Masters of Design: Geoff McFetridge

Few people better exemplify the boundarylessness of today’s design world than Geoff McFetridge. A 33-year-old graphic designer, animator, filmmaker, and “all-around visual auteur,” McFetridge created the opening title sequences for such Hollywood movies as Adaptation and The Virgin Suicides, fashioned products for Nike, and will be launching his own skateboard company, dubbed Atwater. A member of the Director’s Bureau, a sort of artists’ collective that helps art directors in all media to line up projects, McFetridge is now helping other designers cross these same boundaries. Says Paul Warwick Thompson, director of the Smithsonian’s Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum, who has included McFetridge’s graphics in the museum’s recent Triennial Exhibition: “He is part of a new generation of designers who are eager to leap the old divides between image and product, design and art, the flat page and the moving image.”

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

• J Mays, VP of Global Design, Ford Motor Co.
• David Kelley, Founder and Chairman, IDEO
• David Macaulay, Author and Illustrator
• Burt Rutan, 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, Principal and founder, William McDonough + Partners
• Tom Ford , Former Creative Director, Gucci and Yves Saint Laurent
• Jonathan Ive, Vice President of Industrial Design, Apple Computer Inc.
• Marcia Lausen, Founding member, AIGA Design for Democracy

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

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

Collaborators: Champions who help make great design happen

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

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

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

A Jury of Their Peers

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

Lessons From the Masters

These five ideas will help you incorporate design principles in your work — and better connect with customers and colleagues.