Design is the patterning and planning of any act toward a desired, foreseeable end... any attempt to separate design, to make it a thing-by-itself works, counter to the fact that design is the primary underlying matrix of life.
Interpretation
Design is an essential process that influences all aspects of life and should not be viewed in isolation.
In this quote, Victor Papanek emphasizes that design is not merely a separate discipline but a fundamental aspect of life that shapes our actions and outcomes. He argues that attempting to separate design from the broader contexts in which it exists undermines its role and significance, as design is inherently intertwined with all aspects of existence and decision-making.
In practice
In a presentation on the importance of holistic thinking in design processes.
We live in a society that penalizes highly creative individuals for their non-conformist autonomy. This makes the teaching of problem solving in design both discouraging and difficult. A...student (has) massive blocks against new ways of thinking, engendered by some 16 years of mis-education.
Design must be an innovative, highly creative, cross-disciplinary tool responsive to the needs of men. It must be more research-oriented, and we must stop defiling the earth itself with poorly-designed objects and structures.
There are professions more harmful than industrial design, but only a few.
The only important thing about design is how it relates to people.
Writing is a deep-sea dive. You need hours just to get into it: down, down, down. If you're called back to the surface every couple of minutes by an email, you can't ever get back down. I have a great friend who became a Twitterer and he says he hasn't written anything for a year.
Literature is a beautiful way of keeping the imagination alive, of visiting worlds you would never have time to in your day-to-day life. It keeps you abreast of a wider spectrum of human activities.
There are thousands of very, very talented artists who will never be known, even after they are dead.
I've spent most of my life embracing violence in wars and revolutions. Even a famine is a form of violence. Because I photograph people in peril, people in pain, people being executed in front of me, I find it very difficult to get my head around the art narrative of photography.
In Xanadu did Kubla Khan A stately pleasure-dome decree: Where Alph, the sacred river, ran Through caverns measureless to man Down to a sunless sea.
Everything comes out in blues music: joy , pain , struggle . Blues is affirmation with absolute elegance.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.