There was an inside joke in college that if you wanted to occupy a class with nonsense for a good hour all you had to do was raise the following question; What is the difference between art and design? Someone would pose a statement and then another would refute it. If you hit a lull simply come out playing the devil’s advocate and you were back on track and discussing nothing. Well I think I’ve finally discovered the difference. This post is going to seem obvious but bear with me.

The simplest explanation is that design is pragmatic and has a focused goal while art does not. This is how the discussion invariably begins then rapidly descends into chaos when someone says indignantly, “What, you’re saying that art can’t have a goal?” or “What if art’s goal is to have no goal at all?”. The key difference is that in design that goal is established and does not shift very easily. Nor is the goal ever as nebulous as having no goal at all.

The confusion really stems from inadequately defining things as design or art. You may be a designer and lose track of your goal and end up with art and vice-versa. Graphic design for example is design when it is focused on meeting the goal of communicating. When it shifts too far towards being only aesthetically pleasing, losing sight of the original goal, it is not design but then art. It’s this phase shift that causes the blur in the line. Artists can make design and designers can make art - what a concept.

Philippe Starck is one of my favorite designers though he doesn’t produce just design. In many ways he is better labeled as an artist. His furniture isn’t that comfortable and tends to be for the sake of aesthetics. This isn’t to say that art is just to be pretty. There’s a lot of art that isn’t pretty. Nor does it mean that designing a table requires that it have four legs.

I suppose a better way to describe it is in a scenario. My realization came about when I was being praised by one of my students (trust me it doesn’t happen often). So he was saying that he liked my style of thinking because what usually happens is that they will come up with a good idea but it won’t fit with their assigned client. At this point any other professor will say to just change the client to one that fits. My philosophy is to instead axe the idea and find another that fits with the client. That was the shiny bright bulb for me.

Design has set criteria that must be satisfied, art does not. With art you can be nebulous with your intent. Always shaping your message to fit your belief. In design it’s about finding the right idea to fit your goal. Be gentle, I know I’m going to get a downpour of hate from artists and designers alike. Go ahead, I can take it.