ArtBistro

For me there is no difference. That's like saying you can have positive space without negative space...no can do.

danieldavid says ...

Janice says ...

Design is art created with a specific purpose, a designated use(see the word design in there?). Design can feed our intellect and our senses, or wallets, occationally our hearts.

"Art" is created to express and evoke emotion or communication but without any other clear intent... it would muddy the water, remove it's "purity" or artfulness. Art feeds souls, hearts and the occassional wallet if the artist is good enough or lucky enough.

Wouldn't you say art has a very designated use? have you ever looked at a work of art and thought, "i wonder what that's for?"

You are right David, people may say that about art, but I believe (like Janice I am both)  the art was created by the artist not for the end purpose but as an expression or evocation of emotions.  For me being an artist, now after 20+ years as a designer, is freeing.  I don't think about the what it's for, who is going to use or need it.  If it sells great but not my "why"  for creating anymore.  But, design surely is still in me in everything I do somewhere buried deep within my soul.

I believe it's all about your enviroment, artist work with the mood or setting of their work. while designers plan out a structure and visually try to make things work.

I would have to say there are similarities and differences in the both. Design to me is something that was captured out of the mind. Something that never existed before and you create it or you design it to make it so. But Art, is more of a manipulation of ideas that already existed. It like its already there, but the artist pictures it differently, therefore they manipulate it to there own idea/image of how it should be representated. Together its like a Design Artist. Someone designed (brought forth) an idea and the artist recreated it to thier own eye. They can work together or apart to creat one designed artwork, or make two seperate pieces; A great design or a fine mosiac. Some can balance both, some only one. I can balance both, but i like Designer more...There arent many rules in  a Design, but there are rules in Art. For the art to hit your heart, it has to have a balance in shadding, color, sytle, meaning...etc. A design must be clear and understandable without many words. Like  logo..U c the Nike logo and the message is clear. This is just my personal opinion.

check out my group: GetGo

Janice says ...

Designer and Artist here... depends on which part of me is dominant at any given moment which I am,  but this is just me and how I define the difference for my work. BTW all artists worth spit are designers and all designers worth spit are artists... but that's obviously, just my opinion. Good art is designed. Good design is art.

Design is art created with a specific purpose, a designated use(see the word design in there?). Design can feed our intellect and our senses, or wallets, occationally our hearts.

"Art" is created to express and evoke emotion or communication but without any other clear intent... it would muddy the water, remove it's "purity" or artfulness. Art feeds souls, hearts and the occassional wallet if the artist is good enough or lucky enough.

Added this to my interesting and more involved thoughts of the day!

www.5thandprospect.com

Great topic.

The two most important insights I've ever been given were by two seperate college professors.

A professor who was teaching Printmaking, and is herself a very good Printmaker, once stated very matter of factly that "Design is not Art, there is art in Design, but its not a Fine Art." I didn't much care for the assesment until a year or two later when one of my Graphic Design professors said something that informed that point of view. While displaying his artwork to a collection of student and faculty he explained that, to him, Fine Art "is a search".

I don't think I've ever heard a better explination of what it is to create Art.

Design is not Art because the message one starts out with is clear. You have a brief or copy or a task and then its your job as a Designer to meet that task. Often, the completion is itself a search and to me thats where the art comes into it. However Art, or Fine Art if you wish, is its own search for meaning.

Thats about as much insight I have on the subject without delving into the laborious contemplation of "What is Art" which is its own tiring discussion.

Let me ask this forum a related question. Are those of us in the Graphics Communications arena considered Graphic Artists or Graphic Designers. Because if art is meant to envoke an emotion, don t we as graphic artists/designers do that when we desing a particular print media piece, with certain derived color schemes as well as typesets? Don't all of these combined invoke a desired emotion or convey a meaning?

In that sense I would say that Art and Design are synonimous(sp?). Because isn't that what art and design is about is the creative process? The only difference I see is the chosen medium used to create the finished product/artwork. Input on this comment/ observation? I agree this is a very lively topic.

This is sort of like which came first the chicken or the egg???

Can you have one without the other???? Is it inherent that they are bound together. I always thought so ,and still do ,and this was apparent to me when I went to a Modern Art exhibit , and saw a red panel with a black dot near the top of the canvas. This was the entire painting, and as I stood there I went from wondering why was this created ,and then why did the artist put that dot in that place? It was designed by the artist to get something across to the viewer, but it was art and designed, but I never really understood the underlined  feeling., or meaning as it did not even have a title to give me a clue..

For me design seems to have a more structured and organized feeling to it than perhaps "art."  Art in general is a broad topic because it covers sooo many things.  To put a label with what art "is"....is automatically limiting it.  So to break down and get to the grind stone of what art and design are....perhaps the biggest differences between the two are how they are used in a sentence.  This is what this whole discussion is about.  But, otherwise in essence both art and design are creative processes used to create a desired final product but have infinite amounts of potential of where it can be derived from and where it can go.  Those that want to argue about the petty differences have WAYYY too much time on their hands and need to get back to the grind stone and work on their art instead of worrying about things such as this.  Those that feel that it is important to know such details will have to learn with ambiguity because I don't think ANY one really knows and those that claim they do are inexcuseably ego-centric.  That is the mystery of our language and to sit down and try to figure it out is like a dog chasing it's tail.  So...in a nutshell.  Who the F*** knows....and who cares?  Art and design are about the journey of continously working with the creative process to achieve a new magnum opus that is greater than our last.  Welcome to the world of art AND design:)