Updated 5/22/2022: This was our most popular post of 2021. To celebrate, we’ve added even more quotes.
We asked some of our favorite folks in the InVision community to share the quotations about creativity, collaboration, and design that have stuck with them throughout their careers. We also shared some advice we’ve gleaned from contributors to Inside Design and guests on the Design Better Podcast. Without further ado, here are those nuggets of wisdom.
“Emotional intelligence, more than any other factor, more than I.Q. or expertise, accounts for 85% to 90% of success at work… I.Q. is a threshold competence. You need it, but it doesn’t make you a star. Emotional intelligence can.”
–Warren G. Bennis, American scholar, organizational consultant, and author
“I don’t think it’s an accident that there’s a mirror at the heart of every large telescope. If we want to find another Earth, that means we want to find another us. We think we’re worth knowing. We want to be a light in somebody else’s sky. And so long as we keep looking for each other, we will never be alone.”
–Sara Seager, astrophysicist, planetary scientist at MIT, and author
“When you really go for inclusion and belonging, that’s when you start to see retention. That’s when you start to see innovation and heightened creativity.”
–Detria Williamson, former Chief Marketing Officer of IDEO
“The moment we cease to hold each other, the moment we break faith with one another, the sea engulfs us and the light goes out.”
–James Baldwin
“It is the long history of humankind (and animal kind, too) that those who learned to collaborate and improvise most effectively have prevailed.”
–Charles Darwin
“You must develop trust within your organization to create a fearless mentality that is supportive, aligned and collaborative.”
–Shawn Johnson, Former GVP Product and Design for Discovery+, Discovery, NBCUniversal, & Microsoft
“An indistractable workplace is one that gives people psychological safety to talk about the problem”
–Nir Eyal, bestselling author of Hooked and Indistractable
“We should use our opinions to start discussions, not to end them.”
–Madeleine Albright, American diplomat and political scientist who served as the 64th United States secretary
“I find the challenge of whether I can change and adapt to collaborate with other people exciting.”
–Dr. John Maeda, Chief technology officer of Everbridge
“I suppose I must set to work to write something better, if I can…I think I should be able in a couple of days to do something. However I should be decedibly inclined to swear at you.”
–A frustrated Ada Lovelace to Charles Babbage (after some notes were lost and needed to be re-written) during their collaboration to invent the world’s first computer
“Relationships are our greatest learning experiences.”
–Debbie Millman, American writer, educator, artist, curator, and designer (best known as the host of the podcast Design Matters)
“Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much.”
–Helen Keller
“…the 4 Cs (Critical thinking, Community, Communication, Connection) enables participants to create something bigger and better than they can on their own.”
–Bryant Alexander, Program Manager, Talent Acquisition Enablement, Uber (on the company values session he created for Uber)
“If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.”
–African Proverb
“Individually, we are one drop. Together, we are an ocean.”
–Ryunosuke Satoro
“It takes two flints to make a fire.”
–Louisa May Alcott
“Technics and wisdom are not by any means opposed. On the contrary, the duty of our age… is to unite them in a supreme humility which will result in a totally self-forgetful creativity and service.”
–Thomas Merton, American Trappist monk, writer, theologian, mystic, poet, social activist and scholar of comparative religion
“Compromise is not a sign of the collapse of one’s moral conscience. It is a sign of its strength, for there is nothing more necessary to a moral conscience than the recognition that other people have one, too.”
–Adam Gopnik, American writer and essayist
“Despite our initial friction, our team had an undeniable chemistry…we just happened to have the right mix of personalities. A genuine respect for each other is key. I haven’t had a team with that level of chemistry before or since. Having a topic that everybody is heavily invested in and committed to makes all the difference.”
–Sara Seager, astrophysicist, planetary scientist at MIT, and author (discussing team dynamics for the Mission Concept study to Venus project)
“Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence win championships.”
– Michael Jordan
Related: How I beat creative burnout
“Live in the leading—the spaces in between the rules.” –Stefan Mumaw
Dani Cowles, Graphic Designer at HES
- Image from Inside Design at Sprout Social
“Have no fear of perfection—you’ll never reach it.” –Salvador Dali
Sarah Rose, Front End Manager at Northern Commerce
“The alternative to good design is always bad design. There is no such thing as no design.”–Adam Judge
Matheus Menezes, Product Designer at Clubinvest
“Good design is like a refrigerator—when it works, no one notices, but when it doesn’t, it sure stinks.” –Irene Au
Damian Jolley, UI Designer
“Design is not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works.” –Steve Jobs
Samantha Zhang, Design Lead at Graphiq
“It’s easier to ask forgiveness than it is to get permission.”–Grace Hopper
Kathy Sirui Liu, Senior UX Researcher at LearnVest
“Digital design is like painting, except the paint never dries.” -Neville Brody
Steffenee Miller, Web Designer at Digital Resource
“Creativity is a highfalutin word for the work I have to do between now and Tuesday.” –Ray Kroc
Jevon Young, Content/UX Ogre at CleverOgre
“Creativity is nothing but a mind set free.” –Torrie T. Asai
Akanse A. Anago, Graphic Designer
“Art is anything you can get away with.” –Marshal McLuhan
John Lyttle, Senior Graphic Designer at Lester Communications
“Design transcends agenda. It speaks to the politics of optimism.” –Paul Bennett
Alicia Kranjc, Product Development Associate, NowPow
“It’s through mistakes that you actually can grow. You have to get bad in order to get good.” –Paula Scher
Tanner Garbutt, Agency Project Manager at Web.com
“Get rid of everything that is not essential to making a point.” –Christoph Niemann
Bill Lord, Creative Technologist at Mad*Pow
Related: This is why you have all your best ideas in the shower
“The role of the designer is that of a good, thoughtful host anticipating the needs of his guests.” –Charles Eames
Tim Heiler, Design Director at iconstorm digital design
“Graphic design will save the world right after rock and roll does.” –David Carson
Davide Rotta, Graphic Designer at Matrix Internet
“Creativity is nothing but the way to solve new problems.”
Diana Santos, Product Strategist and Manager at Intelia
“Make it simple, but significant.” –Don Draper
Łukasz Łukasiewicz, Designer
“Design can be art. Design can be simple. That’s why it’s so complicated.” –Paul Rand
Bojan Kocijan, UX/UI Designer at CONDA
“Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.” –Leonardo da Vinci
Pedro Pinto Coelho Gil, Designer and Creative Strategist at PACSIS
“Whitespace is like air: it is necessary for design to breathe.” –Wojciech Zieliński
Jeffrey Geleijn, Visual/Motion Designer at Unc Inc.
“Leave it better than you found it.” –Bruce A. Nordstrom
Aleksandr Hvorostyany, Designer at Funkytag
“Look at usual things with unusual eyes.” –Vico Magistretti
Giorgio Laboratore, owner of Studio Lido
“People ignore designs that ignore people” –Frank Chimero
Ramona, Business Analyst at Nexstream SDN BHD
- Image from Inside Design: GoPro
“You don’t have to be ‘a creative’ to be creative.” –Drory Ben-Menachem
Christoph Wojciechowski, Designer
“I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by.” -Douglas Adams
Ferran Alvarez, Freelance UX/Interaction Designer
“For every complex problem, there is an answer that is clear, simple, and wrong.” –H. L. Mencken
Josef Strapáč, Designer
“Design is thinking made visual.” –Saul Bass
Marina Caramagno, Visual Designer at USEEDS
“Good design is honest.” –Dieter Rams
Abhilash Pillai, Senior UX Researcher, Freshworks
“The best way to predict the future is to create it” –Abraham Lincoln
Bruno Peccoud, Head of Design, Fairfest Media
“To design is much more than simply to assemble, to order, or even to edit: it is to add value and meaning, to illuminate, to simplify, to clarify, to modify, to dignify, to dramatize, to persuade, and perhaps even to amuse. To design is to transform prose into poetry.” –Paul Rand
Maryna Smit, UX Practitioner, Sage
“Recognizing the need is the primary condition for design.” –Charles Eames
Michael McWatters, UX Architect at TED
“How well we communicate is determined not by how well we say things, but how well we are understood.” –Andrew Grove
Jane Portman, UI/UX Consultant and Trainer at UI Breakfast
“Good design is obvious. Great design is transparent.” –Joe Sparano
Danny Schreiber, Marketing Director at Zapier
“Where do new ideas come from? The answer is simple: differences. Creativity comes from unlikely juxtapositions.” –Nicholas Negroponte
Anthony Armendariz, Partner and Head of Design at Funsize
“Do not seek praise. Seek criticism.” –Paul Arden
Dom Goodrum, VP of Design at Percolate
“If you’re going to try, go all the way. There is no other feeling like that. You will be alone with the gods, and the nights will flame with fire. You will ride life straight to perfect laughter. It’s the only good fight there is.” –Paraphrased from Charles Bukowski’s poem “Roll the Dice”
Todd Ross Nienkerk, CEO, Co-founder, and Digital Strategist at Four Kitchens
“The goal of a designer is to listen, observe, understand, sympathize, empathize, synthesize, and glean insights that enable him or her to ‘make the invisible visible.’ –Hillman Curtis
Sarah Doody, UX Designer and Founder of The UX Notebook
“Styles come and go. Good design is a language, not a style.” –Massimo Vignelli
Joe Toscano, Experience Designer for R/GA at Google
“Those who don’t build must burn.” –Ray Bradbury
Samantha Soper, UI/UX Developer at Golfsmith International
“It is not enough that we build products that function, that are understandable and usable, we also need to build products that bring joy and excitement, pleasure and fun, and, yes, beauty to people’s lives.” –Don Norman
Dawn Ta, UX Design Manager at ResMed
“If you think good design is expensive, you should look at the cost of bad design.” –Ralf Speth
Cassius Kiani, Partner at Mikleo
“You don’t think your way to creative work. You work your way to creative thinking.” –George Nelson
Blake Sirach, Chief Experience Officer at WillowTree
“If you do it right, it will last forever.” –Massimo Vignelli
Tess Herrmann, Creative Director at DocuSign
“I have several times made a poor choice by avoiding a necessary confrontation.” –John Cleese
Ghaida Zahran, Product Designer at Change.org
“Everything is designed. Few things are designed well.” -Brian Reed
Mark Lamb, Senior Experience Design Lead at Adobe
“If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses.” –Henry Ford
Aaron Epstein, Co-founder of Creative Market
“Creativity is to discover a question that has never been asked. If one brings up an idiosyncratic question, the answer he gives will necessarily be unique as well.” -Kenya Hara
Ollie Khakwani, Product Designer at Inkling
“Design is a solution to a problem. Art is a question to a problem.” –John Maeda
Nick Yeh, Lead Product Designer of Mobile Apps at Citrix Systems
“There is no design without discipline. There is no discipline without intelligence.” –Massimo Vignelli
Lisa Ding, Product Designer at Twitter
“Design everything on the assumption that people are not heartless or stupid but marvelously capable, given the chance.” –John Chris Jones
Daniel Hightower, CEO and Co-Founder of Clariture
“Perfection is achieved not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.” –Antoine de Saint-Exupery
Jonathan Smiley, Principal UX Designer at Quantcast
“Leave it better than you found it.” –Robert Baden-Powell
Akshay Singh, Growth and Marketing at Creative Market
“There is no such thing as a boring project. There are only boring executions.” –Irene Etzkorn
Scott Shell, Senior Interactive Designer
“Simplicity is about subtracting the obvious and adding the meaningful.” –John Maeda
Elysse Bonner, Product Designer
“The time it takes to make a decision increases as the number of alternatives increases.” –William Edmund Hick
Vee-O, Creative Director at Weebly
“Sometimes when you innovate, you make mistakes. It is best to admit them quickly, and get on with improving your other innovations.” –Steve Jobs
David Ghent, Product Designer at Pivotal Labs
“Simplicity is not the goal. It is the by-product of a good idea and modest expectations.” –Paul Rand
Jeff Hilnbrand, Product at Creative Market
“Simplicity, wit, and good typography.” –Michael Bierut
Tian Jiang, Art Director at Salesforce
“Design is more important than technology in most consumer applications.” –Dave McClure
Zack Onisko, Chief Growth Officer at Creative Market
“Practice safe design: Use a concept.” –Petrula Vrontikis
Jacob Swift, UX Lead at Salesforce
“They don’t want quarter-inch bits. They want quarter-inch holes.” –Leo McGinneva
Mitchell Joe, UX Designer and Researcher
“The future belongs to a different kind of person with a different kind of mind: artists, inventors, storytellers-creative and holistic ‘right-brain’ thinkers whose abilities mark the fault line between who gets ahead and who doesn’t.” –Daniel Pink
Cole Fox, CEO and Co-Founder of ProtoHack
“Only those who attempt the absurd will achieve the impossible.” –M.C. Escher
Ian Ernzer, Lead Digital Designer at Butchershop
“The details are not the details. They make the design.” –Charles Eames
Jiyoung Kim, UX Designer
“Great design is a multi-layered relationship between human life and its environment.” –Naoto Fukasawa
Marcus Pérez Cervantes, Lead Product Designer at Citrix
“Above all, think of life as a prototype. We can conduct experiments, make discoveries, and change our perspectives. We can look for opportunities to turn processes into projects that have tangible outcomes. We can learn how to take joy in the things we create whether they take the form of a fleeting experience or an heirloom that will last for generations. We can learn that reward comes in creation and re-creation, no just in the consumption of the world around us. Active participation in the process of creation is our right and our privilege. We can learn to measure the success of our ideas not by our bank accounts by their impact on the world.” –Tim Brown
Chris Chappelle, Lead Designer at Bright Funds
“Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler.” –Albert Einstein
Drew Bridewell, Senior Design Specialist at InVision
“Creativity is only as obscure as your reference.” –Unknown via Aaron Wiggan
Chris Linden, Art Director and Designer
“There’s the whole Buddhist thing about the essence of a bowl being its emptiness—that’s why it’s useful. Its emptiness allows it to hold something. I guess that means that design must talk about something else. If you make design about design, you’re just stacking bowls, and that’s not what bowls are for.” –Frank Chimero
Mandy Collins, Marketing Designer at Remind
“Get in over your head as often and as joyfully as possible.” –Alexander Isley
Andrew Peters, Director of User Experience Strategy at EPIC
“Design is so simple. That’s why it’s so complicated.” –Paul Rand
Debby Chiang, Graphic Designer
“Any intelligent fool can make things bigger and more complex. It takes a touch of genius—and a lot of courage—to move in the opposite direction.” –E. F. Schumacher
John Torres, Product designer at Nutanix
“Good designers must always be avant-gardists, always one step ahead of the times. They should–and must–question everything generally thought to be obvious. They must have an intuition for people’s changing attitudes. For the reality in which they live, for their dreams, their desires, their worries, their needs, their living habits. They must also be able to assess realistically the opportunities and bounds of technology.” –Dieter Rams
David Oberholtzer, Lead UX Designer at Gensler
“No. I don’t think the Empire had Wookiees in mind when they designed it, Chewie.” –Han Solo to Chewbacca about the Tydirium imperial shuttle they’re flying
Giuliano Manno, Senior Software Engineer/UX Designer at Meltwater San Francisco
“Any product that needs a manual to work is broken.” –Elon Musk
Antonio Marzo, Founder of Zen Shopping
“Artists can have greater access to reality; they can see patterns and details and connections that other people, distracted by the blur of life, might miss. Just sharing that truth can be a very powerful thing.” –Jay-Z
Harrison Wheeler, Lead Designer at Base
“A designer is an emerging synthesis of artist, inventor, mechanic, objective economist, and evolutionary strategist.” –Buckminster Fuller
Hunter Block, Director of Project Strategy at Parade SF
“A user interface is like a joke. If you have to explain it, it’s not that good.” –Martin LeBlanc, Iconfinder
Jess Hamilton, Sr. UX/UI Designer at GoPro
“Design isn’t crafting a beautiful textured button with breathtaking animation. It’s figuring out if there’s a way to get rid of the button altogether.” –Edward Tufte
Abigail Beck, Product Designer at Twitter
“Innovators have to be open. They have to be able to imagine things that others cannot and be willing to challenge their own preconceptions. They also need to be conscientious. An innovator who has brilliant ideas but lacks the discipline and persistence to carry them out is merely a dreamer … But crucially, innovators need to be disagreeable … They are people willing to take social risks—to do things that others might disapprove of.” –Malcolm Gladwell
Kate Braham, Mobile Designer at Raizlabs
“I would be happy to learn just half the stuff I already thought I learned.” –Unknown
Artiom Dashinsky, Designer and Maker
“Put hot triggers in the path of motivated people.” –B.J. Fogg
Stanford Rosenthal, UX Designer at LinkedIn
“The work you do while you procrastinate is probably the work you should be doing for the rest of your life.” –Jessica Hische
Darren Wong, Interactive Designer
“As we decrease uncertainty, we give ourselves permission to increase fidelity.” –Jonathan Irwin
Mike Long, Product Designer at Pivotal
“Curiosity about life in all its aspects, I think, is still the secret of great creative people.” –Leo Burnett
Thom Milkovic, Designer and UX Strategist
“Less is more work.” –Patric McCue
Andy Proehl, Principal Designer at Meltwater
“Design is an opportunity to continue telling the story, not just to sum everything up.” –Tate Linden
Jonathan Hammer, Senior Lead UX/UI and Visual Designer at Advent Software
“The most profound technologies are those that disappear. They weave themselves into the fabric of everyday life until they are indistinguishable from it.” –Mark Weiser
Ana Rosario, User Experience Researcher
“Y’all talk about UX like it’s just another feature. For a user, it literally is the product. Full stop. Everything else is inside baseball.” –Startup L. Jackson Twitter account
Quintin Carlson, Product Designer at Inkling
“Design and art are independent coordinates that provide their greatest satisfactions when experienced simultaneously.” –Milton Glaser
Josh Johnson, Inbound Marketing Manager at Creative Market
“Here is one of the few effective keys to the design problem: the ability of the designer to recognize as many of the constraints as possible; his willingness and enthusiasm for working within these constraints.” –Charles Eames
Jim Gasperini, Senior User Experience Designer at Hotwire
“Good design is obvious. Great design is transparent.” –Joe Sparano
Aaron McCullough, Head of Product and Design at Buzzstarter
“When you believe a thing, believe it all the way, implicitly and unquestionably.” –Walt Disney
Brad Aldridge, Lead Designer at Butchershop
“Content precedes design. Design in the absence of content is not design, it’s decoration.” –Jeffrey Zeldman
Matthew Moore, Growth Designer at Uber
“The soul never thinks without an image.” –Aristotle
Bronwen Abbattista, Product Designer
“Do good work for good people.” –Aaron Draplin
Jordan DiSanto, Product Designer at Remind
“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.” –Aristotle
Lindsay Mindler, Head of Design at Remind
“Design creates culture. Culture shapes values. Values determine the future.” –Robert L. Peters
Cameron Reynolds-Flatt, UX Designer at Remind
“If you’re not prepared to be wrong, you’ll never come up with anything original.” –Sir Ken Robinson
Ian Fike, Product Designer at Remind
“The best ideas come as jokes. Make your thinking as funny as possible.” –David Ogilvy
Joe Lee, Product Designer at Remind
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Margaret Kelsey leads content marketing at Appcues. Before Appcues, she built content programs for InVision’s design community for 3.5 years and has roots in painting and PR. She’s a big fan of puns, Blackbird Donuts, and Oxford commas—probably in that order.
