Bored Panda works better on our iPhone app

Continue in app Continue in browser

1Kviews

139 Design Quotes That Are A True Celebration Of Creativity

ADVERTISEMENT

Design is like a friendly ghost that follows you around even if you’re unaware of it. Yup, your toothbrush is an example of design, and so is your dog’s bowl. See what we are talking about here? If a design is good, you don’t pay that much attention to it. If it’s stellar - then the item might become your new favorite thing. And if it is shoddy, then you’ll definitely notice that. So, this is our dedication to the unsung heroes, our ode to the everyday things, and a sonnet to the exceptional - a list full of design quotes.

Chances are you’re not a designer yourself, so these quotes about design will let you into this awe-inspiring world. If you are, though, view these words as creativity quotes celebrating the way you see the world and making it a better place one design at a time. And, if you are thinking of becoming a designer, these sayings will serve as inspirational quotes to stick to it and reach your goals! Either way, I think we can all agree that these are some powerful quotes and a genuinely worthy read.

Now, lets design a plan on things you should do next. First of all, you should scroll on down below and check out the famous quotes about design. Then, you should probably give your vote to the best quotes so they’ll find their way to the top of this list. And lastly, share these positive quotes with anyone in need of a bit of inspiration!

This post may include affiliate links.

#1

“If design isn’t profitable, then it’s art.” - Henrik Fisker

13points

#2

“Whitespace is like air: it is necessary for design to breathe.” – Wojciech Zieliński

13points

#3

"Design is more than just a few tricks to the eye. It's a few tricks to the brain." - Neville Brody

12points

#4

“You don’t think your way to creative work. You work your way to creative thinking.” – George Nelson

12points

#5

“I want to make beautiful things, even if nobody cares, as opposed to ugly things. That’s my intent.” – Saul Bass

11points

ADVERTISEMENT

#6

"Design cannot rescue failed content." - Edward R. Tufte

10points

#7

“A delayed game is eventually good, but a rushed game is forever bad.” — Shigeru Miyamoto

8points

Invisible Potato 2 years ago

Diablo will be immortalized for ever as cash cow

0points

#8

“Design has to work, art does not.” - Donald Judd

8points

ADVERTISEMENT

#9

“Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler.” – Albert Einstein

8points

#10

“Design is in everything we make, but it’s also between those things. It’s a mix of craft, science, storytelling, propaganda, and philosophy.” — Erik Adigard

7points

#11

“Good design is obvious. Great design is transparent.” — Joe Sparano

7points

ADVERTISEMENT

#12

“Bad design shouts at you. Good design is the silent seller.” - Shane Meendering

7points

#13

“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 explanation.” - Wouter Stokkel

7points

#14

“To create a memorable design you need to start with a thought that’s worth remembering.” - Thomas Manss

7points

#15

“It’s really hard to design products by focus groups. A lot of times, people don’t know what they want until you show it to them.” - Steve Jobs

7points

#16

"The ultimate inspiration is the deadline." - Nolan Bushnell

7points

ADVERTISEMENT

#17

"It is no secret that the real world in which the designer functions is not the world of art, but the world buying and selling." - Paul Rand

7points

#18

"You can use an eraser on the drafting table or sledge hammer on the construction site." - Frank Lloyd Wright

7points

#19

"Computers are to design as microwaves are to cooking." - Milton Glaser

7points

#20

“Design is the last great competitive advantage.” — Seth Godin

7points

#21

“A common mistake that people make when trying to design something completely foolproof is to underestimate the ingenuity of complete fools.” ― Douglas Adams

7points

smugdruggler 2 years ago

" Don't panic ".

0points

ADVERTISEMENT

#22

"Design is the intermediary between information and understanding." - Hans Hoffman

6points

#23

"Design is a formal response to a strategic question." - Mariona Lopez

6points

#24

“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

6points

#25

“A design isn’t finished until somebody is using it.” — Brenda Laurel

6points

#26

“No design works unless it embodies ideas that are held common by the people for whom the object is intended.” - Adrian Forty

6points

ADVERTISEMENT

#27

“Design is the body language of your marketing. Don’t slouch.” - Mark King

6points

#28

“A graphic designer is a machine that turns coffee into beautiful, functional imagery.” - Lisa Manson

6points

#29

“The details are not the details. They make the design.” - Charles Eames

6points

#30

“Digital design is like painting, except the paint never dries.” – Neville Brody

6points

#31

“You can do a good ad without good typography, but you can’t do a great ad without good typography.” – Herb Lubalin

6points

ADVERTISEMENT

#32

"The best way to accomplish serious design... is to be totally and completely unqualified for the job." - Paula Scher

6points

#33

“There are three responses to a piece of design — yes, no and WOW! Wow is the one to aim for.” — Milton Glaser

6points

#34

“We design our world, while our world acts back on us and designs us.” — Anne-Marie Willis

6points

#35

“I design things to help people to hopefully express their personality.” ― Vivienne Westwood

6points

#36

“Often the most important moment in the design process is figuring out what the right question is.” ― Thomas Heatherwick

6points

ADVERTISEMENT

#37

“Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep.” — Scott Adams

6points

#38

“Design is where science and art break even.” — Robin Mathew

6points

#39

"Design is intelligence made visible." - Alina Wheeler

5points

#40

"You can't use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have." - Maya Angelou

5points

#41

"Bad design is smoke, while good design is a mirror." - Juan-Carlos Fernandez

5points

#42

"Design adds value faster than it adds costs." - Joel Spolsky

5points

ADVERTISEMENT

#43

"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

5points

#44

"Everything is designed. Few things are designed well." - Brian Reed

5points

#45

"Have no fear of perfection - you’ll never reach it." - Salvador Dali

5points

#46

"Designers are meant to be loved, not to be understood." - Margaret Oscar

5points

#47

"Design creates culture. Culture shapes values. Values determine the future." - Robert L. Peters

5points

ADVERTISEMENT

#48

"The function of design is letting design function." - Micha Commeren

5points

#49

"The more I deal with the work as something that is my own, as something that is personal, the more successful it is." - Marian Bantjes

5points

#50

"Styles come and go. Good design is a language, not a style." - Massimo Vignelli

5points

#51

"Design can be art. Design can be aesthetics. Design is so simple, that's why it is so complicated." - Paul Rand

5points

#52

"Good design is good business." - Thomas Watson Jr.

5points

ADVERTISEMENT

#53

"Where you innovate, how you innovate, and what you innovate are design problems." - Tim Brown

5points

#54

"Design is as much an act of spacing as an act of marking." - Ellen Lupton

5points

#55

“You can have an art experience in front of a Rembrandt… or in front of a piece of graphic design.” — Stefan Sagmeister

5points

#56

“Simplicity, carried to an extreme, becomes elegance.” — Jon Franklin

5points

#57

“You have to start with the customer experience and work your way back to technology.” — Steve Jobs

5points

ADVERTISEMENT

#58

“I prefer drawing to talking. Drawing is faster, and leaves less room for lies.” — Le Corbusier

5points

#59

“Testing with one user early in the project is better than testing with 50 near the end.” — Steve Krug

5points

#60

“Good design is all about making other designers feel like idiots because that idea wasn’t theirs.” - Frank Chimero

5points

#61

“Color does not add a pleasant quality to design - it reinforces it.” - Pierre Bonnard

5points

#62

“Good design begins with honesty, asks tough questions, comes from collaboration and from trusting your intuition.” - Freeman Thomas

5points

ADVERTISEMENT

#63

“Good art inspires; Good design motivates.” - Otl Aicher

5points

#64

“The key to great ideas is not having them, it is executing them. And great ideas come from problems. As designers we call problems, briefs and we call reactions to problems, concepts.” – Kate Moross

5points

#65

“The life of a designer is a life of fight. Fight against the ugliness. Just like a doctor fights against disease. For us, the visual disease is what we have around, and what we try to do is cure it somehow with design.” – Massimo Vignelli

5points

#66

“The dumbest mistake is viewing design as something you do at the end of the process to 'tidy up' the mess, as opposed to understanding it's a 'day one' issue and part of everything.” – Tom Peterson

5points

ADVERTISEMENT

#67

"Design is an opportunity to continue telling the story, not just to sum everything up." - Tate Linden

5points

#68

"Good design encourages a viewer to want to learn more." - Alexander Isley

5points

#69

"Design is easy. All you do is stare at the screen until drops of blood form on your forehead." - Marty Neumeier

5points

#70

"Good design goes to heaven; bad design goes everywhere." - Mieke Gerritzen

5points

#71

"You can't do better design with a computer, but you can speed up your work enormously." - Wim Crouwel

5points

ADVERTISEMENT

See Also on Bored Panda

Dutch Swimmer Goes Viral For Super Revealing Trunks During 2024 Olympics: “Is This Legal?”

Dutch Swimmer Goes Viral For Super Revealing Trunks During 2024 Olympics: “Is This Legal?”

Dutch Swimmer Goes Viral For Super Revealing Trunks During 2024 Olympics: “Is This Legal?”

Thrill-Seeking Diver Jumps Down Extreme Waterslide, Ignoring The Strict Ban For Women

Thrill-Seeking Diver Jumps Down Extreme Waterslide, Ignoring The Strict Ban For Women

Thrill-Seeking Diver Jumps Down Extreme Waterslide, Ignoring The Strict Ban For Women

#72

"Great things are not done by impulse, but a series of small things brought together." - Vincent Van Gogh

5points

#73

"Only when the design fails does it draw attention to itself; when it succeeds, it's invisible." - John D. Berry

5points

#74

"Design has allowed us to stand out; to look different and show that difference boldly." - Joe Mansueto

5points

#75

"I see design as a matter of solving problems; art as a matter of inventing them." - Karl Gerstner

5points

#76

"Design is the application of intent - the opposite of happenstance, and an antidote to accident." - Robert L. Peters

5points

ADVERTISEMENT

See Also on Bored Panda

Woman Put A Water Fountain With A Camera In Her Yard, Here Are 24 Photos Of Regular Visitors (New Pics)

Woman Put A Water Fountain With A Camera In Her Yard, Here Are 24 Photos Of Regular Visitors (New Pics)

Woman Put A Water Fountain With A Camera In Her Yard, Here Are 24 Photos Of Regular Visitors (New Pics)

“Ma’am I Live Here”: Woman Refuses To Back Out Of Driveway, Learns A Lesson The Hard Way

“Ma’am I Live Here”: Woman Refuses To Back Out Of Driveway, Learns A Lesson The Hard Way

“Ma’am I Live Here”: Woman Refuses To Back Out Of Driveway, Learns A Lesson The Hard Way

#77

"Design is art optimized to meet objectives." - Shimon Shmueli

5points

#78

"Designing a product is designing a relationship." - Steve Rogers

5points

#79

"Bad design is like wearing a rumpled suit. It doesn't mean you're a bad person, but it may give people the wrong impression."

5points

#80

"The most important part of design is finding all the issues to be resolved.
The rest are details." - Soumeet Lanka

5points

#81

"The desire to create is one of the deepest yearnings of the human soul." - Dieter F. Uchtdorf

5points

ADVERTISEMENT

See Also on Bored Panda

30 Of The Funniest Halloween Fails That People Couldn’t Resist Sharing

30 Of The Funniest Halloween Fails That People Couldn’t Resist Sharing

30 Of The Funniest Halloween Fails That People Couldn’t Resist Sharing

50 Of The Most Incredible Shots That Were Submitted To The Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards

50 Of The Most Incredible Shots That Were Submitted To The Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards

50 Of The Most Incredible Shots That Were Submitted To The Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards

#82

“Design transcends agenda. It speaks to the politics of optimism.” – Paul Bennett

5points

#83

“Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.” – Leonardo da Vinci

5points

#84

“People ignore designs that ignore people.” – Frank Chimero

5points

#85

“Great design is a multi-layered relationship between human life and its environment.” – Naoto Fukasawa

5points

#86

“Design isn’t crafting a beautiful textured button with breathtaking animation. It’s figuring out if there’s a way to get rid of the button altogether.” – Edward Tufte

5points

#87

“Design and art are independent coordinates that provide their greatest satisfactions when experienced simultaneously.” – Milton Glaser

5points

ADVERTISEMENT

See Also on Bored Panda

50 Funny Bathroom Signs People Found Around The World

50 Funny Bathroom Signs People Found Around The World

50 Funny Bathroom Signs People Found Around The World

French Diver’s “Jewels” In Tight Swimming Trunks Become Talk Of The Town At Olympics

French Diver’s “Jewels” In Tight Swimming Trunks Become Talk Of The Town At Olympics

French Diver’s “Jewels” In Tight Swimming Trunks Become Talk Of The Town At Olympics

#88

“Good design is actually a lot harder to notice than poor design, in part because good designs fit our needs so well that the design is invisible.” — Don Norman

5points

#89

“Designs of purely arbitrary nature cannot be expected to last long.” — Kenzo Tange

5points

#90

"Design should not dominate things, should not dominate people. It should help people. That's its role.” ― Dieter Rams

5points

#91

"Every great design begins with an even better story." - Lorinda Mamo

4points

#92

"Design is not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works." - Steve Jobs

4points

ADVERTISEMENT

See Also on Bored Panda

“Everyone Went Dead Silent”: Family Dinner Ends In Tears After Woman Announces 7th Pregnancy

“Everyone Went Dead Silent”: Family Dinner Ends In Tears After Woman Announces 7th Pregnancy

“Everyone Went Dead Silent”: Family Dinner Ends In Tears After Woman Announces 7th Pregnancy

Woman Moves Out Of Parents' Home After They Asked Her To Give Her Space To Brother, They Freak Out

Woman Moves Out Of Parents' Home After They Asked Her To Give Her Space To Brother, They Freak Out

Woman Moves Out Of Parents' Home After They Asked Her To Give Her Space To Brother, They Freak Out

#93

"Design is not a single object or dimension. Design is messy and complex." - Natasha Jen

4points

#94

"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

4points

#95

"The alternative to good design is always bad design. There is no such thing as no design." - Adam Judge

4points

#96

"It's through mistakes that you actually can grow. You have to get bad in order to get good." - Paula Scher

4points

#97

"Accessible design is good design." - Steve Ballmer

4points

ADVERTISEMENT

See Also on Bored Panda

Mom Leaves $250k Inheritance To Son, Throws A Fit When Daughter Stops Looking After Her

Mom Leaves $250k Inheritance To Son, Throws A Fit When Daughter Stops Looking After Her

Mom Leaves $250k Inheritance To Son, Throws A Fit When Daughter Stops Looking After Her

Woman Refuses To Chip In For Babysitting Because She Doesn’t Even Have Kids, Asks If She’s A Jerk

Woman Refuses To Chip In For Babysitting Because She Doesn’t Even Have Kids, Asks If She’s A Jerk

Woman Refuses To Chip In For Babysitting Because She Doesn’t Even Have Kids, Asks If She’s A Jerk

#98

“To say that something is designed means it has intentions that go beyond its function. Otherwise, it’s just planning.” — Ayse Birsel

4points

#99

“Truly elegant design incorporates top-notch functionality into a simple, uncluttered form.” — David Lewis

4points

#100

“Art is solving problems that cannot be formulated before they have been solved. The shaping of the question is part of the answer.” — Pete Hein

4points

#101

“I’m convinced that without bad design, the world would be a far less stimulating place; we would have nothing to marvel over and nothing to be nostalgic about.” — Carrie Phillips

4points

#102

“Just because something looks good doesn’t mean it’s useful. And just because something is useful does not make it beautiful.” — Joshua Brewer

4points

ADVERTISEMENT

See Also on Bored Panda

Dad Accused Of “Robbing” His Kids Of Their Inheritance, The Internet Takes Dad’s Side

Dad Accused Of “Robbing” His Kids Of Their Inheritance, The Internet Takes Dad’s Side

Dad Accused Of “Robbing” His Kids Of Their Inheritance, The Internet Takes Dad’s Side

“This Breaks My Heart”: People Stunned—And Angry—After Woman Buys Lost Luggage From Airport

“This Breaks My Heart”: People Stunned—And Angry—After Woman Buys Lost Luggage From Airport

“This Breaks My Heart”: People Stunned—And Angry—After Woman Buys Lost Luggage From Airport

#103

“What works good is better than what looks good, because what works good lasts.” — Ray Eames

4points

#104

“The next big thing is the one that makes the last big thing usable.” — Blake Ross

4points

#105

“The role of the designer is that of a good, thoughtful host anticipating the needs of his guests.” — Charles Eames

4points

#106

“Art must not be concentrated in dead shrines called museums. It must be spread everywhere — on the streets, in the trams, factories, workshops, and in the workers’ homes." — Vladimir Mayakovsky

4points

#107

“It took me a few seconds to draw it, but it took me 34 years to learn how to draw it in a few seconds.” — Paula Scher

4points

ADVERTISEMENT

#108

“Accidents often produce the best solutions. Only you can recognize the difference between an accident and your original intent.” — Jennifer Morla

4points

#109

“Engineers and designers simultaneously know too much and too little. They know too much about the technology and too little about how other people live their lives and do their activities.” — Donald Norman

4points

#110

“This is what happens when we design for everyone — we ‘dumb things down’ to the point that they become useless or inefficient for most people. How does this happen? Well, because although everyone in the world might want to use your product or your website, they’ll want to use it in a very particular way. In order to design your product well for them, you need to understand how they’ll use it and design to support that behavior.” — Leisa Reichelt

4points

ADVERTISEMENT

#111

“A startup founder who ‘gets’ user experience and design will likely create a more successful product than one who does not. It’s not just because a great user experience makes a product more enjoyable and ultimately fun to use. It’s because this type of design thinking and understanding of the customer seeps into every other aspect of the product.” — Jeff Gothelf

4points

#112

“Usability testing should not be a stage gate in your design and development process. It should be a tool with which to gather helpful, diagnostic information from your target users. It’s a means of understanding the goodness of a design’s fit to the intended users’ problems.” — Paul J. Sherman

4points

#113

“If you can make something significantly clearer by making it slightly inconsistent, choose in favor of clarity.” — Steve Krug

4points

ADVERTISEMENT

#114

“Design is a solution to a problem; art is a question to a problem.” - John Maeda

4points

#115

“Technology over technique produces emotionless design.” - Daniel Mall

4points

#116

“People don’t use a product because of the great design; great design helps them use the product.” - Viran Anuradha Dayaratne

4points

#117

“Good design’s not about what medium you’re working in. It’s about thinking hard about what you want to do and what you have to work with before you start.” – Susan Kare

4points

#118

“If no one hates it, no one really loves it.” – Jessica Walsh

4points

ADVERTISEMENT

#119

“I strive for two things in design: simplicity and clarity. Great design is born of those two things.” – Lindon Leader

4points

#120

“Nail the basics first, detail the details later.” – Chris Anderson

4points

#121

“Art is solving problems that cannot be formulated before they have been solved. The shaping of the question is part of the answer.” - Piet Hein

4points

#122

“Love blinds us. Don't love anything — an idea, a tool, a graphic, a technique, a technology, a client, or a colleague — too much.” - Adam Judge

4points

#123

"There is only one type of designer – the type that cares about type." - Rohan Nanavati

4points

ADVERTISEMENT

#124

"It's not about knowing all the gimmicks and photo tricks. If you haven't got the eye, no program will give it to you." - David Carson

4points

#125

"An image can only be one element in constructing a sequence of understanding." - Germano Facetti

4points

#126

"Marketing without design is lifeless, and design without marketing is mute." - Von Glitschka

4points

#127

"Don't design for everyone. It's impossible. All you end up doing is designing something that makes everyone unhappy." - Leisa Reichelt

4points

#128

"To design is to communicate clearly by whatever means you can control or master." - Milton Glaser

4points

ADVERTISEMENT

#129

"Practice safe design: Use a concept." - Petrula Vontrikis

4points

#130

"And when a design is completed, it should seem natural and obvious. It should look like it is always been this way. And it should last." - Roger Black

4points

#131

"There is no design without discipline. There is no discipline without intelligence." - Massimo Vignelli

4points

#132

“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

4points

#133

“Design everything on the assumption that people are not heartless or stupid but marvelously capable, given the chance.” – John Chris Jones

4points

ADVERTISEMENT

#134

“Design is more important than technology in most consumer applications.” –Dave McClure

4points

#135

“Curiosity about life in all its aspects, I think, is still the secret of great creative people.” – Leo Burnett

4points

#136

“Design can help to improve our lives in the present. Design thinking can help us chart a path into the future.” — Tim Brown

4points

#137

“Design is a constant challenge to balance comfort with luxe, the practical with the desirable.” — Donna Karan

4points

#138

“Design must be functional, and functionality must be translated into visual aesthetics without any reliance on gimmicks that have to be explained.” ― Ferdinand Porsche

4points

ADVERTISEMENT

#139

“Graphic design will save the world right after rock and roll does.” — David Carson

4points

Saimonas Lukošius

Saimonas is a list curator at Bored Panda with BA in Multimedia. Saimonas has mainly worked as a freelance graphic designer, illustrator and finds joy in anything related to visual arts.

Saimonas is a list curator at Bored Panda with BA in Multimedia. Saimonas has mainly worked as a freelance graphic designer, illustrator and finds joy in anything related to visual arts.

Justė Kairytė - Barkauskienė

Justė is a copywriter here at Bored Panda, and though her studies at the Veterinary Academy seemingly have nothing to do with writing, the passion for animals and nature helps in creating the most interesting and engaging posts. She also works with Search Engine Optimization, so you could find Bored Panda's articles easier. Justė's not only an avid equestrian, but she's also a walking encyclopedia. Ask her anything!

Justė is a copywriter here at Bored Panda, and though her studies at the Veterinary Academy seemingly have nothing to do with writing, the passion for animals and nature helps in creating the most interesting and engaging posts. She also works with Search Engine Optimization, so you could find Bored Panda's articles easier. Justė's not only an avid equestrian, but she's also a walking encyclopedia. Ask her anything!

What do you think ?

You May Like

25 Times People Had Very Creative And Cozy Ideas For Window Seats

Aivaras Kaziukonis

People Are Sharing Their Decked-Out Bedrooms, And Here Are 30 Of The Most Amazing Ones

Žydrūnė Trukanavičiūtė

This Group Celebrates The Most Beautiful Dream Homes And Here Are The 30 Best

Viktorija Ošikaitė

Back to Homepage

More about Home & Design

Next in Home & Design

Related on Bored Panda

Related on Bored Panda

Trending on Bored Panda

Also on Bored Panda