While fashion is one example of design, our design issue covers much more. Design can be applied to all sorts of things: graphic design, cooking, arts and fashion, all of which are featured in this week’s issue of Lift. Two weeks ago we wrote about ideas, and in many ways ideas and design are very closely related.

If you can take your ideas and turn them into an innovative design, you can do just about anything. Being a good designer, meaning someone who can create a unique solution or product, is an invaluable skill. However, as with all professions and talents, being a designer is not something you are born with, it is something that comes with hours of work and practice. Graphic designers must learn computer programs and study their art. Fashion designers must learn to draw, do pattern design and make clothes. While you may not think about it when you look at their products, thousands of hours of practice have gone into the clothes and advertisements we see every day.

To us, fashion is more about finding a style that fits you than it is about your ability to buy the hottest styles of the day. Although our article about fashion on page 8 is about the hottest styles of today, we challenge our readers to find a style that is uniquely their own. The clothing designers we also feature on page 8 are examples of what you can do when you start creating your own fashions.

Our feature about opportunities within the garment industry (page 3) involves the designing of clothes, but it is really about designing a solution to the problem of Cambodians not filling managerial and highly skilled positions within the industry.

We hope that by celebrating the designs of Cambodian youth, you will look around and find your own inspiration. What could be better? What could be better-looking? What needs to be fixed? These are the questions that designers must face. We challenge you to find the answers.