In 1994, Kun-Hee Lee took Samsung back to the drawing board, launching a six-year effort to focus the Seoul, South Korea-based company on a new competitive advantage: design innovation. Lee committed $126 million to develop a global-design program by the end of the decade. He enlisted the help of the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena to establish his company's first-ever in-house design school. Before long, the company's top designers, and in later years, marketers and engineers, were taking full-time classes six days a week in fundamentals such as mechanical engineering and marketing. Since Lee embarked on what he calls a "design revolution," the company has more than doubled the number of designers in top-level management positions. That's not the only impressive change. Samsung reported record revenue of $36.9 billion for last year, and its products have won countless design awards. "An enterprise's most vital assets lie in its design and other creative capabilities," Lee said in a recent speech, identifying design as the single most critical factor in determining the "ultimate winner of the 21st century." Now that's top-level commitment.

Peak Performers: Four masters who are leading the world of design

• J Mays [1], VP of Global Design, Ford Motor Co.
• David Kelley [2], Founder and Chairman, IDEO
• David Macaulay [3], Author and Illustrator
• Burt Rutan [4], Founder, President, and CEO, Scaled Composites

Impact Players: Four high-impact projects that shaped the year in design--and the people who launched them

• William McDonough [5], Principal and founder, William McDonough + Partners
• Tom Ford [6], Former Creative Director, Gucci and Yves Saint Laurent
• Jonathan Ive [7], Vice President of Industrial Design, Apple Computer Inc.
• Marcia Lausen [8], Founding member, AIGA Design for Democracy

Game Changers: The risk takers and agitators who are rewriting the rules

• Adrian Van Hooydonk [9], President, DesignworksUSA
• Maurice Cox [10], Mayor of Charlottesville, Virginia
• John Maeda [11], Professor of Media Arts and Sciences, MIT
• Arnold Wasserman [12], Chairman, The Idea Factory

Collaborators: Champions who help make great design happen

• Robyn Waters [13], Founder and president of RW Trend, LLC
• Kun-Hee Lee [14], Chairman and CEO, Samsung electronics
• Sam Farber [15], Founder, Copco, OXO, and Wovo
• Bob Porter [16], Executive Vice President, SSM Health Care

Next Generation: Meet four rising stars who are charting the future

• Yves Behar [17], Founder, fuseproject
• Kathleen Brandenburg [18], Principal and Cofounder, IA Collaborative
• Geoff McFetridge [19], Founder, Champion Graphics
• Angela Shen-Hsieh [20], President and CEO, Visual i/o

A Jury of Their Peers

Introducing 11 jurors [21]--top leaders from universities, cultural institutions, and business--who helped us select our 20 Masters of Design.

Lessons From the Masters

These five ideas [22] will help you incorporate design principles in your work -- and better connect with customers and colleagues.