Michael Graves Quotes

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.

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.

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.

Good design to me is both appearance and functionality together. It's the experience that makes it good design.

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

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

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

Attractive things work better.

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.

My mantra is: 'Good design accelerates the adoption of new ideas.'

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.

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

Accessible design is good design.

Good design should be honest.

The only important thing about design is how it relates to people.

We've spent a lot of time on ergonomics. That was something we found to be really important as we iterated on the headset, from developer kits to Crescent Bay to the Rift.

I love the idea of web design that maximises expressiveness over functionality.

A well-designed and humane interface does not have to be split into beginner and expert subsystems.

Design has to work. Art does not.

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

When you say 'design,' everybody thinks of magazine pages. So it's an emotive word. Everybody thinks it's how something looks, whereas for me, design is pretty much everything.

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

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