Roger Martin Quotes

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

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.

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

We have always thought about design as being so much more than just the way something looks. It's the whole thing: the way something works on so many different levels. Ultimately, of course, design defines so much of our experience.

Good design is good business.

Good design emphasises the usefulness of a product whilst disregarding anything that could possibly detract from it.

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.

Design, in its broadest sense, is the enabler of the digital era - it's a process that creates order out of chaos, that renders technology usable to business. Design means being good, not just looking good.

Products have to be designed in a way that they are comprehensible.

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.

We always correct people who say, 'You're trying to make this look better.' Well yes, we want it to look better, but that's easy. The look and the function are one and the same. They are not separate. It looks good because it functions beautifully. That message is very hard.

Design certainly has a cosmetic, aesthetic aim. It always aims at making things beautiful. But relevance is just as important. I often say, 'If it isn't ethical, it can't be beautiful. But if it isn't beautiful, it probably shouldn't be at all.'

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.

You must have the ability to recognize good design and good user experience. These are core things at Airbnb. It doesn't matter which department you're in.

In design it is important to shoe the effect of an action. ... Feedback is critical.

I've spent my whole life worrying about the human-computer interface, so I don't want to suggest that what we have today is even close to acceptable.

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.

Good design makes a product understandable.

Problems with visual design can turn users off so quickly that they never discover all the smart choices you made with navigation or interaction design.

As a designer, everything is always about aesthetics mixed in with functionality and having that visual appeal. But you learn fast as a new parent with an infant that if it’s not deeply practical as well, then forget about it. Style wise, I wanted to design items that would work well in any nursery - regardless of gender.

Design is everything.

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

I love well-designed products that combine form and functionality.

I do believe that most startups who develop applications and digital products design 'towards the middle.' By this, I mean they design their products to reach the broadest consumer base possible, which is a sound strategy in some respects.