John Maeda
John Maeda
John Maeda is an American executive, designer, technologist. His work explores the area where business, design, and technology merge. He was a Professor at the MIT Media Lab for 12 years, and then became the President of the Rhode Island School of Design from 2008 to 2013. He is currently Design Partner at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers where he advises startups on the business impact of design. He also serves on the Board of Directors of consumer electronics...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionDesigner
CountryUnited States of America
John Maeda quotes about
Simplicity is about subtracting the obvious and adding the meaningful.
The problem isn't how to make the world more technological. It's about how to make the world more humane again.
Too little confidence, and you're unable to act; too much confidence, and you're unable to hear.
Skill in the digital age is confused with mastery of digital tools, masking the importance of understanding materials and mastering the elements of form.
The best designers in the world all squint when they look at something. They squint to see the forest from the trees - to find the right balance. Squint at the world. You will see more, by seeing less.
We seem to forget that innovation doesn't just come from equations or new kinds of chemicals, it comes from a human place. Innovation in the sciences is always linked in some way, either directly or indirectly, to a human experience.
If you are going to have less things, they have to be great things.
Apple products aren't simple technologies by any stretch, but there is a beautiful simplicity to them.
Our economy is built upon convergent thinkers, people that execute things, get them done. But artists and designers are divergent thinkers: they expand the horizon of possibilities.
Think of the computer as a spiritual space for thinking.
A book is a human-powered film projector (complete with feature film) that advances at a speed fully customized to the viewer's mood or fancy. This rare harmony between object and user arises from the minimal skills required to manipulate a bound sequence of pages. Each piece of paper embodies a corresponding instant of time which remains frozen until liberated by the act of turning a page.
The simplest way to achieve simplicity is through thoughtful reduction.
No place in the US better exemplifies the ethos to engineer new digital technologies than Silicon Valley
How do we slow down what matters the most and speed up what benefits change and progress? We don't want to impede progress, but we are seeking reconnection to ourselves, to each other, and with the world.