You cannot understand good design if you do not understand people; design is made for people.
Good design is good business.
Good design, at least part of the time, includes the criterion of being direct in relation to the problem at hand - not obscure, trendy, or stylish. A new language, visual or verbal, must be couched in a language that is already understood.
Design is just language and the real issue is what you use that language to do.
Human nature has a tendency to admire complexity but reward simplicity.
The problem is not software 'friendliness'. It is conceptual clarity. A globe does not say, 'good morning'. It is simple and clear, not 'friendly'.
Good design emphasises the usefulness of a product whilst disregarding anything that could possibly detract from it.
Informed clients are better clients, and they make for better design.
I really feel that design has the capacity to communicate, and I really have concentrated on the communication of positive values.
A world-changing vision often necessitates a profound simplicity in the user experience.
To design is to communicate clearly by whatever means you can control or master.
Really successful designs can be created without software produced "special effects." Identities do not NEED bevels, gradations, 3-D imagery, Web 2.Oh-Oh and other oh so "special" treatments to be great design solutions for clients.
The way to do good basic design isn't actually to be really smart about it, but to try to have a few basic concepts.
Design truly is a contact sport. It demands that we bring all of our senses to the task, and that we apply the very best of our thinking, our feeling and our doing to the challenge that we have at hand.
The design is done when the problem goes away.
One thing I learned working at magazines was that if you couldn't get people to look at a page or a cover, then you were fired. It was all about how you create arresting works, and by arresting I mean stop people, even for a nano-second.
... with proper design, the features come cheaply. This approach is arduous, but continues to succeed.
A well-conceived product excels at what it does. It's close to being functionally flawless - like a Ziploc bag, a radio from Tivoli Audio, a Philips Sonicare toothbrush, a Nespresso coffee maker or Google's home page.
I think the most beautiful inventions are the ones you don't think of.
Design isn't just about making things beautiful; it's also about making things work beautifully.
Not only is writing more important than ever, but visual literacy is vital. We don't teach enough design, art, visual things. We have to recognize what we're seeing. It matters if you send someone a cluttered design. It matters more than ever.
I think taking design out of the studio and really having a relationship with the people that you're making it for really convinced me of how powerful a thing design is. It's not just an aesthetic decoration.
The K.I.S.S. (Keep It Simple, Stupid) principle was pounded into my head in school and I still follow it today in most of my designs. I know that my most successful efforts are the simplest. I always find myself trying to subtract detail from design concepts in an attempt to distill the idea down to the most basic communication tool.
The eco-effective future of industry is a world of abundance that celebrates the use and consumption of products and materials that are, in effect, nutritious - as safe, effective, and delightful as a cherry tree.
