Modernist Design

"But, Is It Art?"
This article discusses the differences between a designer and an artist.  Designers often create things for someone else's purposes.  Artists, however, work toward goals they create themselves.  They also "strive to influence the feeling or thinking of an audience."  The article also states that, unlike artists, "designers often limit the horizon or their thinking to the confines of a project."

According to the author, "the border between art and design is permeable." In other words, there are times when art crosses over into design and vice-versa.

Key points:

• A designer's goals are basically determined by other people, whereas an artist's goals are determined by him or herself.

"Art's Little Brother"
This article brings up the same idea that was presented in the first article--"A designer, unlike an artist, 'works through and for other people, and is concerned primarily with their problems rather than his own.'"  The author also writes, "the designer must deal with matters of practicality and function while artists are free to do what they like in pursuit of their self-chosen goals."

Although I agree with the above, I do wish designers were able to work toward self-chosen goals at times, as well.  However, how can one design something without knowing its purpose?  I guess that doesn't really work out too well.

According to the article, art critic Matthew Collings "suggests that the essential difference between design and art is that design has function while art has mystery."  However, there are pieces within which design and art merge together, and, therefore, contain both function and mystery.

Another difference the author notes is that art is more about visual thinking than design.  Artists view the idea of beauty as being simple-minded, whereas designers have no problem with "the beauty of visual form."

From reading this article, I would assume that 'art's little brother' is 'design.'  Since 'art' is a much broader term and is seen as being dominant over design, artists are often more popular than designers.

Key points:

• "Designers have always had an inferiority complex when it comes to their relationship with artists and art."
• Design is most often treated as simply a lifestyle issue.
• All art is designed even if it doesn't appear that way.
• "'... the essence of a designer's work... is to supply clear instructions so that others can complete the production of the design.'"
• Work that can be viewed as either art or design, or both, seems to be most interesting.
• "Since the 1960s, art has become increasingly suspicious or forms of expression that are merely visual."

"Discussion"
This piece is a discussion amongst graphic designers.  They discuss matters such as respect within fields (in particular, from artists to designers), specialization and collaboration.

According to the designers involved in this discussion, specializing in a particular field is important because it provides one with a specific point of view of the world.  This allows one to meet and work with artists that specialize in other fields.  Through this, one can form a relationship with a field other than his or her own.  One designer states, "Our belief is that the more you are a specialist in your field the closer you get to the essence of things."

In their discussion of collaboration, one designer complains that artists have the freedom to explore, but designers do not.  He then states that in order to gain this freedom, designers must collaborate with artists.

The last statement in this piece, "Perhaps all we can say with conviction is that some art is as bad as design, and some design is as good as art," is not one with which I agree.  To me, this statement is saying that, in general, design is bad and art is good.  Such a perception is one that stems from ignorance.  There is no generalizing art and design--it varies too much to belong to one particular category ('good' or 'bad'.)

Key points:

• Artists are constantly wondering how they can make their work 'successful' in the eyes of those outside the art world.
• "Design is omnipresent and fundamental in a way that art just is not."
• Collaborating with artists plays a key role in a designer's freedom to explore.
• "The boundaries of art seem to be infinitely flexible, but only to the extent that it is useful to the art world for them to be so."
• "...some art is as bad as design, and some design is as good as art."