Art vs Design

What is the difference between art and design?

Art and design have been fighting it out in the world of aesthetics since time immemorial, with no end in sight. But what makes them different? Are they different at all? Here’s a look at art vs design to help you understand what the differences are between these two concepts, so you can decide how you want to make your own artistic statement in the world.

Defining Art

From a strictly dictionary standpoint, art refers to any skill or creative endeavor that has been developed through practice. Design, on the other hand, refers to a finished product or creation - one that's created for functional purposes. The quick answer to what's art and what's design would be: if it's functional, it's probably not art; if it doesn't serve a function but looks like it does, then it could very well be art. Some might argue over things like chairs or tables, but most people agree on other objects (i.e., Mapplethorpe photos). However you look at it - one thing remains clear: Art vs Design is something everyone can get involved in!

Defining Design

Design can be a difficult term to define. The word has evolved in both its meaning and application over time, making it difficult to pinpoint a specific definition. Because of its open-endedness, you can incorporate any number of principles in your work without ever having been design. Art and design are not synonymous; they’re two sides of a coin that complement each other. So how do you tell them apart? To answer that question, let’s look at a few examples from their shared history.

Why should we care about the difference between art and design?

Most designers can draw, so why are there art and design degrees if they’re essentially saying Hey, we’re both drawing stuff. Well, just because you know how to use a pencil doesn’t mean you should; at some point, it’s about understanding which piece of paper or surface your drawing on works best for your project. The same goes for art vs design; someone who knows how to paint may not know how to add type or even what typeface works best with their color scheme. Knowing when something should be designed or created as art or a piece of art makes designers better artists.

Further reading on this topic

Design is a process. Art has no rules. These definitions, which may seem intuitive to some, are how most people use these words when talking about two very different fields. But what do they really mean? What makes something art or design? There’s not one easy answer to that question. Instead, it’s worth taking a look at a brief history of both fields and understanding why people who work in them can have such varying opinions on what defines them as concepts.

Art vs Design

The difference between art and design now from an outsider's perspective looking in the two could feel like one of the same when the truth is they both serve different objectives.
   on one hand you have art which in my opinion is more used for self-expression in conceptual ideas and actually getting to do what you love and putting it on a canvas or whatever medium that you're using whereas designed.
    on the other hand design is used to effectively communicate a message and to solve a business problem.

 So in most cases artists get to create on their own they don't have anyone overseeing what they're doing and they're just taking their thoughts, their ideas and their perspectives and what happens in their life and they're their take on it they're taking that and putting it on a visual medium of their choosing and in the end the viewer looks at it and it's subjective and they get to feel however they want to feel about it whereas with designing it's always important to include the client or think about the end user in the process before you begin and this is important because in order to effectively communicate a message you need to first understand, you need to understand people's pain, points ,you need to understand what their problems and their goals are, you need to understand where they are now and where they're trying to go and without thinking about those and without answering those questions in the beginning you're not going to be able to get an end result that's gonna drive a return of investment or it's not going to be as effective. 

So in some cases art and design do overlap a little bit that's a perfect situation and it doesn't happen all the time because a designer might want to do one thing and a client might want the other but there's something else that might be perfect for the message to be effectively communicated and for them to reach their goal and sometimes you have to meet in the middle and the designer can't be too caught up on what they want to do because that's more art and in the end if you have a client that demands one thing where that might not be the best possibility it's important to communicate with them and understand each other to effectively get to your solution in the middle and that made ground is where everybody's gonna be happy that's where you're gonna thrive and that's where you're gonna see the best results when the client can feel like they're a part of the process then it's less likely that in the end they're gonna want to change everything because they had say in it from the beginning many people don't like including clients in the process and I find that that's just kind of tough in the end because you can do all of this designing and spend all of this time creating this perfect piece and your eyes but at the end it might not meet their goal, it might not get the results that they need, so at that point it's kind of just a waste or practice.

So it's really important to differentiate the difference between art and design and understand that art is more about expression and it's something that all designers should do in their free time working on passion projects but there is a time and a place for understanding design and the principles and understanding that when you're applying these you need to do it with with the angle in mind so now I'm curious to know what you guys think on this topic and what the difference is between art and design if you think there is one or there isn't one.
 I want to hear your perspective so go ahead and leave a comment below .