Design is not an art.

[boatBurner]

Design is not an art or how to plan your next campaign.

A partner and long-time friend of mine disagrees with the significance of good design. He's an internet marketer and I consider him to be very reasonable and intelligent. In fact, we can often argue about a point, and the one of us will walk away with a changed stance.

But not when it comes to design.

One of the biggest misconceptions in designing a product or experience is that some form of "art" is involved. I don't agree. In fact, I think art has little to do with design. You can include forms of art in your design, but design itself has nothing to do with art. I'd argue that design is more science-based. Yes, even for AMs. Split test much?

For this reason, I think it's worth sharing the impending buzzword, but equally important idea, of story-centered design. Whether you're creating an SEO tool or considering your next landing page, consider this approach during your planning phase.

Source: Why good storytelling helps you design great products — Tech News and Analysis

The core of story-centered design is the same as test-driven development. Only instead of writing tests to exercise our code, we’re creating stories to exercise our designs. Just like test-driven development, story-centered design can have an incredible impact on a team’s execution speed and product quality.

 

[greenleaves]

shouldn't you be paying attention to the roulette wheel while you gamble and drink?

And yes, I know, I am an asshole.

 

[boatBurner]

shouldn't you be paying attention to the roulette wheel while you gamble and drink?

And yes, I know, I am an asshole.

I still gamble. Just not at craps and card games.

 

[Zaino]

Is this whiteboard tuesday already!

 

[Zaino]

I think if you asked an architect if there is any art in what he does, he would say sure. If you dont have any art in your design you need to outsource some creativity.

 

[dmnEPC]

good design can become a piece of art. But good art doesn't necessarily lead to a good design.

 

[medicalhumor]

Did you really need to make a new thread about this? Pretty sure you brought this up already in the other thread.
All your threads reek of blog. Do you just copy and paste from your blog, or is STS your personal blog now?

And yes, I know I'm an asshole.

 

[boatBurner]

Did you really need to make a new thread about this? Pretty sure you brought this up already in the other thread.
All your threads reek of blog. Do you just copy and paste from your blog, or is STS your personal blog now?

And yes, I know I'm an asshole.

 

[SkyFire]

You're wrong, because you think it's an either/or.

Example
The Chrysler Building was designed, and most certainly is art.

Code can be art as well, the simple elegance of some code, it's efficiency; truly art.

 

[boatBurner]

You're wrong, because you think it's an either/or.

Example
The Chrysler Building was designed, and most certainly is art.

Code can be art as well, the simple elegance of some code, it's efficiency; truly art.

Earlier, I was going to respond to Zaino and decided to pull a few examples.

In some research, I really started to find some definitions and interpretations of art that have changed my opinion. I do think design can be a form of art. But I also believe that design can exist independently of art.

Worth saying instead is that designers are not necessarily artists, and communicating effectively through software or marketing copy takes a well-thought design. I now maintain that being able to successfully achieve that result is definitely an art form.

 

[greenleaves]

Earlier, I was going to respond to Zaino and decided to pull a few examples.

In some research, I really started to find some definitions and interpretations of art that have changed my opinion. I do think design can be a form of art. But I also believe that design can exist independently of art.

Worth saying instead is that designers are not necessarily artists, and communicating effectively through software or marketing copy takes a well-thought design. I now maintain that being able to successfully achieve that result is definitely an art form.

You have brilliant insight. This is a great thread. Thought provoking and inspiring. You are awesome. Feel validated enough for today Mr Attention whore?

 

[ncmedia]

^ Well put.

Artists understand space, color, composition, what is visually appealing to the masses vs other stuff, how to communicate visually and connect with emotion/understanding/relativity- like a good DJ does to music.

I was an artist/expressionist before I touched computers - drawing/painting/sculpting/took special series art school, took design in college, lot's of formal training. There is definitely a correlation between those good with fundamental arts and great designers.

They say a great artist/designer should be able to design anything from an interface, to a watch, to a building, to a painting, to a movie. I tend to agree, we just understand the fundamentals of senses and what/why we react to them the way we do (i.e. "that 'looks' great, I dunno why but it does" or "why did I cry though?").

Sourcerers, info/data/space wizards, I find that the same talents I use to design a software or web interface to distribute data/tasks easily, are the same talents I use when filling a blank canvas with color/shade/detail or any manual art.

My conclusion: Artists can turn into designers much easier than a photoshop pro calling his job an art/artist. Also find that designers can analyze/mimick/improve stuff easily because of that same understanding of space/communication, including writing copy, trying off the wall split tests, etc. where as a designer with no internal talent for art won't have that advantage imo.

#creativepplftw

 

[bodiddley]

You're wrong, because you think it's an either/or.

Example
The Chrysler Building was designed, and most certainly is art.

Code can be art as well, the simple elegance of some code, it's efficiency; truly art.

For something to be art, it requires the use of creative imagination. Design uses creative imagination, the act of coding doesn't (it's the execution of a design, no more no less).

Html is about as far removed from Picasso or the Beatles as you can get.

 

[medicalhumor]

 

[mpbiz]

GET BACK TO WORK JACKASS

 

[boatBurner]

Blah, blah blah..

Despite the trolling that occurs on these forums, this place can be mostly entertaining and slightly informative.

Protip: When you want to ignore people, you can. We call it the ignore list. I'm putting you there now.

 

[boatBurner]

For something to be art, it requires the use of creative imagination. Design uses creative imagination, the act of coding doesn't (it's the execution of a design, no more no less).

Html is about as far removed from Picasso or the Beatles as you can get.

I think SkyFire is referring to the efficiency of a complex program written in a few solid lines of code. With the number of ways to accomplish the same task, it takes a creative problem solver to achieve it minimally or through a workaround that hadn't been implemented before.

 

[onkelmicha]

I still gamble. Just not at craps and card games.

I don't do heroin anymore just crack sometime

 

[boatBurner]

I don't do heroin anymore just crack sometime

"Craps and card games" was meant in a more nebulous context.

Fortunately, I haven't gambled since I made it public.

 

[mpbiz]

"Craps and card games" was meant in a more nebulous context.

Fortunately, I haven't gambled since I made it public.

I still gamble.