Tibor Kalman Quotes & Sayings

Good designers are no longer satisfied in taking the manuscript from someone and making it look nice. One of the things that I've tried to do is move from being a designer to a content provider. — Tibor Kalman

I'm always trying to turn things upside down and see if they look any better. — Tibor Kalman

To me, nothing is more vibrant than having the power to do something but not having the experience of knowing what's right and what's wrong. — Tibor Kalman

Design is just language and the real issue is what you use that language to do. — Tibor Kalman

Some people ... cling to the idea that the photograph is an inherently real or honest image and as such is always on a different plane from an obviously subjective form of visual communication such as painting. — Tibor Kalman

Think like an artist. Dress like an insurance salesman. — Tibor Kalman

Let's face it: we live at a time when government is less and less powerful, less and less effective, and the agent of social change, at least for the immediate future, is the corporation. — Tibor Kalman

I like being a 10-year-old kid who's in charge. — Tibor Kalman

Your children will smash your understanding, knowledge and reality. You will be better off. Then they will leave. You'll miss them forever. — Tibor Kalman

I believe that this whole question of some photography being true and some untrue is a non-question. Photography is not objective; it never was objective. — Tibor Kalman

The perfect state of creative bliss is having power (you are 50) and knowing nothing (you are 9). This assures an interesting and successful outcome. — Tibor Kalman

Everything is an experiment. — Tibor Kalman

Edits are very important to me - they're the way in which I work on everything. — Tibor Kalman

When you make something no one hates, no one loves it. — Tibor Kalman

Pictures are so good at giving people information that they're not looking for. — Tibor Kalman

You'll never go wrong when you work with someone smarter than you. — Tibor Kalman

If you don't have an idea, all you have is style. — Tibor Kalman

I'm not as good a writer as I'd like to be; therefore, I like to use images to tell stories. — Tibor Kalman

I'm not against beauty, it just sounds boring to me. — Tibor Kalman

I am interested in imperfections, quirkiness, insanity, unpredictability. — Tibor Kalman

Consumer culture is contradiction in terms — Tibor Kalman

If someone is going to permit me to make a publication that is politically and culturally progressive and not tell me to put their favorite movie stars on the cover, if I get to do what I want in an honest way - as I did in the beginning at 'Colors' - then I'm going to do it. — Tibor Kalman

I use contrary-ism in every part of my life. — Tibor Kalman

The difference between good design and great design is INTELLIGENCE — Tibor Kalman

No matter what your cultural sophistication or what language you speak, everyone can understand images. — Tibor Kalman

What is said determines who listens and who understands. Graphic design is a language, but graphic designers are so busy worrying about the nuances - accents, punctuation and so on - that they spend little time thinking about what the words add up to. I'm interested in using our communication skills to change the way things are. — Tibor Kalman

Perspective is a moment in time that cannot be fully appreciated until that moment has passed. — Tibor Kalman