Stay blue
A blue conviction
Goodpatch’s story began in 2011, when I moved to San Francisco. I encountered startup founders filled with passion; software whose beta versions already had intuitive, easy-to-use user interfaces; a culture that kept producing products capable of moving the world forward; and an endless blue sky.
I wanted to create products from Japan that could make an impact on the world, and to support the people taking on challenges like that. This was the source of my conviction.
Days devoted to design
Goodpatch began as a software UI design company, and from our earliest days we have worked alongside many clients as they took on new challenges. Although I never attended art school, I immersed myself in the work of design day and night. What I discovered was the boundless power of design. Year after year, my own sense of what design could achieve expanded, and my belief that design would become even more important in Japan only grew stronger. Yet in business, I repeatedly saw design’s true value go unrecognized, and the people who make design their profession denied the recognition they deserved. For their sake as well, we had to build a society that invested more in design. That conviction led us to set out our vision, “Push the world forward with design that moves people’s hearts,” and our mission, “Prove the power of design.”
What it means for a design company to go public
“Take a design company public.” At the time, I do not think anyone truly believed in such an absurd dream. Across the business world, we were told that design’s value could not be quantified and that no company with a design-firm business model could ever reach an IPO. That was the prevailing view. But if a design company could be recognized by the stock market—the very symbol of capitalism—might it give courage to the many people who believe in the power of design? Might it help those who had never recognized design’s value understand its importance correctly?
Six years ago, when we raised the banner of “Prove the power of design,” I resolved that we would become the first design company to go public, and I cast every other option aside.
An unwavering resolve
We faced many hardships on the way to realizing this seemingly reckless dream. Each time my spirit nearly broke, we faced the challenge in front of us. Thanks to the support of so many colleagues and clients, we now stand at the starting line of becoming a public company. I want to set down once more the resolve that will not change after our listing.
Raise investment in design
Design is not about making surfaces look beautiful. It is a way of engaging with a company’s purpose and a product’s essential value to maximize the experience of the people who use it. Design is not a short-term cost; it is a long-term investment in a company’s brand assets. Yet design is still widely treated as a cost, and the people who work in design are valued less highly than their counterparts overseas. We will raise investment in design and create a society where talented people can proudly say that design is their profession.
Design for challengers, and remain challengers ourselves
We have always worked with entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs whose strong convictions and passion drive them to change society or accomplish something new. We have shaped the ideas at the source and run alongside challengers as a blue flame that raises the temperature of their passion. To fight from the same vantage point as they do, we believe it is essential that we remain challengers ourselves. We will keep crossing boundaries instead of fitting into established frames, expanding the possibilities of design.
Keep moving forward without turning away from complexity and uncertainty
We have faced many highly complex and uncertain challenges involving business, organizations, and human emotion. Through design, we have untangled and structured complexity, grasped the essence of an issue, and shown a path toward resolution. But we cannot foresee everything. When complexity and uncertainty confront us, we do not look away. We face reality and move forward with intention. That is how we engage with the world.
We now stand at a starting line that many design companies could not reach. Design will become even more important in Japan. Companies will need to look again at their own Why and engage with the emotions of customers, partners, and the people who work within them. Investing in design means investing in the emotional value people experience. We will not be swept along by short-term trends. We will engage with people and with the essence of things, practice management with an aesthetic sensibility, build trust over the long term, and continue to prove the power of design.
We will remember where we began and move forward with our blue conviction.
Stay blue, go forward.
Representative Director & CEO, Goodpatch Inc. Naofumi Tsuchiya
What the blue rose means
Roses do not naturally contain blue pigment, and for many years creating a blue rose was considered impossible. Its traditional meaning was therefore “the impossible.” After sustained efforts by Japanese researchers produced the world’s first blue rose, that meaning changed from “the impossible” to “dreams come true.”
We see Goodpatch’s achievement of a dream once thought impossible—a design company going public—reflected in the story of the blue rose, and have chosen it as a symbol of this milestone.
The mark expresses a blue rose through a circular motif representing “Why,” one of Goodpatch’s most important values. This flower is still small. We will keep moving forward so that it can bloom with ever greater beauty and strength.
Never forget the blue spirit: the story of the resolve that carried Goodpatch to its IPO
https://note.com/naofumit/n/n93e5b202c136
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