Warren Berger grew up in Whitestone, New York, the youngest of seven children. He graduated from Syracuse University's S. I. Newhouse School of Public Communications in 1980. After working as a newspaper journalist in Dallas, Berger moved back to New York and worked for several years as a magazine editor for CBS.

In 1990, Berger founded his independent writing business, with The New York Times as one of the main outlets for his writing. He wrote a business column for the Sunday Times, and also contributed regularly to the Arts & Leisure section as well as The New York Times Magazine. His feature stories also appeared in GQ, The Los Angeles Times Magazine, New York magazine, Reader’s Digest, and Business 2.0. He served as a contributing editor at Wired magazine from 1999 to 2001.

Advertising and Design

Simultaneously, Berger pursued his interest in creativity in advertising by writing many articles for Ad Age’s Creativity, Communication Arts, Graphis, and Metropolis. In the mid-1990s, he formed an association with The One Club for Art & Copy, helping them launch the bimonthly publication ONE, about creativity in advertising, and then in 2007 launching the quarterly ONE: DESIGN where he now serves as editor at large. In 2001, he wrote the book Advertising Today, published by Phaidon Press. The book was included on Barnes & Noble’s best books of the year list, and was later included in a list of the “50 all time best books about media” compiled by The Independent of London.

His 2009 book, Glimmer (published by The Penguin Press in the U.S.; Random House in Canada and Europe) takes readers behind-the-scenes into studios such as IDEO, Pentagram, and Smart Design, and schools such as Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) and the Stanford Graduate School of Product Design (the d.school), as well as profiling many international design thinkers including Marianne Cusato, Dean Kamen, Yves Behar, Brian Collins, Paula Scher, Stefan Sagmeister, Tim Brown, and Bruce Mau, who collaborated at length with Berger on the project. The book examines, up-close, the ways in which designers approach problems, utilize unique tools and techniques, and ultimately arrive at solutions, and shows how non-designers can apply these principles in their daily lives.

Berger currently resides in Mount Kisco, New York, with his wife, editor Laura E. Kelly.

• Glimmer: How Design Can Transform Your Life and Maybe Even the World. Featuring the ideas and wisdom of design visionary Bruce Mau. (2009; Penguin Press) (ISBN 978-1594202339)
• Nextville: Amazing Place to Live the Rest of Your Life (2008; Springboard Press); co-author with Barbara Corcoran (ISBN 978-0446178280)
• Hoopla: Crispin Porter + Bogusky (2007; PowerHouse Books) (ISBN 978-1576873120)
• No Opportunity Wasted: 8 Ways to Create a List for the Life You Want (2004; Rodale); co-author with Phil Keoghan of The Amazing Race (ISBN 978-1594864049)
• Advertising Today (2001; Phaidon Press) (ISBN 978-0714843872)

Anthologies

The Best Business Stories of the Year (2001; Pantheon) (ISBN 978-0375725005)