A reasonable man adapts himself to suit his environment. An unreasonable man persists in attempting to adapt his environment to suit himself. Therefore, all progress depends on the unreasonable man. George Bernard Shaw
The public is more familiar with bad design than good design. It is, in effect, conditioned to prefer bad design, because that is what it lives with. The new becomes threatening, the old reassuring. Paul Rand
I do believe that there are some universal cognitive tasks that are deep and profound - indeed, so deep and profound that it is worthwhile to understand them in order to design our displays in accord with those tasks. Edward Tufte
Rather, the point is to recognize the tightness between seeing and thinking on an intellectual level not just a metaphorical level. Edward Tufte
Many people fear nothing more terribly than to take a position which stands out sharply and clearly from the prevailing opinion. The tendency of most is to adopt a view that is so ambiguous that it will include everything and so popular that it will include everybody. Not a few men who cherish lofty and noble ideals hide them under a bushel for fear of being called different. Martin Luther King Jr.
Art is an idea that has found its perfect visual expression. And design is the vehicle by which this expression is made possible. Art is a noun, and design is a noun and also a verb. Art is a product and design is a process. Design is the foundation of all the arts. Paul Rand
Our opportunity, as designers, is to learn how to handle the complexity, rather than shy away from it, and to realize that the big art of design is to make complicated things simple. Tim Parsey
No design works unless it embodies ideas that are held common by the people for whom the object is intended. Adrian Forty
Always design a thing by considering it in its next larger context - a chair in a room, a room in a house, a house in an environment, an environment in a city plan. Eliel Saarinen
Good design is all about making other designers feel like idiots because that idea wasn’t theirs. Frank Chimero
Many desperate acts of design (including gradients, drop shadows, and the gratuitous use of transparency) are perpetuated in the absence of a strong concept. A good idea provides a framework for design decisions, guiding the work. Noreen Morioka
A designer can mull over complicated designs for months. Then suddenly the simple, elegant, beautiful solution occurs to him. When it happens to you, it feels as if God is talking! And maybe He is. Leo Frankowski
It's art if it can't be explained. It's fashion if no one asks for an explanation. It's design if it doesn't need an explanation. Wouter Stokkel
Content precedes design. Design in the absence of content is not design, it’s decoration. Jeffrey Zeldman
