5 Quotes from Walter Landor on Design for Small Business

Two weeks ago we shared ten quotes from logo design guru Saul Bass. This week we turn to another well-known branding legend for inspiration—Walter Landor.

Like many other small business owners, Mr. Landor and his wife launched their design business from the living room table in their small San Francisco apartment. Landor’s passion for great design attracted dozens of clients (including Alitalia, Del Monte, Levi’s, and Bank of America) quickly requiring several employees and a larger space. Over time, he became known for his work on airline identities, from Delta and British Airways to Cathay Pacific and Singapore Airlines.

Landor’s work is respected enough that there is a permanent collection of his designs on display at the Smithsonian Institute. Here are a few of the things he has said that will inspire the thinking of small business owners:

“Products are made in the factory, but brands are created in the mind.”

“We never forget that we are in the business of marketing. We try to harness the emotional power of design to communicate to the marketplace.”

“What the hell is good design? Is it something that gives satisfaction to your own ego? Or is it something that creates a positive response in the eyes, minds, and hearts of millions of people? Also, is it something that is appropriate to its category? Ideally it is all of these.”

“Good design has become important to everything from airplanes to fast food places to postage stamps, reaching into every corner of our national life. People’s increasing sensitivity to environment is resulting in larger and larger markets demanding better design.”

“No longer is the designer a handmaiden adding little niceties when budgets allow. He or she now is—and will increasingly be—an important part of the managerial team, right up there with the top executives, literally helping shape strategic policy.”

—Walter Landor, Designer and Branding Guru