Art vs. design
Thursday, January 7th, 2010 | 14 C ↓
⌃ Under Article, Featured, Thoughts
I think not once I had this question and every time I discuss this topic with any of my friends we are getting over excited and started to fight. One day a good friend of mine link me to this article of Craig A Elimeliah (producer at Firstborn Multimedia) from AIGA. I read it and seems to be fair but still doesn’t convince me, and I feel that Craig himself is not 100% convinced about it too. Is this a hard topic? Yes it is. Why? Because I think it depends of every person; it depend of how you feel it…I feel like a designer, is that wrong? People tell me that I am an artist, even if I try with all my heart to stay away from artistic field. What makes you designer, the fact that you are hired by ? The fact that you are dressing like a designer, think like a designer act like one…what makes you a designer? Same questions for artist; what makes you and artist? I want to be an artist, where do I start? What makes me an artist, or even better – WHO?
Are these two close to each other? Yes they are. That’s why I always choose to compare them with girls and boys. Are girls close to boys? Does they have things in commune? A girl could inspire a boy and reverse? Sure they do, But are they equal? Are they the same thing? … Why did I compare art with a girl? Because art is more sensitive is more feminine, sentimental exactly like a girl. Design is like a boy, acting sharp, straight and some time stupid. And I can continue to compare them but what’s the point? I’ve heard opinions like “design is supposed to sell, but art is not” and right away I was thinking about Michelangelo who worked most of the time for clients under a brief. Michelangelo was an artist right? How about Rembrandt‘s portraits? almost all of them were commissions. Then Valentin Vica send me the link to the “Art” definition according to Wikipedia. I hate definitions but couldn’t agree more with Wikipedia when it says “The term also is used to denote highly skilled people in non-”arts” activities…” So is it design a form of art? In art you can be universal – in design you solve a specific problem…? Did I solve the problem? Negative.
A more important question is how does an individual find their voice of expression? I find myself as a graphic designer until I become an artist. So what do I learn? There are questions that don’t have answer. Is this possible? Don’t know. What do you think? What do you think you are?
I want to end this with a short paragraph of Craig A Elimeliah article.
Many designers are artists and many artists are designers, the line between the two is complex and intriguing. I was perusing some art books and something strange caught my eye, I had noticed that many of the artists were not creating a unique, almost chaotic portrait of their innermost selves or inspirations rather they were clearly using popular trends to capture the attention of the viewer. I noticed that many of the pieces being shown were “throwbacks” of past artists styles or color and simply refreshed for public consumption. The very fact that older artists inspire newer artists seems to contradict the whole definition of art. These artists are following a method, a pattern or a standard that has already been established by another artist and therefore they are not creating something completely new rather following instructions laid down by a previous artist rendering that piece to be more design than art.
Now if is possible I would love to hear as many opinions as I can get, and start a nice conversation. Tell me about you, about others…even if I presume you re convince that there is no answer.
Later edit: I got these great quotes related with the subject from Andrei Ograda.
Apparently the discussion get overloaded here.
Design is in everything we make, but it’s also between those things. It’s a mix of craft, science, storytelling, propaganda, and philosophy.- Erik Adigard
Art is what you get away with. – Andy Warhol
Very interesting topic Stefan. Who I am? Does it sounds weird if I say I want to be an artist so I can use this to become a good designer? But then I was wondering how did I became an artist in the first place? Where do you start?
I see a designer as a smart person who research a lot and knows what people likes, which style they should use for each project, which colors are hot these days, … You can say they convert art into design? They use the work of an artist to design a good product. So – No artists = worthless designers (sounds hard right?)
Who makes you an artist? A designer?
Now my brains going crazy.. Thank you
Hey Bram it seems that you also got more questions than answers.
I like your idea of being artist to become a good designer, sounds like a good plan.
Great Article! I had a talk with a friend recently over the topic. Actually HE likes design and me – SHE likes art. We agreed on the fact that design is subordinate to function/purpose and art to meaning (in terms of emotions, moral/ethical issues and so on). Thumbs up 4 your article, couldn’t agree more!
So you see the line between those two. Of course they can inspire each other or an artist could be at the same time designer and revers but they can not produce art and design in the same piece. According to Wiki “The term also is used to denote highly skilled people in non-”arts” activities” and it doesn’t mention design there; But I hate definitions and I love natural rationalism of people.
Thanks for sharing with me.
Art and Design share common principles. It’s hard to simplify a topic with so much grey area, but i’ve always equated design to: aesthetics with a function, and art to: a form of boundless expression. A good example of this is art has a lot more room to be accepted as ugly, since it’s a product of whatever the artist is trying to express. Design in most of its successes, is simple, and aesthetically pleasing.
So in conclusion I would say Art floats in more of a subjective realm, whereas design is a bit more objective.
Ah, we humans love categorizing things
well, this may sound simple, but this is my opinion:
Designers and artists – as we know them – are the same. Though designers create arts in a commercial way. Designers are more entrepreneur, artists are less strong in it. Anyone who create “art” and sell it, or create it to satisfy the public, are designers, not artists – again, as we know the definition.
Some people like the title “artist”, other prefer “designer”. To be honoust, all the “modern digital artists” (as I call them), are not artists, they are designers. Almost anyone we know created arts, but as goal to get (commercial) jobs. If you create arts with your hard with NO INTENTION TO DO EVER SOMETHING COMMERCIAL and basically don’t ask a price – are the artists as we can define the “original” artists. Today the day, I can not recall a single modern digital artist without commerce ideas.
But the time changed and people are too easy to entitle themselves with “artist”, or “designer”.
I went to bed and thought about it again, here to define my comment a bit better:
Design is and has always been for a bigger public
Arts is and has always been exclusive for 1
When there is a design which is EXCLUSIVELY made for 1 person, or made with your own expression and sold to 1 person, can be defined as arts.
When a design is outstanding, different, supers, it is “an art” how the designer (again, same as artist) did it.
Design= “DE-Sign”, means that good design is meant to be invisible, faceless.
Art have an opposite purposes. To be as visible as possible.
Yet it is often design and art share same tools, and performed by same people. It also mixed very often nowdays.
Good Article mate.
I agree at some point – but I think that design = art too. Designers are also Artists. They work on a creative basis and create Art, just in a different way.
You don’t set yourself to do art, art is something that if you have luck you can achieve.
Art does not resolve problems it expresses things. Design solves problems, design communicate what and how it needs to communicate. Art is very different from design!
Jurryt Visser: Your definition of art and design is wrong. Why? There is art that is made in more then 1 piece. Art is something that you achieve, you don’t say: I am going to start to make art. Art happens.
I think there is a big mistake between art and artwork/sketches. Art is something that happens, not every sketch is art and not every greate picture that is very photorealistic is art! Make a difference between art and artwork/sketches, good technique and art, expressing something and communicating something.
Art calls for contemplation only.
Design calls also for interaction.
That’s the difference that matters, in my opinion.
The moment a piece of artwork that serves no purpose becomes part of a marketable product, it’s a design. Art is for arts sake.