Is it beyond the call of duty to ask your design team to kayak out on Lake Michigan at 5:30 on a cold Chicago morning and dunk-test a Nike outdoor watch? Kathleen Brandenburg doesn't think so. A graphic designer by training, the 33-year-old Brandenburg is one of the country's premier practitioners of immersive design. (That doesn't necessarily mean dunking things in water; immersive design involves close study of how something is used in the real world.) So Brandenburg and her IA colleagues listened to more than 100 customer-service calls to improve the Chicago Symphony Orchestra's Web site; they played pool with customers in their homes to understand how to rebrand Brunswick Billiards. Says Peter Lawrence, founder of the Corporate Design Foundation: "While many firms profess an [immersive] approach to design, very few practice with this kind of commitment." Another one of Brandenburg's commitments: return on investment. IA's suggestions for Nike helped its new watch line triple in sales. All of which proves Brandenburg's theory: Before you can execute the design, you've got to live the design problem.
- Peak Performers: Four masters who are leading the world of design
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- 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
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- 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
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- 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
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- 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
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- 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.
A version of this article appeared in the June 2004 issue of Fast Company magazine.
