Designer Sayings and Quotes

Below you will find our collection of inspirational, wise, and humorous old designer quotes, designer sayings, and designer proverbs, collected over the years from a variety of sources.

Good design is good business. Ian Schrager
Design is an opportunity to continue telling the story, not just to sum everything up. Tate Linden
Design is where science and art break even. Robin Mathews
Design is people. Jane Jacobs
Design is not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works. Steve Jobs
A design can excel at one challenge only by compromising at others. Steven Pinker
The goal of a designer is to listen, observe, understand, sympathize, empathize, synthesize, and glean insights that enable him or her to ‘make the invisible visible. Hillman Curtis
Design creates culture. Culture shapes values. Values determine the future. Robert L. Peters
There is only one type of designer – the type that cares about type. Rohan Nanavati
The urge for good design is the same as the urge to go on living. Harry Bertoia
Design must reflect the practical and aesthetic in business but above all... good design must primarily serve people. Thomas J. Watson
Good design is all about making other designers feel like idiots because that idea wasn't theirs. Frank Chimero
The life of a designer is a life of fight: fight against the ugliness. Massimo Vignelli
Design is the courage and brilliance to cover an original and make it different. John Hockenberry
People ignore design that ignores people. Frank Chimero
Bad design shouts at you. Good design is the silent seller. Shane Meendering
Designers are meant to be loved, not to be understood. unknown
Design cannot rescue failed content. Edward R. Tufte
Good design is thorough, down to the last detail. Dieter Rams
If you think good design is expensive, you should look at the cost of bad design. Ralf Speth
Good art inspires; Good design motivates. Otl Aicher
Everything is designed. Few things are designed well. Brian Reed
Content precedes design. Design in the absence of content is not design, it's decoration. Jeffrey Zeldman
Every great design begins with an even better story. Lorinda Mamo
The function of design is letting design function. Micha Commeren
If you can design one thing, you can design everything. Massimo Vignelli
You cannot defend your design without knowing what you're designing for. I.M. Pei
Good designers copy; great designers steal. Pablo Picasso
Design is a formal response to a strategic question. Mariona Lopez
The alternative to good design is always bad design. There is no such thing as no design. Adam Judge
A designer is a planner with an aesthetic sense. Bruno Munari
The only important thing about design is how it relates to people. Victor Papanek
Design means being good, not just looking good. Clement Mok
There is no better designer than nature. Alexander McQueen
Design is inteliigence made visible. Alina Wheeler
Thinking about design is hard, but not thinking about it can be disastrous. Ralph Caplan
Design is a constant challenge to balance comfort with luxe, the practical with the desirable. Donna Karan
Everything is design. Everything! Paul Rand
Design is not for philosophy, it's for life. Issey Miyake
Great design is a multi-layered relationship between human life and its environment. Naoto Fukasawa
Bad design is smoke, while good design is a mirror. Juan-Carlos Fernandez
Design can be art. Design can be aesthetics. Design is so simple, that's why it is so complicated. Paul Rand
Style is a matter of taste, design a matter of principles. Thomas Church
Good design is obvious. Great design is transparent. Joe Sparano
To create a memorable design you need to start with a thought that's worth remembering. Thomas Manss
A designer knows he has achieved perfection not when there is nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take away. Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
Good design goes to heaven; bad design goes everywhere. Mieke Gerritzen
Recognizing the need is the primary condition for design. Charles Eames
Designing a product is designing a relationship. Steve Rogers
Good design is making something intelligible and memorable. Great design is making something memorable and meaningful. Dieter Rams