I have a confession to make.

I am a bit of a “quote collector.” I have files upon files of quotes tucked away on my hard drive, post-its on my computer monitor, and littering my desk. Most are one-liners, each summing up a particular area of life and sharing a “pearl of wisdom” from the lives of great marketers, business people, or those who have a knack for motivating us mere mortals.

Each week I share some of these quotes via Twitter in a series called “1001 Marketing Messages in a Bottle,” and I thought I would share some of my favorite design quotes with you here today... 

“If it doesn’t sell, it isn’t creative.” – David Ogilvy

“It is no secret that the real world in which the designer functions is not the world of art, but the world of buying and selling.” – Paul Rand

“If a design isn’t profitable, then it’s art.” – Henrik Fiskar

Truly great graphic design has historically existed at the intersection of art and commerce. Whether design precedes copy or copy precedes design is largely irrelevant. What matters most is how you use these elements together in such a way as to create attention, interest, desire, and ultimately your desired action (AIDA). This may manifest itself as a website visitor signing up for your newsletter, requests a consultation, or picking up the phone to call you.

“Don’t try to be original, try to be good.” – Paul Rand

Originality for its own sake can often become a foolish attempt to stand out in an otherwise crowded marketplace, sometimes lacking the sophistication needed to tactically accomplish business goals. While pure originality undoubtedly has its place within design, you may find it far more useful to investigate what is already working well for companies within your niche, making small changes that best reflect your unique selling proposition (USP), and testing metrics generated from that “base line” approach against the more “outside the box” ideas.

“Simplicity is not the goal, it is the by product of a good idea.” – Paul Rand

“Simplicity is the ultimate form of sophistication.” – Leonardo Da Vinci

Staring at the proverbial “blank slate” that is a new website, can sometimes be overwhelming. How will you fill all of this space, after all? This can lead to haphazard navigation, confusing layout, and a virtual mish-mash of content that is enough to frustrate even the most interested of website visitors. A more progressive approach is to build your sitemap with an intuitive hierarchy, one that gently guides your visitors toward your most coveted content,…and ultimately conversion.

“Design is thinking made visual.” – Saul Bass

It is sometimes difficult to take yourself out of the design process, to stand back from what you are creating and, instead, attempt to whole-heartedly see your design as a client might see it. Nonetheless, this is an approach that would be foolish to ignore. A little bit of research into proven and time tested design techniques, those which have a track-record for understanding and working well with the ways visitors are thinking, will usually go a long way toward achieving the desired results.

“Design is not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works.” – Steve Jobs

“Design is as much an act of spacing as an act of marking.” – Ellen Lupton

Good design is obvious, great design is transparent.” – Joe Sparano

“Clean” is often a word that has been used to describe great design. You do not have to go much further than the Apple iPhone, iPad or Mac to appreciate how a minimalist approach is, often times, the most effective. Customers have become accustomed to simple, intuitive functionality. The type that doesn’t make you think too hard, and can be adapted quickly and transparently. Google is a wonderful example of how this can be accomplished through website design. While your site undoubtedly requires more than 2 buttons, as the Google site has,  you might try to “cut the fat” out of your website design and showcase the most important elements for your visitors.

“Have no fear of perfection. You’ll never reach it.” – Salvador Dali

Possibly the greatest trait any website design inherently possesses is that nothing is “permanent.” In fact, it behooves us to tinker, to test, to continuously improve upon our original assumptions. Traditionally marketers relied on surveying and focus groups as an attempt to “get inside the heads” of potential customers prior to spending large sums of money on their outbound campaigns. While marketers still strive to get it right the first time, Inbound Marketing gracefully bends to accommodate the inevitable adjustments and allows for quick changes to strategy.

“Design is a plan for arranging elements in such a way as best to accomplish a particular purpose.” – Charles Eames

“You got to be careful if you don’t know where you’re going, because you might not get there.” – Yogi Berra

There is still a place for diligently planning your website design within the confines of Inbound Marketing. It is important to begin the design process by viewing your site structure with a keen eye towards the way your sales funnel is to be structured. Great design is there to elegantly aid your prospects through this sales funnel for you. It is imperative that it has been well thought out.

“It’s a poor workman who blames his tools.” – Unknown

“You can’t do better design with a computer, but you can speed up your work tremendously.” – Wim Crouwel

While using any CMS has its unique brand of limitations, it usually offers up far more in the way of amazing functionality and ultimate ease of use. A good designer will use BOTH these limitations and functionalities in order to maximize the effectiveness of his tools. Further, any designer worth his/her salt should posses not only a full understanding of the tools at their disposal, but be well versed in a variety of techniques to create an optimal design. This should include the entire spectrum; from the latest in design software, to old-fashioned “pen on paper” design.

“Design should never say, “Look at me.” It should always say, “Look at this.” – David Craib

Your website designer should, from the very first consultation, be substantially more interested in listening about your business and your customers needs than spouting off about their particular skill set or the techniques they employ. He/she should make it abundantly clear that their participation in your design project is in no way a self-serving act, but rather an effort to best work as part of your team and to help you meet your business goals.

“A camel is a horse designed by a committee.” – Sir Alec Issigonis

Committees are an inevitable reality in the business world. Great design is not necessarily always accomplished through consensus. This can sometimes be a tricky proposition when your company’s bottom line is directly related to the performance of your website. A good designer understands this, and is adept at keeping open lines of communication with your entire team, taking their input or suggestions to heart. A great designer will also be prepared to easily offer their suggestions and input while having your company’s best interests at heart too.

“Technology over technique produces emotionless design.” – Daniel Mall

A professional graphic designer will make a hundred tiny decisions during your project in order to convey the desired emotional response. This process begins with a mastery of technique. Much like a skilled carpenter or craftsman, at times very subtle techniques are employed “under the surface” that will act to best support the “weight” of your overall messaging. Technology is a wonderful tool to efficiently produce results, but without the hard-earned knowledge to support his/her decisions your design may actually be a house of cards.

“People ignore design that ignores people.” – Frank Chimero

“Design in the absence of content is not design, it’s decoration.” – Jeffery Zeldman

A website design, when done at the highest level, is a seemingly effortless marriage of content, design, and human interaction. Remove content and you have an art museum. Remove design and you have a dry, dictionary-like experience. Remove human interaction and you are left with a beautiful waste of time. But when all three are intelligently accounted for some amazing things begin to happen. Purposeful customer relationships are built, quality leads are generated, and measurable traffic driven to your doors/website.

What are your favorite quotes? The ones stuck to your monitor with a post-it? Share with us in the comments below!