How Designers Are Not Artists But Still Are Influenced By Art

As a student Interactive multimedia design I learned these past 3 years what it means to be a designer. Because I honestly didn’t know what it meant to be a designer or how they are different from people who create art. What they learned me was that design can be art, but that art can’t be designed (well it can in some cases but mostly it isn’t). Before I really get into this article I just need you to know what the difference between design and art is. The job of design is to be the most elegant solution to a problem. Now on the other side the job of art is to inspire and to be interpreted.

I could go on about the topic art vs design for 3 pages, but that’s not what this article is about. It’s about the fact that art can be a big influence for design and so can music. I started to think about this topic when I got this super vintage record player for Christmas. I got a bunch of old records with it and when I started flipping through all the record covers I realized that art and music had a really big part to play in design.

We are starting off with a rather obvious choice: Fashion designers. Fashion designer nowadays are always looking for the grey area between art and design. this is not only because they try to stand out, but also because of the fact that their first source of inspiration is like you would have guessed art. A great example of this is the famous and a little notorious Salvador Dalí.

His paintings are not only amazing to look at, he was also really into fashion design. All his life Dalí had a great interest in the world of fashion. His meeting with Coco Chanel inspired him to design clothing, such as the costumes for the opera, Tristan Fou. The fact that a painter like Dalí also was a fashion designer proves that art has and always will be an inspiration for other creative work.

You see, when it comes to the relationship between art and any kind of design, it can be hard to distinguish where one ends and the other begins. Often the terms are used interchangeably (like I said a lot of people don’t know the difference) as certain design work is art. But there are distinctions as well. For example Interior Design. It is all about how we experience space. It’s a powerful, essential part of our daily lives and affect how we live, work, play, and even heal. Comfortable homes, functional workplaces, beautiful public space that’s interior design.

The best interior designers make it look easy, crafting spaces that anticipate our needs and appeal to our emotions. but also these designers need to get their inspiration from somewhere and with interior designers, it’s not just creating a mood board or listening to some music. Because of the fact that they work with spaces interior designers need to recreate a feeling inside a space. But then is the question how do you recreate a feeling or an emotion that you got from a song or painting, or any other form of art and make it into something that you can experience.

Enter Kendall Wilkinson, Kendall Wilkinson has spent the last 25 years of her life dedicating herself to interior design. Her business, Kendall Wilkinson Design, has become a leader in West Coast design and has inspired many. Since then she and her business are known for the ability to shape a room/house/space for a music or art style and for actually merging feelings and space together. She does this by not only creating an aesthetically pleasing space, but also using a visual atmosphere that can conduct and evoke emotion.

Last but not least we have digital design. And with digital design I do not mean graphic design, well not “only” graphic design. Digital design can be a logo design, but can also be a ux/ui design, it can even be a certain animation or movie clip.The fact that technology started to rise during made the emergence of new mediums much easier. Artists started transitioning from being painters and sculptures that used paint and cement into digital artists and 3D artists, using imaging software and different materials to create works of art. Don’t get me wrong not every digital designer is an artist. But when the internet was on the rise a lot of artists really started to look into the design aspect of technology.

One of these artists turned designer is Frank Shepard Fairey a personal idol of mine. Shepard Fairey’s work combines elements of graffiti, pop art, business art, and Marxist theory. One of his most famous works includes his portrait of Barack Obama. In fact, this portrait drew national attention to Fairey and his work quickly exploded after that recognition. This poster also received the Brit Insurance Design of the Year Award in 2009. There is also OBEY Clothing that was formed in 2001 as an extension of Shepard’s range of work. Aligned with his populist views, clothing became another canvas to spread his art/design and message to the people. The clothing is heavily inspired by classic military design, work wear basics, as well as the elements and cultural movements.

As a little conclusion to this article I just want to say that a lot designers use art as a compass for design. They are guided towards their solution by this art and that is exactly what art is supposed to do. Art is a question of taste and because of that,it can inspire everybody in a different way.

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