Art vs Design (my humble opinions)

I am a graphic designer but that seems to be a job title that a lot of people have trouble getting their heads around. When I was growing up, I was referred to as being ‘artistic’ but I don’t ever remember thinking of myself as being an ‘artist’, as if such titles overly matter that much when you’re a kid and you just like to draw. Even now when people try to describe what I do I am more often than not referred to as being ‘artistic’. I usually can’t be bothered to spend the time correcting that description, even though it often ends with people being put out by my refusal to paint a portrait of their baby or their dog.

It has got me thinking about the relationship between art and design, and just how each is perceived and defined. Just how much similarity is there in the process and the final result? The type of work I do as a designer varies greatly. I can go from doing very corporate layouts following strict identity guidelines to the work I do for an independent record label, where I’m given pretty much carte blanche over what I want to design and create, where I incorporate a lot of my drawings, paintings and even sculptural skills. This is very personal work for me, sometimes someone might even look at it and call it ‘art’ but I dislike the title of ‘artist’ for what I do. I’m not ashamed of being a designer, but if someone looks upon the work I produce and calls it ‘art’ is that enough to make it so?

I may not know a lot about art, but as the saying goes ‘I know what I like’ and as a designer, and knowing perhaps a little about my chosen profession, I think I can at least define a few areas that might be seen to differentiate art and design.

• Art often creates questions in the minds of those viewing it.
• Art should encourage some sort of emotional response in the viewer.
• Art can instil different responses, emotionally or mentally from different people.
• Art is created for the artist, it is ‘selfish,’ there is no ‘client message’ .
• Art has meaning (often to the artist themselves or the viewers interpretation).

• Design needs to be comprehended to fulfill its purpose.
• Design solves a problem, provides a service and clarifies information.
• Design has a distinct message to impart.
• Design engages, whether that be the instructions on a medicine bottle, or to use your iphone.
• Design is created with an end client, purpose and audience in mind.
• Design is a collaborative endeavour (even if that is just between the designer and client).

The difficulty in these definitions is that they are not cut and dry. Many are interchangeable between art and design. Design can just as often create questions and emotional responses in the mind of the viewer, and still be a ‘work of design’ under any other of the above listed definitions, while a work of art can also be collaborative and have a distinct message to impart.

So while I call myself a designer, and tend to dislike the term artist, it is easy to see where the boundaries can become blurred. It doesn’t help that working in an industry who’s very job description is ‘to communicate’ doesn’t do a very good job of actually communicating what that job entails to the general public.