[Sigia-l] Why 'design' makes some of us cringe.

Whitney Quesenbery wq2 at sufficiently.com
Mon Jul 22 23:09:36 EDT 2002


At 02:33 PM 7/22/2002 -0700, George Olsen wrote:
>Art is about (self) expression, graphic design is about communication (to
>others).


When I was in theatre, we used a similar distinction. It was often directed 
as sculptors who were hired to do scenic design and created something that 
might have been beautiful, but was not a good place to enact a play.

When I spent time working with some painters, painting apartments in NYC, 
they used to distinguish between "painting" (covering walls with protective 
coloration) and "making art"

I once heard the head of the American College of Engineers describe 
engineering as "a creative solution to a problem, within constraints"



We all define what we do partly by describing what we DO do, and partly by 
comparing and contrasting our work or approach to our "near neighbors"

In the first example, the distinction was based on the fact that the scenic 
designer has to make something that was not just visually impressive, and 
that communicated something about the play, but also was a place where 
actors had to work.

In the second, the common ground was pigment in solution, and the 
distinction was over purpose.

In the third, it's a statement that draws attention to the fact that the 
mere act of problem solving is a creative act, even when the subject of the 
problem is "practical" rather than "artistic"


It depends....




                 ..... on context



Whitney Quesenbery
whitneyq at acm.org
Usability Professionals' Association - www.upassoc.org
STC Usability SIG - www.stcsig.org/usability/
Cognetics Corporation - www.cognetics.com







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