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Design Quotes

On design as history, craft, and a single creative umbrella.

A few quotes here take a long historical view, tracing design back to early stone tools and ancient flutes long before the word itself existed. For more, see Creativity quotes.

Something I've really enjoyed learning more about is course design.

Quotes by Ernie Els

There are lots of examples of routine, middle-skilled jobs that involve relatively structured tasks, and those are the jobs that are being eliminated the fastest. Those kinds of jobs are easier for our friends in the artificial intelligence community to...

Quotes by Erik Brynjolfsson

The theory of mechanism design can be thought of as the 'engineering' side of economic theory.

Quotes by Eric Maskin

If budget planning requires gathering information from people who may not always have the incentive to disclose that information, then the principles of mechanism design can definitely be of use in such planning.

Quotes by Eric Maskin

I was in college, and very disappointed. I majored in commercial art and interior design for three or four years. At that time, it seemed the thing I really wanted to do, production design, just wasn't available in the U.K.,...

Quotes by Eric Burdon

I grew up in Northern California on the peninsula. It was a beautiful house, but it was very traditional. It wasn't midcentury modern. I'm talking 1970s, early '80s - design didn't even go 'Wall Street' until, like, 1986.

Quotes by Eric Dane

As for design, I gravitate to traditional styles but mix it with an element of surprise. Whether it's a big sash bow in the back or an unexpected fabric, it all needs to work together.

Quotes by Emilia Wickstead

I love everything I design.

Quotes by Emilia Wickstead

Boeing just took $20 billion and 10 years to improve the efficiency of their planes by 10 percent. That's pretty lame. I have a design in mind for a vertical liftoff supersonic jet that would be a really big improvement.

Quotes by Elon Musk

Any product that needs a manual to work is broken.

Quotes by Elon Musk

You think about the beauty and what you want to transmit. If I think about designing, I can't design.

Quotes by Elsa Peretti

I design for the working girl.

Quotes by Elsa Peretti

Programming is the art of algorithm design and the craft of debugging errant code.

Quotes by Ellen Ullman

Multitasking, throughput, efficiency - these are excellent machine concepts, useful in the design of computer systems. But are they principles that nurture human thought and imagination?

Quotes by Ellen Ullman

Designing is my hobby. If I didn't do what I do for a living - at some point when I don't do this for a living - I'll probably just do design work. I love finding really special pieces of...

Quotes by Ellen DeGeneres

The mission of professional mountain climbers is almost impossibly difficult by design: Their very livelihood is based on achieving the unprecedented. Their expeditions are complicated, exhausting, often life-threatening. Risk is the fuel that keeps them going.

Quotes by Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi

A movie contains literally tens of thousands of ideas. They're in the form of every sentence; in the performance of each line; in the design of characters, sets, and backgrounds; in the locations of the camera; in the colors, the...

Quotes by Edwin Catmull

Beautiful Evidence is about the theory and practice of analytical design.

Quotes by Edward Tufte

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.

Quotes by Edward Tufte

A designer is only as good as the star who wears her clothes.

Quotes by Edith Head

Frequently Asked Questions

Is there a quote about starting out in design through education?
Yes - one quote traces an early path into the field: "After I left school, where I studied art, photography and textiles at A-level, I started doing an apprenticeship in interior design, but I wasn't really enjoying it very much," showing that a first design path doesn't always stick.
Is there a quote about design's place in human history?
Yes. One quote takes a long view, explaining that "the first technology appeared in the form of stone tools, 2.6 million years ago." It goes on to add, "First entertainment comes evidence from flutes that are 35,000 years old," tracing design and creativity back through a long human timeline.
Is there a quote about designing buildings that become icons?
Yes - one quote is refreshingly modest about it: "People say I design architectural icons. If I design a building and it becomes an icon, that's ok." For more from people who design for a living, see Designer quotes.
Is there a quote about design covering many different fields?
Yes. One quote lists several: "If I wanted to do clothes or if I wanted to make a building or design a choreography, you are able to do that - they are all under a similar kind of design umbrella," treating fashion, architecture, and choreography as connected by the same creative process. That broader idea connects well with Creativity quotes.
Where can I find more quotes about the design process?
Take a look at Designing quotes and Designate quotes for more related reading.

Others describe design as one connected discipline - buildings, clothing, and choreography all falling under the same creative umbrella. Related pages: Designer quotes and Designing quotes.