In the new computer age, the proliferation of typefaces and type manipulations represents a new level of visual pollution threatening our culture. Out of thousands of typefaces, all we need are a few basic ones, and trash the rest. Massimo Vignelli More Quotes by Massimo Vignelli More Quotes From Massimo Vignelli Good design is a matter of discipline. It starts by looking at the problem and collecting all the available information about it. If you understand the problem, you have the solution. It’s really more about logic than imagination. Massimo Vignelli design discipline imagination I like it to be visually powerful, intellectually elegant, and above all, timeless. Massimo Vignelli timeless all-time powerful The life of a designer is a life of fight. Fight against the ugliness. Just like a doctor fights against disease. For us, the visual disease is what we have around, and what we try to do is cure it somehow with design. Massimo Vignelli doctors fashion fighting There is no design without discipline. There is no discipline without intelligence. Massimo Vignelli graphic-design design discipline Styles come and go. Good design is a language, not a style. Massimo Vignelli style design language You can reach timelessness if you look for the essence of things and not the appearance. The appearance is transitory — the appearance is fashion, the appearance is trendiness — but the essence is timeless. Massimo Vignelli fashion essence looks If you do it right, it will last forever. Massimo Vignelli design lasts forever If you can design one thing, you can design everything. Massimo Vignelli graphic-design designer design Design is not art. Design is utilitarian, art is not. Massimo Vignelli utilitarian design art You do design because you feel it inside; you have a moral issue to spread quality in our environment. Massimo Vignelli issues design quality I see graphic design as the organization of information that is semantically correct, syntactically consistent and pragmatically understandable. Massimo Vignelli information design organization The first thing you need to make clear to a client is that you aren't there to answer his wants but to answer his needs. Massimo Vignelli answers want needs A grid is like underwear, you wear it but it's not to be exposed. Massimo Vignelli underwear grids consciousness Graphic Design is the communication of information in an appropriate visual manner. Massimo Vignelli information design communication In design, be logical, search for truth, be clear. Massimo Vignelli truth-is logical design So what is design all about? It [exists to] decrease the amount of vulgarity in the world ... to make the world a better place to be. It doesn’t have to be one style. We’re not talking about style, we’re talking about quality. Style is tangible, quality is intangible. I am talking about giving to everything that surrounds us a level of quality. Massimo Vignelli design talking giving Don't be governed by the grid, govern the grid. A grid is like a lion cage - if the trainer stays too long it gets eaten up. You have to know when to leave the cage - you have to know when to leave the grid. Massimo Vignelli cages lions long A designer without a sense of history is worth nothing Massimo Vignelli designer Intellectual elegance [is] a mind that is continually refining itself with education and knowledge. Intellectual elegance is the opposite of intellectual vulgarity. Massimo Vignelli intellectual mind opposites I don't think that type should be expressive at all. I can write the word 'dog' with any typeface and it doesn't have to look like a dog. But there are people that [think that] when they write 'dog' it should bark. Massimo Vignelli dog writing thinking
