Good design should follow looking into the products and reputation of clients who approach you, but this does not mean you have to follow them into bed.

Good design should follow looking into the products and reputation of clients who approach you, but this does not mean you have to follow them into bed.

A good trademark, whether a word mark or a symbol, is devoid of fashion or trend, which makes it potentially iconic if it's seen for long enough in the right places.

Good design, at least part of the time, includes the criterion of being direct in relation to the problem at hand - not obscure, trendy, or stylish. A new language, visual or verbal, must be couched in a language that is already understood.

Styles come and go, design goes on forever: solving communication problems with new tools applied to the same old common sense.

There are not many designers who are truly creative and literate. Most are self-indulgent, illiterate, fashion-mongering, service people trying to bridge a message between a product and an audience.

Sometimes there is simply no need to be either clever or original.