The Combination Rule

Today the topic was brought up of whether there is such a thing as new at anymore, or is everything just taken in some form or another from past works? Well after hearing this it made me think if a saying that i had heard in relation to the same subject only to the design world.

The Combination Rule

Designing is basically the practice of combining stuff; ideally in ways that haven't been seen before. So the more stuff you know (about everything), the greater the chance you'll find a relevant and distinctive, and therefore effective (and original) combination.