The central and centralizing ideas

Many good design elements don't make for a great design. There is nothing more discordant and ugly than a design that lacks a central idea. A central idea acts like a constraint that brings in the necessary discipline to the design.
But a central idea is not enough, what is necessary is a centralizing idea. The centralizing idea functions like an aligning force that bring all the different pieces of a design together into a coherent whole.


Honda's 'All Forward Design" is a great example of this idea .

Doing everything is no strategy

Making a long list of things, taking care of all possibilities, listening to everyone, doing everything ...doesn't constitute a strategy, neither does it make for a design, nor does it reflect intelligence...it takes intelligence to make things simple. It takes courage to do only a few things.
More often than not, failure is a result of doing too many things.
More often than not success is a result of doing fewer things very well.