Design is more a philosophy than a practice. It is applicable as a way of thinking that spans application. A true designer is never hindered whether designing a skyscraper, an annual report, or a pair of socks. True design is a method for which problems are solved. The designers that are examples of this are heroes in my eyes, though they are very few and far between. Design within the last few years seems to grow at an ever accelerated pace, though the quality of design seems to be the cost. As it grows, the content and concept seem to be what is left out of the equation and what is left is a sea of monotony and poorly thought out and executed design, which instead of relying on the content to communicate, something 'hip and cool' is substituted in to attract the viewer. A cheap thrill that lasts just a moment before it disappears and the ADD of the viewer kicks in and wonders off. There are countless reasons for why this may be, and I have my own suspicions, but one thing (and I have hit on this before) is that graphic art is not graphic design.

I recently purchased 79 Short Essays on Design by Michael Beirut. Mr. Beirut is a man of great accomplishment in the design community; partner at Pentagram, worked for roughly ten years with Massimo Vignelli, professor at Yale, and founding writer at Design Observer. However, I am not a fan of all his essays, a number of which I have already read, but such a vast collection offers countless topics to think about and ponder about the current state of design or whatever subject he is pondering.

While I had this on my desk at work, a co-worker came up and said that he had the chance to meet him a few years ago, and they had momentarily hit on the subject of art vs. design. I do not know the exact context or how that interaction went, but the co-worker stated that he {Mr. Beirut} does not think artists can be designers. This is hard for my co-worker to accept, since though acting as a designer, he is a fine artist by trade, and frankly, Mr. Beirut is absolutely correct. Art does not equal design.

The core entity of design is to communicate an idea to an audience. Your role as designer is to take whatever it is that you must design for the client and find a way to make it accessible to the projected audience. It is a very externalized process where you are merely the entity that structures that messages the best way possible to be seen/heard the clearest and most effective. The end result should be whats best for the client, with you being a very very neutral player in the game. Art, to generalize, is far more internalized and usually an outlet for that person to project their emotions, thoughts, opinions, or pure stylistic preference to the world. It is not so much about what other people need to understand, but what they are trying to show. If their audience 'gets' it, wonderful. However, if they don't, it is probably of little concern the artist. For the most part, the artist is the client and the target audience is insignificant. Art is also very ambiguous. Where design must be easily communicated and read by an audience, art is rarely so transparent. One can spend hours looking at the work of Richard Prince and still debate what the work's intent is. If the audience spent hours discussing the intent of a piece of design, then the message is obviously unclear and lost.

Stylistic approaches also differentiate between design and art, and graphic design and graphic art. Design stylistically varies between every project. The visual language for a diaper brand is nothing like the visual language for Audi cars. When visual styles are applied across the spectrum of clients, the role of the designer has shifted to the artist. Art is extremely gimmicky, and while I am not saying design is not; art falls in a more visual realm. If one spent anytime going through San Francisco's low art scene, they would find an interchangeable mesh of artists that all create work that looks almost identical. This reliance on style differentiates design from art. Design can not be dependent of visual style, and a designer can not place one visual style on all their work. I see this too much, where it is quite apparent that one person has worked on numerous projects for numerous clients and audiences. Usually the end result is not favorable.

Art and Design are two very separate practices. Both extremely valuable and in their own worlds relevant, but are too often considered the same thing. I am not an artist, I rely too much on communication, and the artist who think they are designer rarely think of their message. The differentiation is an important one to note, and realize when working with others.

Now go buy Mr. Beiruts book. It is a good one.