Walk by any newsstand, and it’s easy to conclude that magazine editors are obsessed with numbered lists. From “15 ways to walk off the weight” to “The 50 best albums of all-time,” no one could blame an astute reader for becoming a little jaded. What’s the fascination with the best, worst, and undiscovered anyway? One might argue that all this ranking and categorizing is simply how we make sense of the world.

In this case, the goal was to give recognition to female designers who were doing something of note—whether it happened to be pushing the definition of book design or figuring out how to build a business from the ground up. The original list of candidates numbered in the dozens, and those nominees were painstakingly pared down to the 10 you find here. There’s no one reason designers made the list. Rather, these women are each making unique contributions to the design world that deserve a closer look. We hope you find their stories as inspiring as we did.