Designer Quotes & Sayings

I don't call myself an 'industrial designer,' because I'm other things. Industrial designers want to make novel things. Novelty is a concept of commerce, not an aesthetic concept. — Eva Zeisel

I wanted to be a shoe designer, but I never thought it could be a profession. But what was the alternative? Doctor? Too dirty! Air-hostess? Maybe not! Then someone gave me a book on Roger Vivier, and, cheri, instantly I knew that was it! — Christian Louboutin

Under the rules of colonialism, everything goes to and comes from the mother country. In 1870, the colony of Turks and Caicos was asked to send a crest to England so that a flag for the colony could be designed. A Turks and Caicos designer drew a crest that included Salt Cay saltworks with salt rakers in the foreground and piles of salt. Back in England, it was the era of Arctic exploration, and, not knowing where the Turks and Caicos was, the English designer assumed the little white domes were igloos. And so he drew doors on each one. And this scene of salt piles with doors remained the official crest of the colony for almost 100 years, until replaced in 1968 by a crest featuring a flamingo. — Mark Kurlansky

The words graphic designer, architect, or industrial designer stick in my throat, giving me a sense of limitation, of specialisation within the specialty, of a relationship to society and form itself that is unsatisfactory and incomplete. This inadequate set of terms to describe an active life reveals only partially the still undefined nature of the designer. — Alvin Lustig

I don't gravitate toward any one designer because I think of fashion as the costume of the everyday woman. — Kerry Washington

Design must be proved before a designer can be inferred. — Percy Bysshe Shelley

I'll go to an event wearing some designer gown and tens of thousands of dollars in jewels that were lent to me for the night, and I'll walk around and meet people who I always thought were such a big deal. — Blake Lively

I come out of TV. I come out of live television, BBC drama: that's where I started first as a designer, then a director. Then I went independent TV, then television advertising. — Ridley Scott

Design is really an act of communication, which means having a deep understanding of the person with whom the designer is communicating. — Donald A. Norman

As a costume designer, it's important to give each person his or her own personalized look. — Eric Daman

Music gives color to the air of the moment. — Karl Lagerfeld

My favorite designer is Christian Lacroix, not just because his clothes are amazing and I love them, but because he's so nice. When I did his fashion show, he was the first one to arrive there and he helped everyone. — Adriana Lima

Fashion fades...style is eternal"
Yves St Laurent — Nicole Jenkins

I was so fortunate to work closely with the designer Nolan Miller whilst on 'Dynasty' to create the wardrobe for Alexis Carrington Colby, and we had great fun sourcing outfits. — Joan Collins

My job as a designer is to look into the future. Not to use any frame of reference that exists — Marc Newson

As a costume designer, I first try to figure out what the character's economic situation is and hit the stores they'd shop. — Patricia Norris

I feel best in soft and natural materials such as cotton and silk. I wear collections from all designers. They all have outstanding cuts and extremely pleasant materials. — Laetitia Casta

If you are trying to decide among a few people to fill a position hire the best writer. it doesn't matter if the person is marketer, salesperson, designer, programmer, or whatever, their writing skills will pay off. That's because being a good writer is about more than writing clear writing. Clear writing is a sign of clear thinking. great writers know how to communicate. they make things easy to understand. they can put themselves in someone else's shoes. they know what to omit. And those are qualities you want in any candidate. Writing is making a comeback all over our society ... Writing is today's currency for good ideas. — Jason Fried

I've always been a visual person, I'm formerly a graphic designer. I've always seen myself as an observer. I like to maintain objectivity and don't get too intimately involved in my subjects. — Sufjan Stevens

To the designer, great design is beautiful design. A significant amount of effort must be placed into making the product attractive. To the client, great design is effective. It must bring in customers and meet the goals put forth to the designer in the original brief. To the user, great design is functional. It's easy to read, easy to use and easy to get out of it what was promised Truly great design, then, is when these three perspectives are considered and implemented equally to create a final product that is beautiful, effective and functional. — Joshua Johnson

A designer ... has the true responsibility to give his audiences not what they think they want, for this is almost invariably the usual, the accustomed, the obvious, and hence, the unspontaneous. Rather, he should provide that quality of thought and intuition which rejects the ineffectual commonplace for effectual originality. — Lester Beall

I don't design. I get what I think is a big idea, and I put the idea down. I'm not a designer. I'm a communicator. — George Lois

Mobile didn't create more unknowns for web designers. It just forced us to recognize the unknowns that were already there. — Jeremy Keith

I don't think it ever does any harm in any business to feel that there is someone there who cares about it. If you look at any business, fashion being the most obvious, the aura, or the reality of the designer, is part of what creates it. It's true in luxury goods stores and in good food stores. It leaves a palpable sense that someone cares. — Andre Balazs

I am a different kind of celebrity; I don't have the big, giant house, the fancy cars, and all the designer stuff. I am just a girl from Cleveland. — Kym Whitley

I would say I'm waiting for, I guess, designers to open up their vision. — Hari Nef

Alex!" Brittany yells my name from the front of the gallery.
I'm still smoking and trying to forget that she brought me here because I'm her dirty little secret. I don't want to be a fucking secret anymore.
My pseudo-girlfriend crosses the street. Her designer shoes click on the pavement, reminding me she's a class above. She eyes Mandy and me, the two blue collars, smoking together.
"Mandy here was about to show me her tattoos," I tell Brittany to piss her off.
"I'll bet she was. Were you going to show her yours, too?" She eyes me accusingly.
"I'm not into drama," Mandy says. She throws down her cigarette and smashes it with the tip of her gym shoe. "Good luck, you two. God knows you need it. — Simone Elkeles

Do you know anything about fashion magazines? Being treated like superficial bimbos by men like you, and having to write about designer brands. Do you know what that feels like? — Suh Jung

People who espouse Intelligent Design believe nature is so complex as to require an intelligent designer-God. Similarly, liberals believe the economy is so complex as to require an intelligent designer-government. — Michael Shermer

Sometimes it is not just good enough to see what you can do, what your degree can do, your make-up, designer wardrobes, not what republicans or Democrats can do or what people can do but it is far much better to see what God can do. — Patience Johnson

Some designers are so airy-fairy people can't connect with them. I hope people can relate to me, to a normal person who just happens to be a fashion designer, that people can take me as they find me. It's not the designer's job to care about what people think. Whatever else I've done, I've never tried to be something that I'm not. — Alexander McQueen

Professor Wilkes is best known as the builder and designer of the EDSAC, the first computer with an internally stored program. Built in 1949, the EDSAC used a mercury delay line memory. He is also known as the author, with Wheeler and Gill, of a volume on "Preparation of Programs for Electronic Digital Computers" in 1951, in which program libraries were effectively introduced. — Maurice Wilkes

I think it took me a little while to be true to myself as a designer, and in some ways I'm still trying to do that. I have to choose things that come naturally to me. Whenever I challenge something too much or try too hard, it never quite works out. — Stella McCartney

What is more important, the reality or the perception? I am perceived to be an important designer. It's enough for me. — Oleg Cassini

Luxury is the ease of a t-shirt in a very expensive dress. — Karl Lagerfeld

How good something is should never be determined by its cost, designer, origin, or its perceived value by others. — Ashly Lorenzana

The Italian Renaissance extends beyond food, of course. Just about every major Italian furniture designer now has a shop in Paris, and Le Bon Marche recently opened an outlet for Santa Maria Novella perfumes, elixirs and soaps from Florence on its ground floor. — Elaine Sciolino

Do you want to give a special gift in the New Year to someone you love? Then let him or her realize this: We are the main shepherd of our fate, we are the main designer of our destiny! — Mehmet Murat Ildan

I never feel with the fashion stuff that it's too fake. If I was a model and had a working part in Fashion Week, then I might feel like that, but I'm just a visitor. I really only walk in and watch the shows and think, 'Maybe I could wear that in a video.' I meet the designer, say hello, and then I go. — Iggy Azalea

I think people who believe that life emerged naturalistically need to have a great deal more faith than people who reasonably infer that there's an Intelligent Designer. — Lee Strobel

God must be a designer. Everything around us is well-done — Islam Atef Aly

in a hypermedia-based design, resources don't matter as much. The designer's job is to identify all the state transitions. — Leonard Richardson

My granddad wanted to become a sign painter and designer, but was stopped; my dad would have had a real talent for language, but was stopped. When I expressed a desire to become a graphic designer, I was not stopped. — Stefan Sagmeister

Designers shouldn't aim to control, but to enable. — Dan Hill

Extremist material of any kind always looks gaudy and cheap, like a bad pizza menu. Not because they can't afford decent computers - these days you can knock up a professional CD cover on a pay-as-you-go mobile - but because anyone who's good at graphic design is likely to be a thoughtful, inquisitive sort by nature. And thoughtful, inquisitive sorts tend to think fascism is a bit shit, to be honest. If the BNP really were the greatest British party, they'd have the greatest British designer working for them - Jonathan Ive, perhaps, the man who designed the iPod. But they don't. They've got someone who tries to stab your eyes out with primary colours.
— Charlie Brooker

We wanted to create an environment where if a game player enjoyed the 'writing style' of a particular game designer, he or she could look for the next game by that same author and not be disappointed. — David Crane

China is exciting because it is an extremely curious and interested market. What more can a designer ask for? The client here is bold and willing to try new things, which a country with a long fashion history wouldn't dare. France or England is weighed down by all these rules, elaborate etiquette, do's and don'ts. Things here move incredibly quickly. — Michael Kors

I like to remind people that creativity also isn't a spark; it's a slog. Every artist, inventor, designer, writer, or other creative in the world will talk about his work being an iterative experience. He'll start with one idea, shape it, move it, combine it, break it, begin anew, discover something within himself, see a new vision, go at it again, test it, share it, fix it, break it, hone it, hone it, hone it, hone it. This might sound like common sense, but it's not common practice, and that's why so many people are terribly uncreative - they're not willing to do the work required to create something that's beautiful, useful, desirable, celebrated. No masterpiece was shaped or written in a day. It's a long slog to get something right. This knowledge and willingness to iterate is what makes the world's most creative people so creative (and successful). — Brendon Burchard

I'm not planning a kickstarter game. And I'm not really a game designer. — Charles Stross

I love being a fashion designer. — Roberto Cavalli

Every time you make the user make a decision they don't care about, you have failed as a designer. — Aza Raskin

Doing the eco-accessory thing doesn't have to mean giving up designer labels. In fact, quite the opposite. — Sheherazade Goldsmith

UX Design is a practical yet very thoughtful discipline, and a UX Designer's single most important skill is the ability to learn and adapt. — Chad Camara

A good designer has technical knowledge - don't treat her like someone who's there to decide whether something should be pink or orange. — Jeffrey Zeldman

Barbara was actually Jeff Foxworthy's interior designer when we first met. So, not only was Jeff responsible for my success in my career, he also introduced me to the woman who I'm going to spend the rest of my life with, which, I think, makes us even. — Ron White

I would love to persuade Christopher Bailey to get even just a section of Burberry that's, like, organic or free trade. I love him, he's a very good person and an amazing designer, and I have a lot of respect and time for him. — Emma Watson

A designer is a planner with an aesthetic sense. — Bruno Munari

The apparent pointlessness of fashion may be just what makes it so strong as a zeitgeist sensor. Even I, a designer, do not know why a certain proportion feels dated or why another one feels exciting at a given moment. I leave that to the cultural historians and theorists. — Jil Sander

We need tits and arse because they have got to be available to us; to be pawed, fucked, wanked over. Because we're men? No. Because we're consumers. Because those are things we like, things we intrinsically feel or have been conned into believing will give us value, release satisfaction. We value them so we need to at least have the illusion of their availability. For tits and arse read coke, crisps, speedboats, cars, houses, computers, designer labels, replica shirts. That's why advertising and pornography are similar; they sell the illusion of availability and the non-consequence of consumption. — Irvine Welsh

When I was writing my first draft, and feeling grandiose, I e-mailed an artist/clothing designer I know and suggested we collaborate on a fashion line inspired by the outfits my characters wore. I regret that we never did that. — Heidi Julavits

An athletic man, or whatever you want to call him, will only look good in a very classic suit, a pair of classic jeans, athletic clothes or simply naked. Forget fashion. This is not going to happen, unless you want to look like a Chippendales dancer in designer clothes. — Hedi Slimane

Ursula Nordstrom was famous for finding artists in unlikely places. Maurice Sendak was a window designer, and she just came across one of his windows. Everyone was looking to find a talent. — Peter Sis

The real tough thing is working with actors. I'm a designer and used to working with artists, so there is some familiarity with the personalities that come up, but actors are their own animal. — Rick Heinrichs

I saw my potential as artistic director, which is very different from designer. Fashion companies might have $200 million to $300 million in annual sales - Hugo Boss has €2.5 billion. I have to create a world that is believable and also relevant in 7,000 sales points around the world. — Jason Wu

Whatever one may think about the possibility of a designer, the prevailing doctrine - that the appearance of life from dead matter and its evolution through accidental mutation and natural selection to its present forms has involved nothing but the operation of physical law - cannot be regarded as unassailable. It is an assumption governing the scientific project rather than a well-confirmed scientific hypothesis. — Thomas Nagel

I'm sure every designer has a certain person in mind who they would ideally like to wear their clothes, but the problem is that a lot of the time that person doesn't actually exist, unless she is a 15-year-old model. — Kate Upton

Was that designer stubble on his jaw? — B. J. Daniels

People who say that yesterday was better than today are ultimately devaluing their own existence. — Karl Lagerfeld

Intuition, if you are fashion designer is really the key to everything. I just really have a feeling it's the right moment in time to create a new business model. Obviously I have facts and figures that could back that up. It isn't a gamble; it's a calculated risk. — Monita Rajpal

For an artist, there's nothing better than having the opportunity to create a world that doesn't- but could- exist. — Christophe Lautrette

The designer must think first and work later. — Will Burtin

Designer clothes worn by children are like snowsuits worn by adults. Few can carry it off successfully. — Fran Lebowitz

Maybe it's because I'm a designer, but when I am in a state of excitement, everything is so sharp and colorful and amazing, and I can look at blue and I see the yellow in it and the green in it, and the green-blues, the yellow-blues, so. — Tom Ford

I'm a designer, not a businesswoman. — Georgina Chapman

As the son of a racing car designer and mechanical engineer, I was exposed to motorsports from day one. — Charlie Kimball

It's a fact of life that how you dress affects how you are perceived and whether your contribution to a meeting is registered as worth listening to. It was most alarming the way people's attitudes changed when I started wearing my designer suits to committee meetings. Obviously, it's not just the clothes that count; you have got to have something worth saying. But it si true that some people's views are dismissed before they speak because others perceive them as just a secretary! — Stephanie Ellis

First and foremost, I'm a decorator and product designer. Everything I do, the television shows, the books, that comes from the design work. It's what I love. — Nate Berkus

No one ever said 'no' to me about anything. No one ever told me anything was wrong. Never. No one ever said, 'You can't be a fashion designer.' No one ever said, 'You're a boy and you can't take tap-dancing lessons.' No one ever said, 'You're a boy and you can't have long hair.' — Marc Jacobs

Steve Jobs changed my life. He also changed the life of every designer. — Yves Behar

That's where we find ourselves today. In a meeting with people who have no idea how to do our jobs, yet consistently find it their place to tell us how to do it. It's enough to drive any designer insane. — Tom Greever

As a fashion designer, I was always aware that I was not an artist, because I was creating something that was made to be sold, marketed, used, and ultimately discarded. — Tom Ford

I've been re-created by a designer who loves to recycle. My — Danielle Strickland

Prince William looks good in uniform and Man-at-Hackett black and white tie (he has grown up wearing it constantly); less certain in his suits, which sometimes look borderline archaic; and variable in casual. But completely comfortable in the Sloane uniform of non-designer jeans and chocolate-brown suede loafers. He'll look fine in Boden. — Peter York

I never claimed to be a computer engineer, but I did train as an industrial designer, and I am a consumer marketer, and I am very comfortable dealing with complex businesses and complexity in general and simplifying it - basically a systems designer. — John Sculley

You got your designer blue jeans, your designer shoes, your designer luggage. Now Miss Fancy Pants got her some designer pussy. — Susan Elizabeth Phillips

A good designer is not the one who best follows the prescriptive steps of a method or technique, or the one who knows "the solution" in advance. Rather, a good designer
can approach, appreciate, and assess a complex and unique design situation. — Jonas Lxf6wgren

Poor kids often dressed up. It was rich kids who dressed down, carefully assembling a blue-collar costume: eighty-dollar designer jeans that had been professionally faded and tattered and worn-out — Joe Hill

The designer of today re-establishes the long-lost contact between art and the public, between living people and art as a living thing. — Bruno Munari

I'm a designer, and for me, things are always evolving, and such evolution is necessary. — Raf Simons

I'm a fashion designer. What I do is artistic, but I'm not an artist because everything I do is destined to be sold. That's not to say that you can't be an artist and a fashion designer. I think some designers are artists. — Tom Ford

So many times I've wanted to crack up, standing there stiff while seven women are crawling round my toes fixing hems and the designer's having a freak-out because the denim cuffs are crooked. I'm on the verge of hysteria. — Helena Christensen

I'm a woman for all seasons. I mix 'n' match, do designer and high street - keep all my good pieces. I design all my evening and cocktail dresses most of the time as I dislike what is out there. — Joan Collins

There are three things you need to do as a CEO-founder," Rabois says: "Think strategically, drive design, and drive technology. Some people who are really good at one can build a pretty foundational company. Most people who are very successful are good at two. But Jack is the only person in the Valley I've met who's all three. He's a first-rate strategist, a first-rate designer, and a first-rate technologist. — Keith Rabois

Fashion is not necessarily about labels. It's not about brands. It's about something else that comes from within you. — Ralph Lauren

I don't think many people would think I'm a designer. I behave in a different way. I'd get knocked down and cut to pieces if I went home and flounced about; this industry is known for the flounciness, but I've got my feet on the ground. — Alice Temperley

Nowadays, the Abrahamic argument - just look at everything, how could it all be so awesome if there weren't a designer behind it? - has been judged wanting, at least in most scientific circles. But then again, now we have microscopes and telescopes and computers. We are not restricted to gaping at the moon from our cribs. We have data, lots of data, and we have the tools to mess with it. — Jordan Ellenberg

The grid system is an aid, not a guarantee. It permits a number of possible uses and each designer can look for a solution appropiate to his personal style. But one must learn how to use the grid; it is an art that requires practice. — Josef Muller-Brockmann

The greatest artist and web-designer ever is indeed a spider! — Munia Khan

I am always producing work, but there is always a sort of deadline where you have to finish work. I don't do it for a show. In other words, I am not like a fashion designer where I have a, you know - I have to put out the full line or I have to put out the summer line like that. — Robert Barry

I am deeply impressed with the designer of the universe; I am confident I couldnt have done anywhere near such a good job. — R. Buckminster Fuller