Donald Judd Quotes

Most people make the mistake of thinking design is what it looks like. People think it's this veneer - that the designers are handed this box and told, 'Make it look good!' That's not what we think design is. It's not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works.

If a chair or a building is not functional, if it appears to be only art, it is ridiculous.

Design is everything.

Design is a funny word. Some people think design means how it looks. But of course, if you dig deeper, it's really how it works.

In designing hardware to be used every day, it was important to keep both the human aspects and the machine in mind. What looks good also often feels good.

Design must reflect the practical and aesthetic in business but above all... good design must primarily serve people.

I believe that architecture is a pragmatic art. To become art it must be built on a foundation of necessity.

You cannot understand good design if you do not understand people; design is made for people.

Design means being good, not just looking good.

The design of everyday things is in great danger of becoming the design of superfluous, overloaded, unnecessary things.

Good design is making something intelligible and memorable. Great design is making something memorable and meaningful.

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

I design for real people. I think of our customers all the time. There is no virtue whatsoever in creating clothing or accessories that are not practical.

That was always my frustration with so many of these shows, because design is not an ambush... it's a relationship. You have to know how people move and live and work to be able to design for them.

Form must never trump function. Some objects are made to look so smooth, you don't know where to pick them up or how to turn them on. If I'm designing a garlic press or cheese grater, I need my hand to fit comfortably on it. I like to know, instinctively, how to use it.

Every single item that we come into contact with on a daily basis has been designed by an artist. From the toothbrush we use in the morning, to the defibrillator that could save our lives, an artist is behind the design.

I think a lot of times people design restaurants with flash in mind. I think you should design restaurants with function in mind. Make sure it's functional and works with what you're trying to accomplish. Design can come later.

Design is not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works.

Design must be functional, and functionality must be translated into visual aesthetics without any reliance on gimmicks that have to be explained.

Design should not dominate things, should not dominate people. It should help people. That's its role.

I am always looking for ways to move technology away from being over-featured. Moving to Silicon Valley in the mid-1990s meant I grew up as a designer in an environment where technology is a tool and not a means to an end. I believe that design should be driven by ideas, not style.

Design helps shape our everyday interactions through products, furniture, objects, or experiences.

You are not designing for yourself, and shouldn't be. Most people using the Web don't understand (most of) what makes it work and don't want to. Design for those people. There are many more of them than you.

When we think of design, we usually imagine things that are chosen because they are designed. Vases or comic books or architecture... It turns out, though, that most of what we make or design is actually aimed at a public that is there for something else. The design is important, but the design is not the point. Call it "public design"... Public design is for individuals who have to fill out our tax form, interact with our website or check into our hotel room despite the way it's designed, not because of it.

Design is the fundamental soul of a human-made creation that ends up expressing itself in successive outer layers of the product or service.