The Tribune

Graphic designers sometimes fall prey to procrastination. But procrastination is just one of the creative jinxes that prevent these artists from hitting their full potential. Equally, self-criticism and lack of creative energy are other self-inflicted obstacles that tend to present road blocks.

Here are a few stimulating quotes that may lift the mood, and hopefully avoid disappointments 20 years from now through the things that were not done, as opposed to the things that should have been done.

*Fall down seven times; get up eight” - Japanese Proverb

“Don’t worry about people stealing your design work. Worry about the day they stop” – Jeffrey Zeldman

“Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication – Leonardo Da Vinci

“Good design is obvious. Great design is transparent” - Joe Sparano

“Practice safe design; Use a concept” - Petrula Vrontikis

“Design is intelligence made visible” – Alina Wheeler

“Design creates culture. Culture shapes values. Values determine the future” – Robert L. Peters

“The worst logo applied well is better than the best logo applied poorly” – Jacob Cass

“I am always doing that which I cannot do, in order that I may learn how to do it” – Pablo Picasso

“Design is not the narrow application of formal skills; it is a way of thinking” – Chris Pullman

“Do not seek to change what has come before. Seek to create that which has not” – David Airey

“Owning a camera doesn’t make you a photographer” – Gabriel Von Satzger

“When I hear somebody sigh: ‘Life is hard’, I am always tempted to ask: ‘Compared to what?’” – Sydney Harris

“Technology over technique produces emotionless design” – Daniel Mall

“Be stimulated by rejection” – Bob Gill

“Setting an example is not the main means of influencing others; it is the only means” – Albert Einstein

“An idea can turn to dust or magic, depending on the talent that rubs against it” – Bill Bernbach

“Many great ideas go unexecuted, and many great executioners are without ideas. One without the other is worthless” – Tim Blixseth

“Design isn’t finished until somebody is using it” – Brenda Laurel

“Everything is designed. Few things are designed well” – Brian Reed

“Stop looking at yourself as a designer, and start thinking of yourself as a deliverer of ideas” – Stle Melvr

“Designing a product is designing a relationship” – Steve Rogers

“A designer is a planner with an aesthetic sense” – Bruno Munari

“Have the passion, take the action and magic will happen” – Bar Rafaeli

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

“Form follows function” – Louis Sullivan

“Design is where science and art break even” – Robin Mathew

“You miss 100 per cent of the shots you don’t take” – Wayne Gretzky

“Imagination is more important than knowledge” – Albert Einstein

“When you play it too safe, you’re taking the biggest risk of your life. Time is the only wealth we’re given” – Barbara Sher

“The life of a designer is a life of fight: fight against the ugliness” – Massimo Vignelli

“The art of being wise is the art of knowing what to overlook” – William James

“A designer knows he has achieved perfection not when there is nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take away” - Antoine de Saint-Exupery

“There is no design without discipline. There is no discipline without intelligence” – Massimo Vignelli

“Good design is good business” – Thomas J. Watson Jr

“He who dares… Wins!” – Del Boy

“Many things difficult to design, prove easy to perform” – Samuel Johnson

“The opposite of play is not work — it’s depression” – Stuart Brown

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

“Behold the turtle. He makes progress only when he sticks his neck out” – James B. Conant

“Colour does not add a pleasant quality to design – it reinforces it” – Pierre Bonnard

“It is better to be boldly decisive and risk being wrong than to agonise at length and be right too late” – Marilyn Moats Kennedy

“If you want to stand out, don’t be different. Be outstanding” – Meredith West

“Design is the conscious effort to impose a meaningful order” – Victor Papanek

“I cannot give you the formula for success, but I can give you the formula for failure - which is: Try to please everybody” – Herbert Bayard Swope

“No design works unless it embodies ideas that are held common by the people for whom the object is intended” – Adrian Forty

“Success does not consist in never making blunders, but in never making the same one a second time” – Josh Billings

“Design is easy. All you do is stare at the screen until drops of blood form on your forehead” – Marty Neumeier

“If you have no critics you’ll likely have no success” – Malcolm X

“Faith is taking the first step even when you don’t see the whole staircase” – Martin Luther King, Jr

“Good design is a lot like clear thinking made visual” – Edward Tufte

“The man who has no imagination has no wings” – Muhammad Ali

“I am always doing that which I cannot do, in order that I may learn how to do it” – Pablo Picasso

“Math is easy; design is hard” – Jeffrey Veen

Hopefully these quotes were encouraging. If they were not, I highly recommend a book called ‘Getting Things Done’ by David Allen. One of my favourite quotes is by Booker T. Washington: “Success is not to be measured by the position someone has reached in life, but the obstacles he has overcome while trying to succeed”. Until we meet again, fill your life with memories rather than regrets. Enjoy life and stay on top of your game.

• NB: Columnist welcomes feedback at deedee21bastian@gmail.com

ABOUT COLUMNIST: Deidre Marie Bastian is a professionally trained graphic designer/ marketing coordinator with qualifications of M.Sc., B.Sc., A.Sc. She has trained at institutions such as: Miami Lakes Technical Centre, Success Training College, College of the Bahamas, Nova Southeastern University, Learning Tree International, Langevine International and Synergy Bahamas.