The design of the Mac wasn't what it looked like although that was part of it. Primarily it was how it worked. To design something really well you have to get it. You have to really grok what it's all about. It takes a passionate commitment to really thoroughly understand something chew it up not just quickly swallow it.
In most people's vocabularies design means veneer. It's interior decorating. It's the fabric of the curtains and the sofa. But to me nothing could be further from the meaning of design.
Design is the fundamental soul of a man-made creation that ends up expressing itself in successive outer layers of the product or service. The iMac is not just the color or translucence or the shape of the shell. The essence of the iMac is to be the finest possible consumer computer in which each element plays together.
If I knew for a certainty that a man was coming to my house with the conscious design of doing me good I should run for my life.
Design is a funny word. Some people think design means how it looks. But of course if you dig deeper it's really how it works.
A lot of people in our industry haven't had very diverse experiences. So they don't have enough dots to connect and they end up with very linear solutions without a broad perspective on the problem. The broader one's understanding of the human experience the better design we will have.
A common mistake that people make when trying to design something completely foolproof is to underestimate the ingenuity of complete fools.
If you don't design your own life plan chances are you'll fall into someone else's plan. And guess what they have planned for you? Not much.
Happiness is not something you postpone for the future it is something you design for the present.
Design is directed toward human beings. To design is to solve human problems by identifying them and executing the best solution.
To design is to communicate clearly by whatever means you can control or master.
Outside of the chair the teapot is the most ubiquitous and important design element in the domestic environment and almost everyone who has tackled the world of design has ended up designing one.
Designs of purely arbitrary nature cannot be expected to last long.
Design is an unknown.
I would think twice about designing stuff for which there was no need and which didn't endure.
The design of each element should be thought out in order to be easy to make and easy to repair.
A designer is only as good as the star who wears her clothes.
Design is people.
What is design? It's where you stand with a foot in two worlds - the world of technology and the world of people and human purposes - and you try to bring the two together.
I think there is a new awareness in this 21st century that design is as important to where and how we live as it is for museums concert halls and civic buildings.
So to really execute design in its highest form and making people feel joy that's a great reward.
The proper study of mankind is the science of design.
In my opinion no single design is apt to be optimal for everyone.
Accessible design is good design.