26 Inspirational Graphic Design Quotes From Famous Designers

In a design slump? Clients or boss making you want to rage quit? Or maybe you’re just feeling a bit uninspired and need to be reminded how much you love graphic design. We’ve selected these famous graphic design quotes to inspire you and boost your motivation through a challenging project (or just a random afternoon).

All these quotes focus on real issues designers face every day, such as the importance of producing original work, embracing simplicity, dealing with criticism and the business of design.

Originality

Sometimes it feels like everything’s been done before and coming up with original ideas is an impossible task. These graphic design quotes about originality will inspire you to challenge the ordinary and remind you that you can’t (and shouldn’t) try and please everyone. And if people start stealing your ideas, you must be onto something great.

It is far easier to build something new than to rework someone else’s attempt.

Adam Judge is the author of the The Little Black Book of Design.

Do not seek to change what has come before. Seek to create that which has not.

David Airey is an independent graphic designer who specializes in logo design and brand identity. He’s the author of Logo Design Love.

Don’t design for everyone. It’s impossible. All you end up doing is designing something that makes everyone unhappy.

Leisa Reichelt is head of Research & Insights at Atlassian.

Don’t worry about people stealing your ideas, worry about the day they stop.

Jeffrey Zeldman is a web designer who founded the magazine A List Apart. He’s also the author of Designing with Web Standards.

Good design is all about making other designers feel like idiots because that idea wasn’t theirs.

Frank Chimero is a designer and illustrator. He’s author of the book The Shape of Design.

When you make something no one hates, no one loves it.

Tibor Kalman was a graphic designer best known as the editor of Colors Magazine.

Simplicity

These graphic design quotes are all about achieving design simplicity without losing meaning. It sounds pretty simple, but it’s one of the great challenges designers face very day.

Design is so simple. That’s why it is so complicated.

Paul Rand was a graphic designer who designed some of the most famous logos in the world including IBM, UPS and ABC.

Good design is obvious. Great design is transparent.

Joe Sparano is a designer, educator and self confessed Taco Bell lover.

Get rid of everything that is not essential to making a point.

Christoph Niemann is a graphic designer and author of many books, including several children’s books.

Simplicity is about subtracting the obvious and adding the meaningful.

John Maeda is a designer, business executive and author of the book The Laws of Simplicity.

Failure & criticism

No one likes failure and criticism. In fact most designers are terrified of it. These quotes will encourage you to embrace them as a necessary part of being truly creative as well as a tool for learning how to be better at your craft.

Never fall in love with an idea. They’re whores. If the one you’re with isn’t doing the job, there’s always, always, always another.

Chip Kidd is a graphic designer best known for designing book covers. He’s also authored several book including Go, an introduction to graphic design.

Do not seek praise, seek criticism.

Paul Arden was a designer and advertising executive best known as the creative director of Saatchi & Saatchi.

If you’re not prepared to be wrong, you’ll never come up with anything original.

Sir Ken Robinson is a author, speaker and advocate for education in the arts.

An essential aspect of creativity is not being afraid to fail.

Edwin H. Land was an inventor best known as the co-founder of the Polaroid Corporation.

The business of design

These quotes about the business aspects of graphic design are a reminder that companies should ignore good design at their peril.

Good design is good business.

Thomas J. Watson was the first CEO of IBM and ran the company for over 40 years. The Watson super computer is named after him.

Design adds value faster than it adds cost.

Joel Spolsky is a software engineer and writer. He’s also the creator of the project management software Trello and co-founder of Stack Overflow.

If you think good design is expensive, you should look at the cost of bad design. Ralf Speth is the current CEO of Jaguar Land Rover.

Graphic design solves problems

Non designers often think of graphic design as simply ‘art’. It certainly is art, but that’s only part of the story. These quotes are a reminder that the goal of graphic design is above all to solve communication problems and meet clear objectives.

Effective problem solving in design requires a balance of strategy and spontaneity, intelligence and creativity.

Maggie Macnab is a designer, author and educator interested in logo design.

I see design as a matter of solving problems; art as a matter of inventing them.

Karl Gerstner was a graphic designer and typographer who founded the Swiss advertising agency GGK.

Good design begins with honesty, asks tough questions, comes from collaboration and from trusting your intuition.

Freeman Thomas is an automotive industrial designer best know for designing the Audi TT roadster sports car.

Design is art optimized to meet objectives.

Shimon Shmueli is a consultant and facilitator in the areas of product design, user experience and product management.

Design is thinking made visual.

Saul Bass was a graphic designer known for his movie posters and logo designs. He designed the the AT&T globe logo and the United Airlines tulip logo.

Design is the conscious effort to impose a meaningful order.

Victor Papanek was a designer and educator who advocated for the design in environmentally conscious and useful products.

Fight the ugly

We are constantly surrounded by design – some of it great and some of it horrifying. These quotes are a reminder that it’s your sworn duty as a designer to fight the ugly and replace it with awesomeness.

There are three responses to a piece of design – yes, no, and WOW! Wow is the one to aim for.

Milton Glaser is a graphic designer best known for creating the I Heart New York logo and founding New York Magazine.

The life of a designer is a life of fight. Fight against the ugliness.

Massimo Vignelli was an package and furniture designer. He also redesigned the New York Subway map in 1972.

The alternative to good design is always bad design. There’s no such thing as no design.

Adam Judge is the author of the The Little Black Book of Design.