15 Insightful Quotes that Shed Some Light on the Importance of Intelligent Design
We are all design lovers! But great design – exceptional and intelligent – is not a simple neither an objective concept, so defining it clearly, as well as explaining the importance of the application of its principles, it is genuinely complex. That is why we decided to shed some light on this intricate concept by using the wise words of the experts and their unique and insightful perception about the subject.
In the last century, Design has grown and gained acknowledgment as the modern society understood the added value it brought to everyday objects and the impact its principles were having in rising innovation across all industries. Design was not only about art, disruptive aesthetic concepts or good taste anymore, design had risen into a holistic approach, becoming a way of thinking and a methodology for creative work.
Thinking like a Designer Fosters Human-centered Innovation
Take for instance Design Thinking, which is a process for creative problem solving, a human-centered approach to innovation that draws from the designer’s toolkit – like empathy and experimentation- to arrive at innovative solutions. Human-centered innovation begins with developing an understanding of customers’ or users’ unmet or unarticulated needs. “The most secure source of new ideas that have a true competitive advantage, and hence, higher margins, is customers’ unarticulated needs,” says Jeanne Liedtka (Batten Briefings 2015), “Customer intimacy—a deep knowledge of customers and their problems—helps to uncover those needs.”
It also allows people who aren’t trained as designers to use creative tools to address a vast range of challenges. Making decisions based on what people really want instead of relying only on historical data, market research or instinct is what makes thinking like a designer a powerful advantage that can transform the way organizations develop products, services, processes, and strategy.
Bringing together what is desirable from a human point of view with what is technologically feasible and economically viable, Design thinking draws upon logic, imagination, intuition, and systemic reasoning, to explore possibilities of what could be—and to create desired outcomes that benefit the end user. That is why this approach minimizes the uncertainty and risk of innovation.
When design principles are applied to strategy and innovation the success rate for innovation dramatically improves. According to a 2014 assessment by the Design Management Institute, design-led companies such as Apple, Coca-Cola, IBM, Nike, Procter & Gamble and Whirlpool have outperformed the Standard & Poor’s 500 over the past 10 years by more than 200%.
And it was obviously due to the notable success rate of these type of companies that design has evolved beyond making objects. Organizations now want to learn how to think like a designer and apply design principles to systems, procedures, protocols, customer or user experiences, and even to the workplace itself.
Design thinkers rely on real-world experiments and genuine insights. And ARCHYI.team is not composed only by designers, but we all have a design mindset and design thinking is at the core of our strategy, brand and product development.
For us, design is not only a way of thinking and working. It’s almost our way of living, it is solution focused and action-oriented towards creating a preferred future.
So to also help you understand and inspire you to also think in a designerly way, here are the top 15 of our favorite design quotes we have been compiling throughout the years.
Insightful quotes about Design, its Essence, and its Significance
“Everything is designed. Few Things are designed well.”
–Brian Reed
“Design creates culture.
Culture shapes values.
Values determine the future.”
– Robert L. Peters
“It’s not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works.”
– Steve Jobs
“Design-thinking firms stand apart in their willingness to engage in the task of continuously redesigning their business…to create advances in both innovation and efficiency—the combination that produces the most powerful competitive edge.”
– Roger Martin
“Everything we have around us has been designed. Design ability is, in fact, one of the three fundamental dimensions of human intelligence. Design, science, and art form an ‘AND’ not an ‘OR’ relationship to create the incredible human cognitive ability.”
– Nigel Cross
“Design can be art. Design can be aesthetics. Design is so simple, that’s why it is so complicated.”
— Paul Rand
“To design is to communicate clearly by whatever means you can control or master.”
— Milton Glaser
“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
“Truly elegant design incorporates top-notch functionality into a simple, uncluttered form.”
— David Lewis
“Good art inspires; Good design motivates.”
— Otl Aicher
“There are three basic principles behind any well-designed product: truth, humanity, and simplicity.”
— Sohrab Vossoughi
“Design is Intelligence made visible”
-Alina Wheeler
“Great design is all about details. With innovative material selection, sensible construction techniques and modern aesthetics one can craft a unique design language that sets a new standard.”
— Roi James
These completely reflect our team believes, values and the weight design has in our society.
Nowadays, Design thinking is at the heart of the most amazing innovative projects, the most effective strategy development and organizational change, mostly because ultimately the purpose of design is to improve the quality of life for people, other live beings, and the planet.