Says Deyan Sudjic, director of the Design Museum London and a design and architecture critic: "Consumers are looking for things that reflect longevity, rather than quick disposal."

To compile our list of industrial designers that best capture this forward way of thinking, we turned to a panel of experts consisting of curators, designers and critics. Each submitted nominations and we compiled the 10 names with the most votes.

Our list consists of both new names and established ones. Arguably the most recognizable, Apple's Senior Vice President of Industrial Design Jonathan Ive practices a method of design that is being mimicked across industries.

The principal designer behind Apple products like the iMac and the iPhone, Ive has created such loyalty--often teetering on rabid obsession--that today, a popular marketing catch phrase across all industries is: "We want to be the Apple of insert name here." While he may have some detractors when it comes to user interface, there's no doubt Ive's products look good and, for the most part, work well. "The key is the sense of loyalty that Apple induces," says Sudjic. "Some may say that Apple stuff is not that good, but regardless, it obviously creates strong emotions on both sides."

One of Ive's biggest influences is Dieter Rams, former head of design for Braun and known by many as the "godfather of modern industrial design." Ive, like Rams before him, has brought to the forefront the notion that a single designer can lead a huge corporation.

Another, if lesser known, name is Shai Agassi. While not a designer per se, Agassi's advocacy for electric cars could steer the direction of auto design for years to come. With his venture-backed company Better Place, headquartered in Palo Alto, Calif., Agassi wants to replace gas stations with battery-charging stations, making revving up an electric car as convenient as filling up a gas-powered engine. Currently, the initiative is being tested in Copenhagen, Israel and Hawaii. Agassi is also working with the Renault-Nissan Alliance to introduce an electric vehicle that a mainstream audience can embrace financially, aesthetically and emotionally.

While most of the designers on our list, from Naoto Fukasawa, best known for his work with Japanese home goods store MUJI, to Yves Behar, the mind behind Herman Miller's ( MLHR - news - people ) famed leaf lamp, create affordable, easy-to-use products, our panelists are quick to point out that avant-garde designers matter.

The ultra-expensive products of designers like Fernando and Humberto Campana remain inaccessible to many, but the Campanas' designs have helped swing the aesthetic pendulum in a new direction. The San Paolo-born brothers produce chairs made from found objects such as stuffed animals and wood chips. The chairs often cost $75,000 each. By making use of found objects in new, seductive ways, the duo trumpeted the idea of sustainable design long before it was a marketing buzzword. Their work, says Andrew Blauvelt, design director and curator at the Walker Art Museum in Minneapolis, Minn., has "expanded the vocabulary of design."

Expert Panel

Reed Kroloff, director, Cranbrook Academy of Art and Art Museum, Bloomfield Hills, Mich.
Scott Klinker, designer-in-residence, Cranbrook Academy of Art Bloomfield Hills, Mich.
Cara McCarty, curatorial director, Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum, New York, N.Y.
Deyan Sudjic, director, Design Museum London
Andrew Blauvelt, design director and curator, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, Minn.
Charlie Cannon, associate professor of industrial design, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, R.I.