete to abstract.
- Surface
- Skeleton
- Structure
- Requirements
- Strategy
We Evolve Design
We have grown alongside the evolution of design. Goodpatch was founded in 2011, at the dawn of the smartphone era. Starting with app UI/UX design that was still uncommon in Japan, we have accompanied many companies through new business launches, product development, branding, and transformation.
The iPhone arrived in Japan, introducing a new touch-based interface and the early era of smartphone UI.
2008The period before Goodpatch was founded.
The app economy expanded. Features could sell a product, but differences in usability started to shape results.
2011Goodpatch Inc. founded
Goodpatch began by specializing in UI design for smartphone apps, working on designs for fast-growing startups such as Gunosy and Money Forward.
As features became commoditized, user experience became widely recognized as a point of differentiation.
2010sExpanded into UX and service design
Goodpatch moved beyond UI into UX and service design, designing entire service experiences while also developing its own prototyping product, Prott. Prott ended service in August 2024.
Digital transformation accelerated across industries. In 2018, Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry and the Japan Patent Office published the Design-Driven Management declaration, positioning design as a management resource and source of competitive advantage.
2010sLateExpanded design value into brand, business, and organization
Goodpatch broadened its value into brand experience, business strategy, and organization design to solve management challenges through design.
Launched ReDesigner
2018Goodpatch launched a service that connects companies and designers while supporting designers' careers.
COVID-19 made the digital shift irreversible, and design became a question on the management agenda.
2020Listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange Mothers market
Goodpatch became the first listed design company in Japan, demonstrating the value of design in management.
The main arena of DX moved from UI/UX to business and organizational transformation, creating demand for design as an organizational capability rather than one-off production.
2020sEarlyGroup expansion and multiple businesses
Studio Details joined the group in 2021, and People and Design was founded in 2024.
Established Muture with Marui Group
2022Goodpatch's first joint venture advanced Marui Group's DX through designers participating in management. Naofumi Tsuchiya served as Marui Group Executive Officer CDXO in 2023 and was selected as a director in 2026.
Generative AI spread widely, fundamentally changing how software and experiences are made.
2025Goodpatch brought the UI design generation AI tool Layermate into the group.
Launched HRmony AI, an AI agent that streamlines recruiting operations.
The age of AI agents is redefining the relationship between people and software: the interface itself.
NowPromoting AI-native management
Transforming our own operations and organization with AI while redefining what it means to be a designer in the age of AI.
- 2008
The iPhone arrived in Japan, introducing a new touch-based interface and the early era of smartphone UI.
- 2011
The app economy expanded. Features could sell a product, but differences in usability started to shape results.
- 2010s
As features became commoditized, user experience became widely recognized as a point of differentiation.
- 2010sLate
Digital transformation accelerated across industries. In 2018, Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry and the Japan Patent Office published the Design-Driven Management declaration, positioning design as a management resource and source of competitive advantage.
- 2020
COVID-19 made the digital shift irreversible, and design became a question on the management agenda.
- 2020sEarly
The main arena of DX moved from UI/UX to business and organizational transformation, creating demand for design as an organizational capability rather than one-off production.
- 2025
Generative AI spread widely, fundamentally changing how software and experiences are made.
- Now
The age of AI agents is redefining the relationship between people and software: the interface itself.
- 2008
The period before Goodpatch was founded.
- 2011
Goodpatch Inc. founded
Goodpatch began by specializing in UI design for smartphone apps, working on designs for fast-growing startups such as Gunosy and Money Forward.
- 2010s
Expanded into UX and service design
Goodpatch moved beyond UI into UX and service design, designing entire service experiences while also developing its own prototyping product, Prott. Prott ended service in August 2024.
- 2010sLate
Expanded design value into brand, business, and organization
Goodpatch broadened its value into brand experience, business strategy, and organization design to solve management challenges through design.
Launched ReDesigner
2018Goodpatch launched a service that connects companies and designers while supporting designers' careers.
- 2020
Listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange Mothers market
Goodpatch became the first listed design company in Japan, demonstrating the value of design in management.
- 2020sEarly
Group expansion and multiple businesses
Studio Details joined the group in 2021, and People and Design was founded in 2024.
Established Muture with Marui Group
2022Goodpatch's first joint venture advanced Marui Group's DX through designers participating in management. Naofumi Tsuchiya served as Marui Group Executive Officer CDXO in 2023 and was selected as a director in 2026.
- 2025
Goodpatch brought the UI design generation AI tool Layermate into the group.
Launched HRmony AI, an AI agent that streamlines recruiting operations.
- Now
Promoting AI-native management
Transforming our own operations and organization with AI while redefining what it means to be a designer in the age of AI.
Design, Redefined
As AI makes creation possible for anyone, the value that design can provide is changing. More than asking what to make, the role of design is to ask why and for what purpose, and to build the systems that sustain continuous creation.
Without AI
Before
Implementation was scarce, so making things carried high value.
With AI
Next
Judgment becomes scarce, and value moves toward selecting what not to make.
Questions emerge that the existing design framework cannot fully answer.
Issue 01
Generated outputs saturate when anyone can make them
Issue 02
More options increase the burden of judgment
Issue 03
Consistency and intent become harder to maintain
Issue 04
Sameness grows and uniqueness gets buried
Design, Unleashed
Design has always created value in domains where complex questions gather. In an era when AI handles implementation and efficiency, design deepens into the work of setting questions, designing judgment criteria, and connecting decisions to business and management.
- 01
Design the question
From making to asking
When AI takes on making, design begins by defining what should be asked.
- 02
Choose what remains
From generation to curation
As outputs overflow, value moves to judging what to keep and what to let go.
- 03
Protect consistency
From local optimization to whole coherence
As local optimization increases, design protects overall coherence and intent.
- 04
Design identity
From sameness to unique value
When anyone can make similar things, intentionally designing character and context creates distinct value.
- 05
Connect to management
From specialist craft to management capability
Design expands from a specialized discipline into a capability connected directly to management decisions.
Our Design
With 15 years of accumulated practice and a proven record as the first listed design company in Japan, we drive corporate transformation from design and experience design.
Get In touch!
Talk to us about anything—UI/UX design for services and products, brand building, AI adoption, new business development, or management and business strategy.