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. |

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. |

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. |

Design is an opportunity to continue telling the story, not just to sum everything up. |

Content precedes design. Design in the absence of content is not design, it’s decoration. |

Design is as much an act of spacing as an act of marking. |

People ignore design that ignores people. |

Design is the method of putting form and content together. Design, just as art, has multiple definitions; there is no single definition. Design can be art. Design can be aesthetics. Design is so simple, that's why it is so complicated. |

You will learn most things by looking, but reading gives understanding. Reading will make you free. |

Don't try to be original; just try to be good. |

Without aesthetic, design is either the humdrum repetition of familiar clichés or a wild scramble for novelty. Without the aesthetic, the computer is but a mindless speed machine, producing effects without substance. Form without relevant content, or content without meaningful form. |

Simplicity will stand out, while complexity will get lost in the crowd. |

The typeface doesn't really matter, as long as the text is good. |

Find the simple story in the product, and present it in an articulate and intelligent, persuasive way. |

Design is an art of situations. Designers respond to a need, a problem, a circumstance, that arises in the world. The best work is produced in relation to interesting situations — an open-minded client, a good cause, or great content. |

There is a way to do it better. Find it. |

The details are not the details. They make the design. |

Truly elegant design incorporates top-notch functionality into a simple, uncluttered form. |

If at first the idea is not absurd, then there is no hope for it. |

Design covers so much more than the aesthetic. Design is fundamentally more. Design is usability. It is Information Architecture. It is Accessibility. This is all design. |

Design is the application of intent - the opposite of happenstance, and an antidote to accident. |

A camel is a horse designed by a committee. |

Great design will not sell an inferior product, but it will enable a great product to achieve its maximum potential. |

Designers can make life more bearable by producing stuff that touches its audience rather than fucks them in the head. |