Art versus Design
There's always a tug of war between "art" and "design" in a commercial environment - and especially in a "design" driven industry such as this.
Depending on backgrounds, web "designers" may be techo's that turned their hand to Photoshop or Illustrator, or they might be graphic artists that made the shift to the digital space, or they might be full-on digital designers from day one. And talking to folks from either end of the spectrum, the definition of art versus design is usually fuzzy, blurry, or at the very least furry.
I've read a lot of interesting comments on this topic, but my take on it is simple --- if you are doing "creative stuff" with "constraints"... then it's Design. By constraints, I mean --- timelines, deadlines, function, features, budgets, specifications, useability considerations and so on. All the things that we deal with every day. Essentially, you have a problem to solve, in a creative way - so you are "designing" a solution.
Take away all the constraints.... and it's Art. A means of expression purely "because".
I guess the real trick for web design firms is to try combine the two --- take the inner drive and passion that motivates artistic creativity, and direct it into your design process to achieve a better end result - uniquely matched to the client's requirements, and personally satisfying for the design team.
:D|KN
|
