These powerful quotes about the art of design will get your creativity flowing.
If you work as a graphic designer, interior designer, fashion designer, or in any other creative field, inspiration is the key to success. Creating beautiful, thought-provoking designs requires both passion and skill.
Inspiration can often be elusive, but reading this collection of design quotes is guaranteed to boost your creativity. These words of wisdom will fuel up your imagination and jumpstart the creative process. If you’re feeling uninspired or stuck on a design, these quotes will undoubtedly give you some ideas.
True masters of design can expertly mix their talent with their creativity. These design quotes come from the minds of philosophers, famous designers, and other imaginative geniuses. If you work hard and practice your skills, you can succeed in the world of design. Read this collection of inspiring quotes to get your creative juices flowing.
Design quotes to boost your creativity
1. “Design is intelligence made visible.” – Alina Wheeler
2. “You can’t use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have.” – Maya Angelou
3. “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-Exupery
4. “Everything is designed. Few things are designed well.” – Brian Reed
5. “The artist in me cries out for design.” – Robert Frost
6. “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
7. “You can design and create, and build the most wonderful place in the world. But it takes people to make the dream a reality.” – Walt Disney
8. “Design adds value faster than it adds costs.” – Joel Spolsky
9. “Design creates culture. Culture shapes values. Values determine the future.” – Robert L. Peters
10. “Every great design begins with an even better story.” – Lorinda Mamo
Design quotes to fuel up your imagination
11. “Design is not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works.” – Steve Jobs
12. “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
13. “Design is not a single object or dimension. Design is messy and complex.” – Natasha Jen
14. “Any product that needs a manual to work is broken.” – Elon Musk
15. “The alternative to good design is always bad design. There is no such thing as no design.” – Adam Judge
16. “It’s through mistakes that you actually can grow. You have to get bad in order to get good.” – Paula Scher
17. “Design is so critical it should be on the agenda of every meeting in every single department.” – Tom Peters
18. “I don’t think there is anything wrong with white space. I don’t think it’s a problem to have a blank wall.” – Annie Leibovitz
19. “Design must reflect the practical and aesthetic in business but above all… good design must primarily serve people.” – Thomas J. Watson
20. “Accessible design is good design.” – Steve Ballmer
Design quotes to jumpstart the creative process
21. “I’m not like most designers, who have to set sail on an exotic getaway to get inspired. Most of the time, it’s on my walk to work, or sitting in the subway and seeing something random or out of context.” – Alexander Wang
22. “Engineering, medicine, business, architecture and painting are concerned not with the necessary but with the contingent – not with how things are but with how they might be – in short, with design.” – Herbert A. Simon
23. “Where you innovate, how you innovate, and what you innovate are design problems.” – Tim Brown
24. “Have no fear of perfection – you’ll never reach it.” – Salvador Dali
25. “I strive for two things in design: simplicity and clarity. Great design is born of those two things.” – Lindo Leader
26. “Designing is a matter of concentration. You go deep into what you want to do. It’s about intensive research, really. The concentration is warm and intimate and like the fire inside the earth – intense but not distorted. You can go to a place, really feel it in your heart. It’s actually a beautiful feeling.” – Peter Zumthor
27. “Design is as much an act of spacing as an act of marking.” – Ellen Lupton
28. “There are three responses to a piece of design – yes, no, and WOW! Wow is the one to aim for.” – Milton Glaser
29. “The function of design is letting design function.” – Micha Commeren
30. “Styles come and go. Good design is a language, not a style.” – Massimo Vignelli
Design quotes to get your creative juices flowing
31. “Design is a constant challenge to balance comfort with luxe, the practical with the desirable.” – Donna Karan
32. “You can have an art experience in front of a Rembrandt … or in front of a piece of graphic design.” – Stefan Sagmeister
33. “The aim of being a good designer is to have an influence. If you design furniture or lifestyle, you should influence the way people evolve globally. It’s good to have an influence.” – Olivier Theyskens
34. “If you do good work for good clients, it will lead to other good work for other good clients. If you do bad work for bad clients, it will lead to other bad work for other bad clients.” – Michael Bierut
35. “In my opinion, no single design is apt to be optimal for everyone.” – Donald Norman
36. “I don’t start with a design objective, I start with a communication objective. I feel my project is successful if it communicates what it is supposed to communicate.” – Mike Davidson
37. “I want to make beautiful things, even if nobody cares, as opposed to ugly things. That’s my intent.” – Saul Bass
38. “Good design is all about making other designers feel like idiots because that idea wasn’t theirs.” – Frank Chimero
39. “Content precedes design. Design in the absence of content is not design, it’s decoration.” – Jeffrey Zeldman
40. “I would think twice about designing stuff for which there was no need and which didn’t endure.” – Robin Day
More design quotes to inspire you
41. “The urge for good design is the same as the urge to go on living.” – Harry Bertoia
42. “There’s design, and there’s art. Good design is total harmony. There’s no better designer than nature – if you look at a branch or a leaf, it’s perfect. It’s all function. Art is different. It’s about emotion. It’s about suffering and beauty – but mostly suffering!” – Diane von Furstenberg
43. “Art is to be free. Design is to fix.” – Kanye West
44. “Design, whether it’s on your body or in your home, is the same thing. It’s mixing different colors, different textures, and unexpected patterns – elements that you wouldn’t often put together in an interesting way.” – Blake Lively
45. “A purpose, an intention, a design, strikes everywhere even the careless, the most stupid thinker.” – David Hume
46. “Good design is like a refrigerator – when it works, no one notices, but when it doesn’t, it sure stinks.” – Irene Au
47. “Design transcends agenda. It speaks to the politics of optimism.” – Paul Bennett
48. “How well we communicate is determined not by how well we say things, but how well we are understood.” – Andrew Grove
49. “Get rid of everything that is not essential to making a point.” – Christoph Niemann
50. “The role of the designer is that of a good, thoughtful host anticipating the needs of his guests.” – Charles Eames
Which of these design quotes inspires you the most?
The work of a designer requires a great deal of talent, passion, and creativity. Check out these inspirational design quotes to get a boost of artistry in your life. When you read the advice and wisdom of successful designers, you’ll be inspired to create your own masterpieces. This collection of design quotes will power up your imagination and encourage your creativity.
Even the most talented artists and designers will feel uninspired at times, but an idea can strike at any moment. Try reading these motivational quotes the next time you need a spark of inspiration. If you believe in yourself and work hard, you can be a successful designer. Remember these words of wisdom to guide you on your journey to artistic greatness. Share this collection of design quotes to spread the creative energy.
What are your favorite quotes about designing and creativity? Let us know in the comment section below.
