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Graphic Artist or Graphic Designer & Where do the 2 meet?10-17-09
In my Graphic Design History class, I occasionally have the students to in class projects to break up the lectures, and give them an opportunity to design something from that specific period.
I had a pair of students raise their hands with a question. They asked me to look at their design, and I could feel their eyes on me waiting for some words of encouragement or positives. I had none. I always try to be constructive. I look for the positive and inform them of the errors. I am failing them as a teacher if I say everything is great. I begin to probe with a few question. What are you trying to say? Since Design is communication through visuals that is a great place to start. They both replied "it looks pretty." I came back with if you are making something "pretty" it still says something. The one student said "We are artists."
I felt defeated as I had stressed that graphic design is communication and the 2 students were hiding behind the "I'm an artist" card.
I was unable to let this go. It ate at me like cancer until late last night. This opinion may not be accepted, but it is the conclusion I came to. I may change my views over time, but here goes:
Artists
If you know me, then you know how I feel about the terms "art" and "artist". They are thrown around so much they have no meaning.
Art is one of the dirtiest words in our language; it's mucked up with all kinds of meanings. There's the art of plumbing; there's the art of almost anything that you can say.
--Wayne Thiebaud
I think artists create more from the heart, they follow their instincts which does not make them right or wrong by any means. Many are communicating a message and many have no point at all. They are expressing themselves.
Designers
Designing is more cerebral. There is thought and intention in each move or at least there should be. They know what they are saying and who they are saying it too, and the vehicle to deliver the message is through design.
I realized the 2 girls in the class who thought their work was pretty were creating from the heart. They had no thought process when it came to making it. That is not to say those who create instinctively are wrong.
Designer meet Artist!
Here is where I found my answer.
Design is the method of putting form and content together. Design, just as art, has multiple definitions; there is no single definition. Design can be art. Design can be aesthetics. Design is so simple, that's why it is so complicated.
--Paul Rand
It is that simple. It is can be art or design it doesn't matter.