This year we got to sit down (and Skype down) with some incredible creatives. We were interested in not only what these people do, but what their thinking process is and how they gained their current positions. Here's a rundown of our favorite interviews from this year on these topics and more.

An Interview with Michael DiTullo, Part 1

The story of how the successful industrial designer climbed multiple ladders to wind up principal of his own design firm. "Sometimes young students talk to me about making like a five-year plan, and I would say "Fuck that, make a 20-year plan."

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An Interview with Michael DiTullo, Part 2

How he overcame the setbacks that all designers face. He also reveals his exit plan: "Death."

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An Interview with Jonathan Ward, Founder of Icon, Part 1

Ward may be one of the most obsessive and perfectionist designers we've ever met. He's also a polymath who's just as comfortable with engineering as with design. In Part 1 of our chat with him, he tells us how and why Ward does what he does, what makes Icon viable, how digital tools and CAD figure into his process and more.

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An Interview with Jonathan Ward, Founder of Icon, Part 2

Continuing our interview, we discuss durability, longevity, future-proofing, on-the-job headaches and pay-offs, what the current auto industry's missing, what Icon's working on next and more.

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An Interview with Christopher Schwarz, Part 1 

Author, designer, furniture maker and researcher (among other things) Schwarz chats with us about inspiration, why some of the best solutions come from the past rather than the future, secrecy vs. openness, workbenches, people who have inspired him and more.

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An Interview with Christopher Schwarz, Part 2

Here Schwarz shares his thoughts on using tools, making tools, furniture design philosophy, photography, anarchy, anti-consumerism and more.

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Inside Belkin: The Industrial Design Process of the TrueClear Pro

Here industrial designer Oliver Seil, Belkin's VP of Design, gives us an unprecedented behind-the-scenes look at how one of their hit products came to be.

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Design vs. Engineering: Q&A With a Mechanical Engineer on What It's Like to Work With Industrial Designers

Here David Kleeman, Belkin's Director of Mechanical Engineering, dishes on what it's like working with us ID'ers.

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Q&A: What Made You Want to Become an Industrial Designer? 

Lastly, while we were at Belkin we quizzed various staffers on what had made them choose the ID path, and how they got to where they are.

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