Joshua Porter’s article serves to reinforce our conversation from last class about the nature of Art vs. Design:

Art is about personal expression. It is about the life, the emotions, the thoughts and ideas of the artist. It matters very little what observers do, their activity is not required, only their appreciation. The practice of Art doesn’t require them. It is a necessary activity for the artist, and the artist alone.

Design, on the other hand, is about use. The designer needs someone to use (not only appreciate) what they create. Design doesn’t serve its purpose without people to use it. Design helps solve human problems. The highest accolade we can bestow on a design is not that it is beautiful, as we do in Art, but that it is well-used.

Give the whole article a read as it touches on several other principles of design that will be important to us this semester. What do you think? Do you agree? Disagree?

Five Principles to Design By (via)