“Good design is innovative. It does not copy existing product forms, nor does it produce any kind of novelty for the sake of it. The essence of innovation must be clearly seen in all functions of a product.” – Dieter Rams
This quote is one of Dieter’s “10 Design Commandments.”
Thanks to Jeffrey Veen for sharing this quote during his UX Week presentation!
“Talking about design is an inherently fuzzy process… What designers do is take abstract things and make them more tangible.” – Todd Wilkens
This quote is from Todd’s “Making Thinking Tangible” workshop presented at UX Week 2009.
“Designers are optimistic people who are trained to be courageous about the future—and making the future happen. They aren’t always aware of the intricacies of operations and the impacts of the solutions they propose, just like entrepreneurs, but they aren’t afraid of confronting a blank piece of paper (or screen or board) and getting to work making something new.” – Nathan Shedroff
This quote is from Kate Rutter’s 2008 interview with Nathan on the subject of the role of design in business.
“Users will pay a premium for a better, higher quality product that does a better job serving their needs, for instance… A beautiful, easy to use object can often command a higher price, even if the manufacturing cost is the same.” – Dan Saffer
Read more from Dan in his article “Why Products Suck #3: Organizational Needs Trump User Needs.”
“Accept—quietly and implicitly—that your work will affect millions. Focus on the nuances and details of the craft itself, and on your capacity to engage in a conversation with your work. Through this will come humble and beautiful design solutions that will live on, affect culture, and change behavior. And through this will come a sense of subdued pleasure in your creative work.” – Jon Kolko
Read more from Jon in his interactions magazine article “On Hopelessness and Hope.” In this article Jon argues that successful design may come from those who focus more on designing for deep impact, rather than on broad high level strategic solutions.
“No product is an island. A product is more than the product. It is a cohesive, integrated set of experiences. Think through all of the stages of a product or service – from initial intentions through final reflections, from first usage to help, service, and maintenance. Make them all work together seamlessly. That’s systems thinking.” – Don Norman
Read more from Don in his article “Systems Thinking: A Product Is More Than the Product”.
Catriona Cornett