clipped from www.fastcompany.com

Everywhere you look today -- from buildings and landscapes, to commercial products and public services, to Web sites and print products -- design has taken on new meaning. Design isn't just about decoration; it's a critical component of how we communicate, collaborate, and compete. But behind the "look and feel" of any good design are a host of carefully conceived principles: fundamental propositions that define the essence of the design. The trick for all businesspeople today is to learn those underlying rules -- to think like designers. With that in mind, Fast Company asked 15 top designers -- creators of buildings, furniture, products, Web sites, costumes, and labels -- to deconstruct something that exemplifies great design to them. More important, we asked them to tell us what we can