Ten Design Lessons

1. Respect “the genius of a place.”
2. Subordinate details to the whole.
3. The art is to conceal art.
4. Aim for the unconscious.
5. Avoid fashion for fashion’s sake.
6. Formal training isn’t required.
7. Words matter.
8. Stand for something.
9. Utility trumps ornament.
10. Never too much, hardly enough.

from Frederick Law Olmsted, the father of American landscape architecture via This isn't happiness.