David Gelernter Quotes

As if a device can function if it has no style. As if a device can be called stylish that does not function superbly... yes, beauty matters. Boy, does it matter. It is not surface, it is not an extra, it is the thing itself.

I believe consistency and orthogonality are tools of design, not the primary goal in design.

Analog is more beautiful than digital, really, but we go for comfort.

Everybody is designing magic iPhone apps that do things that are really, really beautiful, but a really important thing about magic is that the gimmick has to be ugly.

There are two methods in software design. One is to make the program so simple, there are obviously no errors. The other is to make it so complicated, there are no obvious errors.

Computers are scary. They're nightmares to fix, lose our stuff, and, on occasion, they crash, producing the blue screen of death. Steve Jobs knew this. He knew that computers were bulky and hernia-inducing and Darth Vader black. He understood the value of declarative design.

The architect should strive continually to simplify; the ensemble of the rooms should then be carefully considered that comfort and utility may go hand in hand with beauty.

In the matter of furnishing, I find a certain absence of ugliness far worse than ugliness.

I abhor mere prettiness.

Ugliness does not sell.

Beauty is more important in computing than anywhere else in technology because software is so complicated. Beauty is the ultimate defense against complexity. ... The geniuses of the computer field, on the the other hand, are the people with the keenest aesthetic senses, the ones who are capable of creating beauty. Beauty is decisive at every level: the most important interfaces, the most important programming languages, the winning algorithms are the beautiful ones.

Simplicity design axiom: The complexity of the information appliance is that of the task, not the tool. The technology is invisible.

Beauty of style and harmony and grace and good rhythm depend on Simplicity.

For me, how an appliance looks is as important as how efficiently it works.

I think complexity is beautiful.

Even the duster in my house has to be beautiful; no old piece of cloth will ever be used in its place.

The key to industrial leadership is technology and design; of the two, technology is quantifiable and design is not. Technological improvements might make your product worth another $20. If you design something beautiful, what is that worth? It's worth whatever people will pay for it.

Design is important because chaos is so hard.

The best computer scientists are...technologists who crave beauty.

Important lessons: look carefully; record what you see. Find a way to make beauty necessary; find a way to make necessity beautiful.

simplicity is the key of elegance

C'est véritablement utile puisque c'est joli. It is truly useful since it is beautiful.

I want to make beautiful things, even if nobody cares, as opposed to ugly things. That's my intent.

Architecture must have something that appeals to the human heart. Creative work is expressed in our time as a union of technology and humanity.

Design is about crafting an experience that is unfamiliar enough to feel novel, yet familiar enough to instill confidence.