Jeffrey Zeldman Quotes

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

Usually, as designers, you try to create meaning.

To whom does design address itself: to the greatest number, to the specialist of an enlightened matter, to a privileged social class? Design addresses itself to the need.

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.

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.

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 is, literally, purposeful planning. Graphic Design, then, is the form those plans will take.

Graphic design was largely about communication in an artistic or creative manner, much like writing is used to convey ideas. Many designers completely miss that aspect of the "art." Some are completely satisfied with just making things pretty, without taking the communication element into consideration.

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

Beauty and brains, pleasure and usability - they should go hand in hand.

As a designer, I think you just have to make sure you know what you want and stay true to it. You need to have conviction and really just want to make people think in regards to doing interesting things.

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.

It is most necessary to avoid rusticity in any way, whether in material, design, or execution.

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.

More than trends, consumers need functionality. Everything needs an element of fashion, but that's more like a spice.

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.

I truly believe that we're about to enter a second golden age of design. The first one was in the '50s and '60s, when designers like Raymond Loewy, Charles Eames, George Nelson and Dieter Rams were shepherds of the brands they were working with. They had influence over the products and how companies communicated and promoted themselves.

Great design alone isn't going to yield the results investors are expecting.

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

No one cares about your logo, nor the font size that's on your site.

Design is just language and the real issue is what you use that language to do.

Good design is also an act of communication between the designer and the user, except that all the communication has to come about by the appearance of the device itself. The device must explain itself.

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.

Good design is good business.