Comments on: The Difference Between Design and Art

By: Frank Razo

Frank Razo — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 19:12:10 +0000

Art = 5000000 TB
Design = 120 kB

By: shong

shong — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 06:39:21 +0000

People who build their webs in whatever form that makes sense to them, and
it’s up to the users to decide whether design of the web is good or bad. Like,
Google web is not so bad for a search engine, as many people think.
The subtle and well designed webs you referred to are what some of people
who would call themselves experts in design approve and strive for. But it’s
always hard to predict whether all users would like or even understand
the design.

By: Del Campbell (Senior)

Del Campbell (Senior) — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 16:18:55 +0000

way too esoteric for this old mathematician…but it’s great to see those of your generation are better writers than we were….(including the writers of comments)…nice article steven/delwin….

By: jodi

jodi — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 00:01:20 +0000

I would venture to guess that the writer of this article has no formal design training nor art history knowledge for that matter. I couldn’t even read this entire article it is so 1) poorly written and 2) full of uneducated opinion and misinformation.

I’m really surprised Six Revisions published this. Makes me think twice about continuing to consider this blog a valued resource.

By: max

max — Sun, 11 Sep 2011 08:03:39 +0000

This article is uselessly biased and sht really. Just reading the opening “Any artist can look at their work and see it as an extension of themselves, but designers don’t have that liberty”, I can already see the flaw of his case being that he’s assuming all designers don’t see their work as an extension. I certainly do, being a freelancer. Also he needs to define design. Design is an all encompassing term, does he mean print designers? digital designers? web designers? etc.

Overall, a lot of presumptions and assumptions. The best this article could be is just an opinion from someone.

By: xiant

xiant — Sat, 10 Sep 2011 00:38:35 +0000

Thanks, I like this article…It’s very useful.

By: Joshua

Joshua — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 16:05:55 +0000

I believe websites seem to have more in common with books than the output of our fine-art institutions. The menu across the top of a website reflects the contents page of a book. Not in the middle, not at the end. So if we change the terms of the argument I agree with your aims.

But I have to cough a little when you say artists are somehow less impacted upon by ‘market forces’. That requires clarification/evidence for it to be anything other than trite.

By: MGT Design

MGT Design — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 10:19:06 +0000

I often wonder what some of the great artists would of thought of web design. Imagine Dali designed a website?

By: Sydney Miles

Sydney Miles — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 01:02:11 +0000

Thanks for the very interesting points you have shared. I believe art and design are like the wheels of a bike…yes, it can go with just one wheel, but it is better to have two for balance…

By: Delwin Campbell

Delwin Campbell — Sat, 03 Sep 2011 16:53:49 +0000

I thought I’d chime in and respond to some things. :)

Michael Gunner: You’re right (about everything in your comment) — I was attempt to define and classify two very blurry concepts. But the main point of the article isn’t the classification and separation of art and design. It’s that designers have to insure they are considering more than just art when they build websites. They are making a special type of art: something with interaction. Basically, designers need to remember that they have an audience with expectations.

Craig Elimeliah: Thanks for chiming in. I read the AIGA article while writing this one, some very good ideas in it. :)

Amber (“art is eye candy”): I did classify art as eye candy, but I don’t think you interpreted it how I intended. I hold art in high esteem as a way to evoke emotion and solve real-world issues. But it does this visually — that’s all I meant by eye candy.

James Johnson: “Boring functional designs” work. They have a place on the web, places where emotion doesn’t need to be evoked. Search engine landing pages don’t need to be emotional. Some designs do. Consideration of usability doesn’t mean doing away with beauty. The two can often work together wonderfully. But when it comes to web design, emotion isn’t the first thing considered, functionality is.