I had an interesting discussion recently on the values of Design versus Fine Art.  Despite having attended a design school rather than a fine arts program, I had never considered their pursuits as being different in the slightest.  Designers and artists both seek to create, and  with their creations to impact the world in a way that they believe make it better.  In the past I have used the terms interchangably, though after this recent discussion I may have to reconsider my personal thesaurus.

The discussion started at a New Year’s Eve party in Brooklyn when Matt, a local fine artist, found himself at a party full of employed designers and design school graduates, such as myself, my good friend Sarah,  and one of her local friends, a graphic designer by the name of Andrew.  It was Sarah’s status as an artist who attended a design school that prompted Matt, who had recently taken some design courses in his spare time, to pose a question that had obviously been bugging him for a bit.

“Designers,” he stated, “always work to fulfill someone else’s vision, unlike fine artists, who create to fulfill their own vision alone and no one else’s.  As creative individuals, how can you manage not to create your own vision, to trademark your work in some way so people will still recognize it and call it yours?  How can you attempt to fulfill your own creative needs when at the beck and call of someone else’s creative vision?”

He went on to politely state that he saw designers as artists who had sold out, people who were too chicken to trust and create their own visions.  He acknowledged his own ego in his desire to be remembered throughout history for his own vision, and claimed that is part of what drives him to create.  He wondered how we, as designers rather than artists, ignore that portion of ourselves.  Although this particular thought left us all speechless as to an answer, the three of us fought hard to explain the benefits of being Designers rather than Fine Artists.  I personally claimed that although what we create is driven by another’s desires, that of the client, in the end it is still our work, our vision of what the client is saying that becomes the physical result.  Although the all has to be created in a way to suit another’s taste, and sometimes clients can be too heavy-handed in the creative process, not all are, and the collaboration can make the final outcome stronger.   I, like many other designers, believe this collaboration process to be more beneficial because of its resulting value to many rather than solely the artist and perhaps his few faithful followers.  And in the end, although a designer has not striven for it necessarily, the final outcome still has a fairly trademarked style due to the individual way each designer has of approaching and solving a particular problem as well as his or her aesthetic values.

Although I believe my words did not persuade Matt in the slightest on believing that Designers weren’t artists too chicken to follow their own vision, I stand by them, and know I chose the right path for myself.  I like that other people bring me problems to solve, visions of a better world that I can make possible for them, and for myself.  I am glad to call myself a Designer rather than a Fine Artist.