Photo by Charles Deluvio on Unsplash

Every once in a while, we all need a little inspiration to help us design for our users. Sometimes it is as simple as reading a quote or a daily affirmation. These quotes and daily affirmations can also help designers develop the habits that enable good design consistently. Here are 23 quotes for people practicing human-centered design.

1. “You think your pain and your heartbreak are unprecedented in the history of the world, but then you read. It was books that taught me that the things that tormented me most were the very things that connected me with all the people who were alive, who had ever been alive.” ― James Baldwin

2. “When people talk, listen completely. Most people never listen.” ― Ernest Hemingway

3. “Good design is like a refrigerator — when it works, no one notices, but when it doesn’t, it sure stinks.” — Irene Au

4. “It’s through mistakes that you actually can grow. You have to get bad in order to get good.” — Paula Scher

5. “Whenever you feel like criticizing any one…just remember that all the people in this world haven’t had the advantages that you’ve had.” ― F. Scott Fitzgerald

6. “The role of the designer is that of a good, thoughtful host anticipating the needs of his guests.” — Charles Eames

7. “People ignore designs that ignore people” — Frank Chimero

8. “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

9. “Our bodies have five senses: touch, smell, taste, sight, hearing. But not to be overlooked are the senses of our souls: intuition, peace, foresight, trust, empathy. The differences between people lie in their use of these senses; most people don’t know anything about the inner senses while a few people rely on them just as they rely on their physical senses, and in fact probably even more.” ― C. JoyBell C.

10. “Nelson Mandela once said, ‘If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his language, that goes to his heart.’ He was so right. When you make the effort to speak someone else’s language, even if it’s just basic phrases here and there, you are saying to them, ‘I understand that you have a culture and identity that exists beyond me. I see you as a human being” ― Trevor Noah

11. “Imagination is not only the uniquely human capacity to envision that which is not, and, therefore, the foundation of all invention and innovation. In its arguably most transformative and revelatory capacity, it is the power that enables us to empathize with humans whose experiences we have never shared.” ― J.K. Rowling

12. “One of the most important things you can do on this earth is to let people know they are not alone.” ― Shannon L. Alder

13. “No one reaches out to you for compassion or empathy so you can teach them how to behave better. They reach out to us because they believe in our capacity to know our darkness well enough to sit in the dark with them.” ― Brené Brown

14. “Recognizing the need is the primary condition for design.” — Charles Eames

15. “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

16. “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

17. “Only by examining our personal biases can we grow as artists; only by cultivating empathy can we grow as people.” ― Jen Knox

18. “If you think good design is expensive, you should look at the cost of bad design.” –Ralf Speth

19. “There is no such thing as a boring project. There are only boring executions.” — Irene Etzkorn

20. “Only those who attempt the absurd will achieve the impossible.” — M.C. Escher

21. “Great design is a multi-layered relationship between human life and its environment.” — Naoto Fukasawa

22. “Any product that needs a manual to work is broken.” — Elon Musk

23. “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