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Design Psychology

How to differentiate: Design vs Art | Find Out Now

April 11, 2022 2 min read
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Why Design Is Not Art?

“Design is not art. Design has to function.”

-Miklos Philips

Design vs Art is an old battle. I have been hearing about designing not being an art, true. Wondered why? Defining design is like defining love or life, it seems like everyone has one definition.

How do you define this beautiful image? Do revert…

a) It’s an Art

b) It’s a Design

art vs design

                              Photo by Edgar Chaparro on Unsplash

What is Design?

You pick random people on the street and ask them to define design, you will get ’n’ number of different definitions. Hence, I prefer to do is to look into a dictionary to find what it says.

Design is: Design is a plan or specification for the construction of an object or system or for the implementation of an activity.

Following are a few examples of designs:

  • Shirt
  • Logo
  • A constitution
  • Magazine ad
  • Engineering of Brooklyn Bridge
  • Scriptwriting
  • Creating the look and feel for a website

And the list goes on…

I am currently reading a book Don Norman’s, The Design Of Everyday Things, which has further divided design into two forms:

Physical: Sculptures, Architecture, Clothes, etc.

Non-Physical: Laws, Rules, Concepts, etc.

And it’s when you mix these three disciplines (Art, Business and Technology) then you start to understand what design is about:

Purpose — the reason for which something is done or created or for which something exists.

Art — the expression or application of human creative skill and imagination, producing works to be appreciated primarily for their beauty or emotional power.

Science — the intellectual and practical activity encompassing the systematic study of the structure and behavior of the physical and natural world through observation and experiment.

This means the entire design process is a problem-solving process.

“Good design is actually a lot harder to notice than poor design, in part because good designs fit our needs so well that the design is invisible.”

― Don Norman

A good design is effective and efficient in fulfilling a purpose. A good design is always the simplest possible working solution. For a great design, everyone should be able to understand the point of it, regardless of their choice, culture, or preferences.

Great design is part business, part art, and part technology, which makes a great solution. A designer inevitably discovers that great design is more about delivering solutions to problems.

Design Is A Solution, not art.

I think these guys have nailed it when it comes to understanding design. Visit their website leo9studio.com to understand how smartly they design solutions. Leo9 Studio is a conglomeration of part business, part art, and part technology ideology which I personally believe too.


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