Welcome to the Treehouse Community
Want to collaborate on code errors? Have bugs you need feedback on? Looking for an extra set of eyes on your latest project? Get support with fellow developers, designers, and programmers of all backgrounds and skill levels here with the Treehouse Community! While you're at it, check out some resources Treehouse students have shared here.
Looking to learn something new?
Treehouse offers a seven day free trial for new students. Get access to thousands of hours of content and join thousands of Treehouse students and alumni in the community today.
Start your free trial
Nicole Berry
6,537 PointsWhat's this about artists not being designers??
The first video in the Design Foundations course has been bugging since I watched it. Towards the end, he makes a point of distinguishing between artists and designers by saying that art is made for self-expression while design is made for problem-solving and that design can be art but art can't be design, but art and design aren't mutually exclusive like that.
If you create something with the sole purpose of expressing yourself and later find it can be used to solve a problem, is it no longer art? Can you not call yourself an artist because the things you create serve a functional purpose? Or can you not call yourself a designer because you create something to express yourself as well as solve an issue? And maybe the answer is to say you're both, but then why bother making such a concrete distinction at all? Because the scenarios I described aren't one-offs - function and expression overlap in virtually any commercial art career. Illustration, game design, concept art, sound design, cinematography - they can be just as much about solving a problem as they are personal expression.
I think the word "artist" is similar to the word "doctor" - hearing it may conjure up a very iconic image you've come to associate with the word, but the actual definition is an umbrella term meant to encompass a wide array of professions. The are many, MANY titles that fall under the category of art the same way there are many different titles that fall under the category of doctor.
I realize my definition is my opinion, but the definition in the video is just as subjective. And it seems very out of place to insert this subjective tidbit into what's supposed to be an objective course on the basics of design. Was it necessary to learn the rest of the course? Were people not going to be able to understand the information in the rest of the videos because they didn't know if they could call themselves artists or designers?
I tried letting this go because I realized anything I said would turn into some passionate a rant rather than a simple question (which it definitely did), but I haven't been able to at all. I only got more annoyed when I realized 95% of what's covered in this course are things you'd learn in any introductory ART class. Majority of these videos are just refreshers of I what I learned my first year of art school.
1 Answer
Steven Parker
231,198 PointsYou didn't mention the course, I either haven't taken it yet or missed this point.
The statement: "design can be art but art can't be design" is self-contradictory! If some design is also art, then some art must be design.
However, I do get the point. The goals of "art" differ from the goals of "design". So someone intending to create art is unlikely to create design, and might not be aware of it if they did (since they were not bearing a specific problem in mind during the creation).
But, as you said, someone doing so might later find that their art does in fact serve to resolve a problem. Or the fact that it could apply to a problem might go unnoticed.
Anyway, I think the original point is better stated as: "the process of design may include an intention to create art, but the process of creating art would generally not be intended as design."
And... the best designers are also artists.
Nicole Berry
6,537 PointsThe name of the course itself is Introduction to Design and the video I'm talking about is the first one called "What is Design?" It's one of the courses you take if you do the Web Design track, which is the one I'm on right now. I found the video transcript. The part about art and design starts about 2 minutes in. So it's not towards the end like I originally thought it was, but here are a couple of snippets:
"An artist is not a designer. However, they have very similar traits. See, an artist is someone who creates for themselves from an emotional context. Art is meant to spark questions or portray answers. Art usually has different meanings for others. Art has meaning and is rarely usable. On the other hand, design is aimed to be understood by all. Design is the communication of a specific message."
"Think of it as a rectangle and a square. A square can be a rectangle, but a rectangle can't always be a square. In our case, design can be art, but art can't be design."
Anjali Pasupathy
28,883 PointsInteresting. I'd have to disagree with the way he phrased that statement. I do think art as a rectangle and design as a square could be an apt metaphor if we're going with subclasses of quadrangles, but not for the reasons outlined in that snippet. Squares share aspects of both rectangles and rhombuses, just as design shares aspects of both art and other fields.
Steven Parker
231,198 PointsThey broke their own analogy. The rectangle can't always be a square. So they should have said, "art can't always be design".
But I think it's fair to say that an artist wouldn't necessarily have the skills to be a designer by intention. But sure, as we discussed before, it can happen.
Still, I think the point is about what it takes to make it happen, and as required.
Anjali Pasupathy
28,883 PointsAnjali Pasupathy
28,883 PointsI honestly can't say I disagree with you. To my limited knowledge and experience, I would think that design is where art and engineering intercept, because a designer must think about functionality as well as aesthetics (if that's the correct term... as I said, my experience is fairly limited). In that sense, you could consider a designer to be an artist and an engineer.