DESIGN QUOTES Editor: S Balaram
NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF DESIGN Paldi Ahmedabad 380 007 India
DESIGN QUOTES
2001 NATIONAL INSTTTUTE Of DESIGN
Editor: S Balaram
Book Design. Immanuel Suresh, Dilip Oza Print Supervision. S H Shinde ISBN 81 86199-45-4 Price. Rs 80
NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF DESIGN Paldi Ahmedabad 360 007 India Phone.+90 79 663 9692 Fax. +91 79G62 1167 Email publication@nid.edu
Foreword Design is often explained differently by different people just as the blind men described the elephant. The diverse spectrum of quotes from an array of eminent people will help you to perceive the “elephant” clearly and holistically. The quotes will provide The reader with a ringside view of the multifarious dimensions and the inherent and potential powers of design. Design has to envisage both micro and macro level aspects as the Finnish Architect, Eliel Saarinnen said “Always design a thing by considering its, next larger context-a chair in a room, a room in a house, a house in an environment an environment in a city plan”. It is in the fitness of things that Shri S Balaram the “thinking hat” at NID has edited this timely compilation which will be not only useful for the casual reader but also for researchers and students. The new inputs hidden in each of these quotes open up fresh thinking and perspectives on design. I am very happy that NID is able to publish this delightful book at the beginning of the new century as the word design continues to baffle, enthuse and inspire people all over the world It is a pity that we cannot find an appropriate word in an Indian language, which can capture the nuances and the complexities of the word design. The search however must go on. To wind up this Foreword, design has to provide harmony, “Oullim”, as the South Koreans would say.
Dr. Darlie O Koshy EXECUTIVE Director, National Institute of Design Executive Board Member ICSID
Introduction At the national institute of design, the graduate Diploma Programme in Design commences with a mandatory two semester Foundation year which is geared to the development of values, attitudes and sensorial skills necessary for any design specialization. Its purpose is to create an awareness of the environment by constant relating the student’s learning to real life situations and to provide the necessary direction, stimuli, facilities and experience to foster creative It aims to help each individual discover his or her own identity, ability and potential The foundation programme makes students appreciate the multi-disciplinary nature of design and lays the basis on which the remaining design curriculum is built. During the first semester, the students who join the foundation programme are exposed to few courses which give them a broader understanding of what design is, what its aim is and what it can and cannot do One of these courses is “Design and environment�. The purpose of which is to make the student see design not merely as a profession but far beyond it Design is a constant creation of environment through various ways from improvement of elements in the environment to products, systems, structures and strategies in the environment. Such wider perception is crucial for a student right at the beginning so that he can firmly place all The future design learning against this contextual background. In 1998 when the course was conducted, the need to expose the students lo the myriad perceptions of design all over the world was felt. What could be better way than collecting quotes by eminent designers, writers and thinkers? A short assignment as part of this course was framed, where every student was asked to find at least live quotes related to design The collections were put up on the pin board and discussed by the whole group.
Since there has been no compilation of Design quotes in the past anywhere in the world, we thought it would be worthwhile to bring out these quotations in the form of a monograph. I am sure this short and by no means comprehensive collection will prove itself a useful reference as well as a pleasurable reading for designers, design teachers, design students as well as interested non designers. S Balaram, November 2002
Design is finding the right physical components of a physical structure.
Christopher Alexander
2.
I hold that the real tasks begin once functional and behavioral needs have been satisfied. It is not hunger, but love and fear, and sometimes wonder that makes us creative. EIMILIO AMbasz
3.
It has always been my deep belief that architecture and design are both myth - making acts (it is the task of the architect & Designer) to give poetic form to the pragmatic. EIMILIO AMbasz
4
Design is decision making in the face of uncertainty, with higher penalties for error. Isac Asimov
5
One half of the world cannot understand the pleasures of the other. Jane Austen
6.
Design education is a form of control which can be exercised provided the individuals have acquired the necessary knowledge and understanding. B Aylward
7.
For designers to be convincing they too have to become involved with the object of their design, become one with it or indistinguishable from it Only then can they expect to produce artifacts that are meaningful in the sense of reflecting the very mythology that guides users and is part of any designer’s psychological reality as well. S.Balaram
8
Design
is
essentially
a
change
through
spontaneous
derived from a decision arising from a synthesis of information. Bauhaus
9
Art and Technology - A new unity. Bauhaus
action
Design, like art, is a
communal activity. designers do not work in isolation from either their peers or history. Bauhaus
11.
In design there is a given body of information to be conveyed, That object is primary in most design activities On the other hand, the essential function of art is to change and intensify one’s perception of reality. Bauhaus
12
Design is among other things, a vehicle of communication, as such it is only one of the many means to convey ideas and information. Saul Bass
13
Progress is a history of failures. So, not only we must have the opportunity to non-conform, but we must have the opportunity to fail And not only must we have the opportunity to fail, but we must also take the responsibility for failures This is all part of the maturing of the creative personality; the development of strength through success and failure; the courage to stand on our own feet, confident in ourselves as an expression of what everyone is - and then proceed to explore our uniqueness. Saul Bass
14.
The ‘inventor’ and the ‘designer’ are rarely the same person. Having the idea, proving the principle, inventing the process both do, but applying the principle, invention, or process so that it works on all levels only designers do. It is designers who turn inventions into products. Trevor Baylis
15.
Design in it’s initial planning stage is thinking about problems, not their solution. Arthur N Beevar
16.
Doing is designing. Misha Black
17.
The profession of design aims to meet the needs of the modern world by designing in human terms where social purpose is combined with aesthetic expression and symbolic value. Brochure on Design for Need
18.
Design is an art of thought directed to practical action through the persuasion or persuasiveness of objects and, therefore, design involves the vivid expression of competing ideas about social life. Richard Buchanan
19.
There is no straight line in the universe. Luigi Collani
There is nothing such as good or bad design only
appropriate
design. Neville Brody
21.
Design is 98% common sense - The remaining 2% which may be tailed aesthetics is what makes design so interesting and challenging. Many products which achieve 98% are demonstrably good, but those with the extra 2% have a magic ingredient which places them in another category altogether; and when this is present in a product, the quality of life is improved Terence Conran
22.
Design is about the excitement we feel when something touches a chord, or pleasures the eye This amorphous, aesthetic, spiritual dimension is just as essential to life as food or shelter. It simply makes life worth living. Terence Conran
23
The designers true role is to better the things which surround us better not only m terms of function, appearance, cost and material but also in terms of aspiration and desire - in the dream of how good life might be. Terence Conran
24.
A large part of what design is all about is concerned with precisely this problem solving tempering technology and material to serve basic human needs. The elements of practicality is a useful definition of the distinction between design and art. Terence Conran
25
Design is intrinsic to the development of new technologies and to the success of one product over another. Terence Conran
26
Decoration is disguise. Le Corbusier
27.
From the inside out (contrary to appearances) the value of all things lies in their purposes. Le Corbusier
28.
Design is more than a practice that professionals engage in; it is a fundamental human activity that is conducted in many varied ways. Dilnot and Buckley
29.
Design is a systematic process which can be applied to a broad range of problems A designer is a ‘universal superman’ who can perform alt the basic tasks involved in a complex design project Engineering design implies the application of engineering process of the highest order, where in one begins with an initial idea and carries the entire operation through all subsequent stages, including experimental testing and evaluation, until a prototype has been completed and production is about to begin. It is dangerous to start the solution before the problem is well understood, but there are often strong pressures to do so The Discipline of Design - Punished by The University of Waterloo
Design is as much an expression of
quality
and feelings as an articulation of reasons: it is an art as well as science, a process and a product, an assertion of disorder and display of order. Dilnot and Buckley
31.
Design is not an art or a branch of technology - it is an attitude 2nd an activity concerned with making improvements within a changing human environment. H K Vyas
32.
Designers should be trained to help people solve their own problems. Charles Earnes
33
Design is an expression of a purpose, it may (if it is good enough) later be judged as art I have never been forced to accept compromises but I have willingly accepted constraints. Charles Earnes
34
Design is a plan of arranging elements in such away as to best accomplish a particular purpose. Charles Earnes
35.
Design addresses to the need, but not to masses, nor to specialists nor to enlighted amateur and nor to social class. Charles Earnes
36
It is a well known fact that all inventors get their first ideas on the back of the envelope. I take slight exception to this. I use the front so that I can include the stamp and then the design is already half done. Poland Ermett
37
Imagination is more important than knowledge. Albert Einstein
38.
Design is the tribute art pays to the industry. Paul Finch
39.
Designing is basic human act. Doing something for a definite reason is designing. Gillam Scot Robert
All natural forms are crystallised processes. Every process produces for itself its technical form and every form its energy. There is a
form for everything, be it a
concrete thing or a thought, only one form that corresponds to the nature of that thing.
Raoul France
41.
Fine art deals with internally imposed problems but design with external problems. If there is no external problems there is no design. Milton
42.
Design is not merely an activity dealing with objects or abstract systems, but is primarily a vehicle for social interaction.
Alphonso Gomez
43.
Ultimately design gives pleasure, and the pleasure is the one product which is always worth buying. Adam Goprik
44
A design is a plan to make something, something we can we or hold or walk into something that is two dimensional or third dimension and sometimes in the time dimensions It is something seen and sometimes touched and now and often by association something heard It may be a single item and just as often a mass produced product. Peter Gors
45.
Design is the professional service of creating and developing concepts and specifications that optimise the function, value and appearance of products communication and systems for mutual benefit of the user and the producer. Peter Gors
46.
It is not only possible to successfully teach design but also all efforts at supervision have a disastrous effect on the original impulses of the student. Millner Gray
47
Design
is
a
work
of
art
with
form
but
without
descriptive
content. Millner Gray
48
Design: Intention, Purpose, Plan; to make a preliminary sketch of a picture, to draw a plan of a building, to be executed by others; to conceive the menial plan or plot of a book for other work of art. Millner Gray
49.
The end of all design is human satisfaction If a design fails to deliver satisfaction to people it fails as a design. S.A. Gregory
Design is a human activity, in which everyone is
involved; it is a process of Identifying
Problems and
needs and establishing
critical priorities. It requires research, data collection, organisation of resources and rational analysis and measurement. And as a solution evolves by a rational synthesis or practical trial and error it takes on a form and has to be tested and evaluated. Peter Green
51.
Design is considered as the process of selectively applying the total spectrum of science and technology to the attainment of the end result which serves a purpose. S. A.Gregory
52.
Our guiding principle was that design is neither an intellectual nor a material affair, but simply an integral part of the stuff of life, necessary for everyone in a civilised society. Walter Gropius
53
A Designer’s
output
depends
on
the
client’s
vision
and
brief
has
seen
and
and on it’s corporate identity. Amit Gulati
54
Design is responsibility. S.Guhan
55
Discovery
consists
of
seeing
thinking what nobody has thought. Gyorgyi Albert von Szent
what
everybody
56.
Design is a process. It is a process whereby a designer, equipped with a
technical knowledge of all processes and materials available at the time and a true understanding of the problems to be solved, and of the constraints that may be imposed upon the solution, together with a sensitive and humanitarian respect for the same, combines these different elements into a cohesive practical whole. Max Hailstone
57
Design could be described as the art of reconciling function, cost and appearance. Cristopher Hasset
58.
Design is the profession, service of creating and developing concepts and specification that optimise the function, value and appearance of products, communication and systems for the mutual benefit of the user and the designer. International Council of Society of Industrial Designers
59
The intention of a phenomenal art (such as design) is simply the gift of seeing a little more today, than you did yesterday. Robert Irwin
Design
should
be
prosperous
and
multidisciplinary team activity that includes workers as well as
users. International Council of Society of Industrial Designers
61.
The hypothesis is simple. We can either organise human beings and human activities to fit our existing need for pragmatic order, or where questions for human potential, mind are our concern, we can approach and entertain them in their greatest complexity. The former is a true posture of social need, the latter is a true posture of open inquiry. Robert Irwin
62.
The broader ones understanding of the human experience, the better designers we will have. Steve Jobs
63.
Design is performing of a very complicated act of faith.
Christopher Jones
64.
Design is the basic element of all intellectual processes: Music, drama, painting, architecture, mathematics, and engineering or science. Ely Jacques Kahn.
65
Modern design or the contemporary expression of any nature are of minor interest. Tradition rules supreme. E ly Jacques Kahn.
66
When
people
sensibility
get
computers,
associated
with
the
they
don’t
profession;
develop
they
can
the
talk
of
design, but they don’t become good designers. Achyut Kanvinde
67
Experience historical,
of
beauty
affords
scientific
or
philosophical.
no It
kind
of
can
be
knowledge, called
true
because it makes us more aware of our mental activity. Immanuel Kant
68
Design responsibility does not stop at the shop counter. Sylvia Katz
69
If
you
cannot
anything. Bryan Kneale
draw,
you
can
go
through
life
without
seeing
Design does not
reproduce the visible, rather it
makes visible. Paul Klee 2
71
Engineers get close to the problems. Designers are generalists who are not bothered by specialists who say it can’t be done. Rudy Krolopp
72
Only
in
designer
contact learn
to
with
people
apply
what
rather he
than
has
books
learned
will
from
the books
for a better human environment. Thomas Kuby
73
Design
is
the
pursuit
of
excellence
and
constant
preoccupation with higher values in all our abilities. R K Laxman
74
Perspective
is
the
rational
law
by
which
experience
confirms that all object transmit their image to the eye in a pyramid of lines. Leonardo Da Vinci
75
Design is not the abstract power exercised by a genius. It is simply the arranging how work shall be done. W R Lethaby
76
Design may be thought of as the well doing of what needs doing. W R Lethaby
77
Good design is the sum of all it’s parts; it must be visually aesthetic and produced with quality, as well as fulfill the practical requirements of the end user. Sally Sirkin Lewis
78
The design of a ‘pepper pot’ is as important as the conception of a cathedral. Macintosh Margaret Macdonald
79
Great art ( or Design) breaks the time barrier. Tim Mara
A similar sense of
Social Purpose,
the possibly slightly dictatorial intention of giving the public what it needed, in order to achieve the fully rational way of life. Fiona McAurthy
81.
Design is a creative activity that consists in determining the found properties of
objects produced industrially. Tomas Moldanado
82.
Design is what all forms of production for use have in view. Ravi Matthai
83
Good design defies simple explanations because it is often that hasn’t been done before. Trying to explain that is like commenting on a meal that hasn’t been cooked Peter Mayle
84
Intuition, derived from knowledge, experience and God knows what else, is the unpredictable human element that saves us from a world designed by computers It encourages the mind to jump away from the expected, and helps to produce ideas that are surprises as well as solutions. Peter Mayle
85.
Design is creative. It is a spectrum from high creativity to low creativity. Craig Miller
86
Designers way.
help
They
interpret
ensure
scientific
people
are
achievements liberated
in
rather
a
than
human enslaved
by technology. William Morris
87
To
be
a
techniques accept of
designer and
the
design
means
analyse
dependent
only
production
concommitant is
not
social not
only
to
sensibly
processes,
manipulate
but
also
obligations....
Thus
on
science,
function,
to
quality and
technological processes, but also upon social consciousness. Moholy Nagy
88
The
statement
supplemented; follow-existing
that
‘Form is,
follows form
scientific,
also
function’ follows-
technical
developments, including sociology and economy. Moholy Nagy
has at and
least
to
be should artistic
89
The spiritual eyes had to work in constant and vivid alliance with bodily eyes, otherwise one is faced with the danger of seeing and yet of seeing nothing.
Moholy Nagy
The vividness of this inner visualisation (insight) is a measure of the designers
ingenuity.
The unique ability of the genius can be approximated by every one if only its essential features be apprehended: the flash like act of connecting elements not obviously belonging together. Moholy Nagy
91
How many things can you do to enhance life, and how do you avoid those things which do not want? if there is a moral commitment- or an opportunity for a designer that’s it. Gregory Nelson
92.
The most powerful and passionate intellectual thrust today is a search for unifying concepts, for a metaphysical base that will again provide a meaning for existence in a society that has all but lost it (we should ) bring design back to the spiritual dimensions of man. Gregory Nelson
93
Design a framework or scheme of pictorial construction on which artists base the formal organisation of their total work. In the broader sense, design may be considered synonymous with forms. Ocvirk/ Stinson/ Wigg/ Bone
94
You cannot force people into buying your product, you can only interest them in buying it. You cannot save souls in an empty church. David Ogilvy
95
The imaginative jump from present facts to future possibilities. J K Page
96
In this age of mass production when every thing must be planned and designed, design has become the most important and powerful tool with which man shapes his tools and environment and by extension, society himself. Design must be independent of concern for gross national product (GNP) if it is genuinely to serve, rather than exploit society. Victor Papanek
97.
The word ‘design’ covers three specifications-function, durability and appearance. As designers are the representatives of the consumers in the factories, they have to look after all, and so designing involves all three. These three considerations, perhaps under the names, underline all human designing. But they may be differently balanced. Pentagram
98. Luxury, rather than necessity, is the mother of invention. Petroski Henry
99. Just because we happen to be Indian and the plant is based in India, does not mean that the customer wants anything identifiably Indian. Only when we do something that is of international design quality do we excite our customers. Jayshree Poddar
Des ign is m o d e s t a n d n o t t o o g r a n d io se on s c ale… …. n o t t o o l o g i c a l i n fo r m …… a reas onable c o m p r o m i s e b e twe e n beaut y and u t i l i t y, n e i t h e r o v e r str e ssin g beaut y t ill it d e g e n e r a t e s i n t o o r n a m e n t, nor ov er s t re s s i n g u t i l i t y t i l l i t b e co m e s bare and har d . Robert Pick
101.
Design is both a verb and a noun. Robert Pick
102.
Good design is the generous and pertinent response to the full context of a design opportunity, whether large or small, and the quantity of the outcome is a close and truthful correspondence between form and meaning. Norman Potter
103
Design
is
a
fusion
of
skills,
knowledge,
understanding
and
imagination; consolidated by experience. Norman Potter
104 Identifying
the
need,
considering
evaluating
the
solutions,
realisation
the of
solutions the
testing
decision
are
and the
four stages of the design process. David Pye
105 Invention
is
the
process
of
a process of applying that principle. David Pye
discovering
a
principle,
design
is
106.
Of one’s own design thinking is different from simply ceasing on likely quotations in order to make up for a lack of thought. Philip Ramson
107
Glass bricks do not make modern houses. Lower case letters and sans serif do not make modern typography. Paul Rand
108
Between
humankind
and
raw
environment
and
expresses
human intentions, desires and hope. Philip Ramson
109
A designer is a man who has an intention which is normally conveyed to someone
else to execute.
A B Read
Metaphor in design can obviously strengthen or undermine
well-being. More recent
innovative designs, very
good in their way are more decisive in whom they appeal
to- their metaphorical is conciliatory. For e.g. the modern
recliner, which has become a classic 20th century
domestic artifact- for designers, recliners are only
appropriate when you feel secure. You do not stretch out
when you feel vulnerable. Philip Ramson
111
Design is fitness for purpose. Herbert Read
112
A creative activity involves bringing into being something new and useful that has not existed previously. Reswick
113
The design professions are unique from the standpoint of history-the events that bred the professions culture and norms. Stuart W Rose
114
Good design always arises by a striving for perfection over a considerable period of time. Gordon Russel
115
Quality is something beyond functional efficiency and durability. It is a degree of excellence, an essence of right making, without affection, involving sensitive consideration of material, finish and process. R D Rsussel
116
I believe that you should be able to communicate with whatever you have, be it a chair, or a painting. Beroze Sabatier
117
Designers are hired to design something a manufacturer thinks he can sell. Sandin
118
I have known that a science of artificial phenomena is always in imminent danger of dissolving and vanishing. The peculiar properties of the artifact lie on the thin interface between the natural laws without. Simon
119 The real designer far from merely trimming things up after they have been constructed, is first of all concerned with solving the problems, by means of material and processes. Janet K Smith
Designing is a
creative action that fulfills it’s Gilliam Scot Robert
purpose.
121
Everything around us is manmade; the designer has a very large share of responsibility. George J Sowden
122
Nothing is done everything done, over done, over again ......
in
this
world
remains
to
be
Steffens Lincoln
123
Design is 98% to do with common sense. What something which is perfectly acceptable and something which is so special that everyone wants to possess it. Gertrude Stein
124
War makes fashions. Gertrude Stein
125
Form ever follows function. That is the law. Louis Sullivan
126
Design is first and foremost an attitude. Roger Tallom
127
A camel is a horse designed by a committee. Financial Times
128
Precision
of
Communication
is
important,
more
important
than ever, in our era of hair trigger balances, when a false, or misunderstood word may create as much disaster as a sudden thoughtless act. James Thurber
129
Remember
the
cold
vegetables
are
less
harmful
dishes. One affects the body while the other affects the soul. C F A Voysey
than
ugly
You can feel too many of the
people too much of the time. James Thurber
131
I listen to them (clients) and attempt to understand their hopes, fears and dreams. Comen Vergis
132
Design is the key to ordering the human environment and giving it balance. H K Vyas
133
Design is a well planned act, a process of improving things and messages which are integral parts of our living environment. H K Vyas
134
Design is an attitude and an activity concerned with solving human problems with a changing environment. H K Vyas
135
Those who like the usual are immune to the ordinary.
Edmund de Waa
136
In India design comes up from the grassroots level, which doesn’t happen in any other country of the world. Francis Wacziarg
137
A designer is someone who produces things that people don’t need to have, but that he, for some reason thinks would be a good idea to give them. Andy Warhol
138
Part of the act of dealing with wicked problems is in the act of not knowing too early what / which type of solution to apply. Webber
139
Designers must not be just reactive, but proactive and environmentally committed. They must relinquish the attitude of “ I- was- only - obeying orders,” and assume greater responsibility for the ‘ cradle - to grave’ life cycles of what they design. Nigel Whiteley
Design is a branch of knowledge involving studious
inquiry having for its aim the revision of accepted
conclusions in the light of newly discovered facts.
Webster
141
Form is no less important Than function. When the form is good, the quality of life is improved People are happy and pleased to use the product, not merely because it works well but because it lifts their spirits and gives pleasure rather than simply offering absence o1 frustration If something is aesthetically pleasinq, people are often willing to overlook less than perfect in other areas. Dan Wiedon
142
It is only the shallow people who do not go by appearances. Oscar Wilde
143
Simple pleasures are the last refuge to the complex. Oscar Wilde
144
The responsibility of a designer is the same as that of any other artist to be innovative and at the same time to be understood. Oscar Wilde
145
Design is all about problem solving. It is concerned with looking at the kind of problems which affect the way we organise our lives or which influence the environment in which we live. David Wise
146
Thinking and doing are the two most important things in desjgn. David Wise
147
The good building is not one tht hurts landscape but one which makes the landscape more beautiful than it was before the building was built. Frank Lloyd Wright
148
Simplicity and repose are the qualities that measure the true value of any work of art. Oscar Wilde
149
Beautiful buildings (designs) are more than scientific...they organisms spiritually conceived works of art using the technology. Frank Uoyd Wright
Design is an active process involving inquiry,
ingenuity and
i n s p i r a t i o n to change and dramatically enhance the quality of life. Susan Yelavich
151
Any successful design is made up of three component parts a good designer, a good builder or manufacturer and a good client. Peter Wooding
152
The impulse to design vanes according to needs and wishes, time and place, cultural and social conventions, materials and technology. Susan Yelavich
153
Design is what makes you fall in love with a product John Zoccai
154
The purpose of design is to make things better. Anon
155 Design is always a compromise. Anon
156 Our perception is the first triumph of the human intellect. Anon
157
To and
transform what
is
the
world
important
we in
must
first
beginning
begin with
with
ourselves
ourselves, is
the
intention. Anon
158
Example is not only a way in learning things, it is the only way. Anon
159
Design is concerned with a positive search for solutions. There can be no solution without a problem, no problem without constraints, and no constraints without a need. Anon
Design occurs at a point of intersection or
mediation
between art and
industry, creativity and commerce,
manufacturers and consumers. Anon
161
Design is concerned with style and utility, material, artifacts and human desires. Anon
162
The designer works with four main elements - materials which are modified by the process according to formal concepts to fulfill specific purposes. Anon
163
Certain things don’t need to be decorated as are inherently perfect. Decoration is done for individual identity. Anon
164
Design is a powerful agent of change in the hands of
responsible
manufacturers, designers, critics and theorists, Anon
165
Design appears to be a fundamental means. Furthermore, design is a practical form of enquiry in so far as it is concerned with making, apart from its more esoteric benefits. Anon
166
Design is the choice and use of materials to produce objects or create the environments which meet human needs in functional and aesthetic ways. The term ‘environment’ denotes everything that surrounds the product and becomes part of its identity and value. Anon
167
The impulse to design vanes according to the needs and wishes, time and place, cultural and social connections, materials and technology. Anon
168
Design is the way of claiming ‘added desirability’ in products, if not actually putting it there. Anon
169
Design is a complex concept. It is both a process and a result of that process, the shape, style and meaning of artifacts that have been designed. Anon
The
aesthetic idea of our time is based on the elimination of nonessentials. Anon
171
In the bad old days ‘design’ was thought of as an ‘elitist1 vice, available from Scandinavian Furniture makers or excitable men from Milan with access to unlimited quantities of free-form plastic, Unfortunately, good design defies simple explanations, because it is often something that hasn’t been done before. Trying to explain that is like commenting on a meal that hasn’t been cooked. Anon
172
‘Style’ and ‘Image’ provide a more immediate and compelling rhetoric than durability and efficiency, but the creation of beautiful packaging for ugly technologies should now be seen as an unacceptable task for the responsible designer. Anon
73
The selecting and the organisation of materials is designing. Anon
174
Good design for people with disabilities is frequently good design for everybody. Anon
175
You look, I see, what I see is design. Anon
176
Design is a journey not a destination. Anon
177
Design cannot change the world, it can impose ways of acting of people. Anon
178
A creative personality is essentially non confirming. Anon
179
Typography acts as a container for language giving it a new meaning, a language about a language. Anon
The element of
practicality
is a useful definition of the distinction between ‘design’ and ‘art’.
Anon
181
Designers are not artists, they are market creators who can make new products by combining social trends and inner factors of their own corporation. Anon
182
Design is the professional service of creating and developing concepts and specifications that optimise the function, value and appearance of products, communications and systems and mutual benefit of the user and producer. Anon
183
The urge to create is latent in each one of us. Life becomes a matter of what you consume and more public and artistic values are diminished in importance. The needs of individuals and social groups who have little power in the market place are simply ignored. Anon
184
Design begins with dissatisfaction not with lethargy. Anon
185
Design is the conscious effort to meaningful order. Anon
186
Design is everything that feed into the systematic development of a product and its manufacturing technology, functional performance appearance and management of the whole process. Anon
187
Designing is a modest, decent way of contributing to the happiness of the world and it is no more and no less than that. Anon
188 Design is defined as purposeful planning- as resolved in or inferred from the adaptation of means to an end or the relation of parts to a whole. Anon
189
Design is the product of a designer where the product is the balance of both functional and visual elements. Anon
Design is the seed corn of the
future of any industrial society. It shapes the product, maximizes value and minimises most of new products to the benefit of both the customers and manufacturers.
191
Design can give form to a changing world and offer new types of behaviour To offer opportunity means acting in the field of direct intervention. It means proposing products and services which make possibilities concrete. Anon
192
Good design means sound engineering, intelligent work of art, a successful commercial exercise, an efficient essay in ergonomics and a laudable responsible social gesture. Anon
193
Design Process is problem solving which begins with a detailed preliminary identification of a problem and a diagnosis of the needs that have to be met by a solution, and conceived, explored and evaluated until an optimum answer is found that appears to satisfy the necessary criteria as full as possible within the limits and opportunities available. Anon
194
Design is problem solving but a rational, decision - making process which differs radically from many traditional forms of art and craft which are more concerned with irrational, intuitive experiences. Anon
195
Design is a creative activity whose aim is to determine the form of objects, systems and environments at every level of production and activity. Anon
196 New ideas for embellishment relating to form, external appearances and colour, or combination of these for industrial products, including inventions for ways of making them. Anon
197
Designs are successful not simply as a result of their function they should also represent value through the emotive elements of style and character. Anon
198
A designer is a particular kind of artist The use of the word ‘Artist’ is limited. It implies a person separated from the society His audience is one who likes what he does, and he doesn’t want or need a large following. Contrast the designer is trying to give beauty and function to things for a large audience. He doesn’t want to ponder but, he must recognise the existence of economic and social structures, economic and social structures. Anon
199
Design is simulating what we want to make before we make it as many times as may be necessary to feel confident with the final result. Anon
The
responsibility for the relationship between industry and culture falls, in the modern world on the shoulder of designers.
Anon
201
The designer’s self conscious recognition of his individuality has a deep effect on the process of form making. Anon
202
Design is goal directed problem solving activity. Anon
203
Design is the choice and use of materials to produce objects or create environments which meets human needs in a functional and aesthetic way. Anon
204
A wise designer adapts himself to circumstances as water shapes its ‘self to the vessel it contains. Anon
205
New design no longer works for the non existent standardised majority, but pushes constantly changing, creating and feeding the communications networks. Anon
206
After a million years of trial and error, nature has produced well functioning shapes, but human history is much too short to compete with nature’s richness in creating functional-forms. Nevertheless, the ingenuity of man has brought forth excellent results in every period of history when he understood the scientific, technological, aesthetic and other requirements This means that the statement- ‘form follows function’ has to be supplemented with‘form also follows function’- or at least it should follow existing scientific, technical, and artistic developments, including sociology and economy. Anon
207
Design is to do with one aspect of The two fundamental questions which are posed to the members of every civilisation - What do you value? How do you want to live? to which we living in our scientific and technological age, can add a question that is more specifically for us. How do you propose to use your expanded knowledge and extend power to improve the content of life on earth? Anon
208
The product is the mediator between the manufacturer and the consumer and its design is the container of the message that is immediated. Anon
Index A A B Read 36 Achyut Kanvinde 23 Adam Goprik 16 Albert Einstein 14 Alphonso Gomez 16 Ambasz, Emilio 2 Amit Gulati 19 Andy Warhol 45 Arthur N Beevar 6 B B Aylward 3 Balaram S 3 Bauhaus 3, 4, 5 Beroze Sabatier 39 Brochure on Design for Need 6 Bryan Kneale 23 C C F A Voysey 42 Charles Eames 13, 14 Christopher Alexander 1 Christopher Jones 22 Comen Vergis 44 Craig Miller 29 Cristopher Hasset 20 D Dan Wiedon 47 David Ogilvy 32 David Pye 35 David Wise 48 Dilnot and Buckley 11, 12 E Edmund de Waa 44 Ely Jacques Kahn 22,23 F Financial Times 42 Fiona McAurthy 27 Francis Wacziarg 45 Frank Lloyd Wright 48
G George J Sowden 41 Gertrude Stein 41 Gillam Scot Robert 14, 40 Gordon Russel 38 Gregory Nelson 31 Gregory S A 18, 19 Guhan S 19 Gyorgyi Albert von Szent 19 H H K Vyas 13,44 Herbert Read 38 I Immanuel Kant 23 International Council of Society of Industrial Des 20, 21 Isac Asimov 2 J J K Page 32 James Thurber 42, 43 Jane Austen 2 Janet K Smith 39 Jayshree Podder 33 John Zoccai 50 Jones 22 L Le Corbusier 10 Leonardo Da Vinci 25 Louis Sullivan 41 Luigi Collani 7 M Macintosh Margaret Macdonald 26 Max Hailstone 20 Millner Gray 17 Milton Glaser 16 Misha Black 6 Moholy Nagy 29, 30 N Neville Brody 8 Nigel Whiteley 45 Norman Potter 35 O Ocvirk/Stinson/Wigg/Bone 31 Oscar Wilde 47 P Paul Finch 14 Paul Klee 24 Paul Rand 36 Pentagram 33 Peter Gors 16, 17 Peter Green 18 Peter Mayle 28 Peter Wooding 48, 50 Petroski Henry 33 Philip Ramson 36, 37
R R K Laxman 25 R D Russel 38 Raoul France 15 Ravi Matthai 28 Reswick 38 Richard Buchanan 7 Robert Irwin 21, 22 Robert Pick 34, 35 Roger Tallom 42 Roland Emett 14 Rudy Krolopp 25 S S A Gregory 18,19 S Balaram 3 SGuhan 19 Sally Sirkin Lewis 26 Sandin 39 Saul Bass 5, 6 Simon 39 Steffens Lincoln 41 Steve Jobs 22 Stuart W Rose 38 Susan Yelavich 49, 50 Sylvia Katz 23 T Terence Conran 9, 10 The Discipline of Design 11 Thomas Kuby 25 Tim Mara 26 Tomas Moldanado 28 Trevor Baylis 6
V Victor Papanek 32 W W R Lethaby 26 Walter Gropius 19 Webber 45 Webster 46 William Morris 29