Don't Get Confused! The Difference Between Art and Design

People often think that art and design are similar. However, in reality, there are differences between Art and Design . At first glance, both revolve around creating images, colors or shapes, but if you dig deeper, you will see that Art and Design are contrasting in purpose, approach and how to evaluate success. In this article, SaDesign will explore with you the most basic aspects to distinguish Art and Design . Let's start the journey to find out which is the most suitable choice - free and personal creativity like Art, or systematic and practical design solutions like Design.

1. What are Art and Design?

1.1. What is art?

Art is the human activity of creating works of visual, auditory or performing art. They express the author's imagination, ideas or techniques. Thereby, they are intended to be appreciated for their beauty or emotional power.

Accordingly, these artistic activities include the production of works of art, criticism, art historical research and art dissemination.

Currently, there are 7 branches of art: Literature, Music, Painting, Sculpture, Architecture, Theater, Cinema.

1.2. What is design?

Have you ever seen a beautiful house? That’s the result of good design. A great software or app? Those are two examples of design. A questionnaire, an invitation card, a restaurant menu? That’s also design.

Design is the creation of a plan or convention for constructing an object, system, or measurable human interaction. In different fields, design is assigned different meanings.

The process of creating a design can be brief (a quick sketch) or complex. It involves research, negotiation, reflection, modeling, interactive tweaking, and redesign.

2. The difference between art and design

A design work needs to convey information. Art helps increase people's awareness of the present.

Design is objective, while art is subjective. Artists and designers both create works using a knowledge base, but their reasons for doing so are completely different.

Some designers consider themselves artists, but few artists consider themselves designers. So what exactly is the difference between art and design?

2.1. Art creates a problem – design solves it

Throughout human history, art has been attacked for its uniqueness or diversity. For a long time, society did not understand the meaning of the black shark square that Kaz Elli Malevich spoke of. It seems that actual art has always encountered certain problems or prohibitions.

On the other hand, the purpose of design is to solve problems. It needs to meet the needs of customers. For example, making the interface of an application more user-friendly, creating eye-catching, attractive publications. Or it could be helping to develop more convenient technologies. Designers bring real value to people.

2.2. Unlike art, design has and must have a goal.

Design is created to achieve results and solve specific problems. If a design has too many elements, it becomes beautiful, eye-catching, but impractical – it is not a design, it is just a work of art.

Artists, on the other hand, create ideas without considering their purpose. They do not seek to achieve any 'realm' other than expressing their thoughts. They simply create based on inspiration. Therefore, sometimes masterpieces are simply scribbles, leaving the audience with questions instead of providing answers.

2.3. Art is for artists and Design is for people

Artists create to express themselves. They don’t work for the sake of others, so they are very free to create without being constrained or influenced by anyone. That’s also a small reason why people often say that people who are always late are “artists”.

By nature, design is about serving people. Designers always focus on the needs of users. Before creating a work, they need to research the problems of the target audience. Professional designers learn to forget themselves, put themselves in the shoes of customers to understand their thinking.

2.4. Art requires constant searching, while design is observing

The birth of all masterpieces of art is the result of the search for new themes, forms and ideas. Of course, its main themes tend to remain the same, but the way and manner of communication and expression are due to the endless creativity.

Good design uses knowledge and skills gained from experience. The design process is based on iteration, improvement and modification of previous solutions. For example, if a designer notices that a person likes a particular feature. So, he will use it in the next project.

2.5. Art is abstract and design is transparent

For the artist's work, what the artist wants to tell often remains a mystery. In a museum, visitors can make completely different judgments about the same work of art. Modern art is now not intellectually accessible.

The world's great masterpieces have sparked discussions and debates that can last for centuries.

However, the design should be as clear as possible. There should be no abstractions for the user, everything should be clear and intuitive.

2.6. Artists need talent, designers need experience

The fact is that all great artists have natural talent. Of course, people can master certain skills through experience and over time. But if a person does not have talent, he may not be successful in the art world. And so, artistic skill without talent is almost worthless.

However, design is something that anyone can learn and master. You don’t need to know how to draw, you just need to study the principles of design and how to turn ideas into reality. There are many famous designers whose style of expression is very simple. Instead of focusing on drawing, they focus on size, spacing, and ideas.

2.7. Art based on tradition, design based on needs

Art has existed since the early stages of human society. For centuries, art has been one of the most important areas of life. The oldest works of art were based on the special content of the image, focusing on aesthetics and structure. This trend has been maintained until now and is reflected in contemporary art.

Unlike art, design is the process of developing rational and creative solutions to human problems. Based on human needs in each field, time, and space, there will be suitable design works.

Thank you for taking the time to read this article. Hopefully, with the analysis, you have a better understanding of the difference between Art and Design and find the right direction for yourself.