Skip navigation

Issue 95

June 2005

Masters Of Design 2005

  • Taken together, these 20 masters are rewriting the rules for design and for business. Their accomplishments, failures, and lessons learned have meaning for us all, designers and nondesigners alike.

    Read More
Follow Fast Company

Features

Now

  • Be Cooler by Design

    What you need to know about working with designers.

  • Every Move You Make

    Our new feature traces the key decisions in a leader's career. This month: design mavens and twins George and John Kembel.

  • Be the Next Jonathan Ive

    Design recruiter RitaSue Siegel divulges what companies want in design executives (think Apple), why collaborative is the new cocky, and how the bottom line is as important as blueprints.

  • CEOs Toe-dip Into Design

    What would Herman Miller do?

  • Improving the Chain Gang

    Staying in a drab chain hotel can suck the life out of any traveler. We asked three design professionals their strategies for bringing the surroundings up a notch.

  • The Corporate Shrink

    Can a bad temper be a good motivator? Plus, the tale of the two-faced employee.

Next

  • Death to the Cubicle!

    Want some quiet time? If you work in a cubicle, forget it. Those low walls are great for spontaneous collaboration, but also for spontaneous interruption. Here, a view to something better.

  • Now Hiring

    A CFO is a CFO. But for the growing number of techies who toil at making products and services more user- friendly, job titles are more fungible -- and more confusing. Are these people designers, or engineers?

  • Top designers. No Brands

    If you've ever shopped at Japanese retailer Muji, you've probably bought products from some of the world's top designers. The fact that you don't know who they are is part of the point.

  • CEO See-ya!

    This month: Jure Sola, CEO of Sanmina-SCI.

  • How to Act Like a Designer

    If you're in any business, you're in the design business. We're all designers now. That's cool, but it's also daunting. How can civilian sales reps and IT geeks incorporate a design sensibility into their work and life? We posed that question to several top designers: How can we be, well, more like them? Here's what they suggested.

  • How To Look Like a Designer

    Admit it: From the day you peered into Daniel Libeskind's oversized spectacles, you've ached to look more like him and his ilk -- you know, "I'm creative and you're not." Here, we've mapped the essential designer fashion strategy, so that anyone -- even Larry in accounting -- can look hip, creative, and somehow more interesting to have at dinner parties.

  • Rethinking Redesign

    Redesigning a beloved product isn't easy -- just ask the team behind New Coke. Any new iteration must retain the essence of the original yet offer a jolt of innovation. We dissected a few recent redesigns to see how they measured up. Our expert rater: Julie Anixter, executive director for brand experience at design consultancy Lipson Alport Glass Associates.

  • "USB: Not Just for Your Mouse Anymore"

    Thumb drives just not doing it for you anymore? Check out these gizmos designed for a relaxing coffee break -- or a manicure. And you don't even have to leave your desk!

  • Intelligent Design

    You don't have to wear black and read pricey journals to get the latest insider thinking from the design world.

  • More Intelligent Design
  • My Dream Home

    Like general contractors with a psych degree, the architectural firm called fathom plumbs the depths of your soul to design the house you want. Our writer gets the blueprints of his dreams.

  • Office Handbook

    Chapter 51: Office Design.

  • "Outside the Box": The Inside Story

    Our Debunking Unit takes on the mother of all consultantese: the box, and how to think outside of it.

Fast Talk

  • Fast Talk: Apple in Their Eyes

    Digital-audio players weren't exactly virgin territory when Apple entered the fray in 2001. But the iPod -- with its sublime design, intuitive usability, and unparalleled cool quotient -- set a new standard by which all other MP3 players would be judged. Four rivals talk about designing their answer to an icon.

  • Faster Talk: Apple in Their Eyes

Next

From the Editor