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They create all those brilliant devices and gadgets that change our lives. They tackle complex social challenges, from making our cities function better to reinventing our schools. They figure out what we need, often before we even know we need it. They are the "Glimmerati"--the mega-creative, world-changing designers featured in my new book Glimmer.
I didn't know all that much about design when I started researching Glimmer two years ago (for instance I had no real idea about what a sprawling, interdisciplinary topic it was). In my writing about advertising, marketing, and pop culture for places like the New York Times and Wired, though, I'd begun to realize that every time someone used the term "design" it seemed to have a different meaning. So I became obsessed with answering, for myself at least, the fundamental question, "What is design?" It's a big question and one that gets asked a lot, by designers and non-designers alike. (I eventually compiled a Top 20 list of what I thought were the best definitions, which you can read here.)
