Month: March 2017

What is the purpose of a designer, do they always work for a stakeholder?

1. To fulfill a need involving either technology or tradition in a “definite situation.” (“Good Design: What is it for?”) A designer works “through and for other people.” (“Is a Designer an Artist?”) Do they always work for a stakeholder? From what I have read from the articles and what I have seen in real life, I would say for the most part.
2. Is the artist always a self-expressive narcissist?

Norman Potter describes design as a “humbler” way to serve man than art. That is because design can be for things like serve as a more tangible function that art, and artists are more certain about themselves and if their personal expression is in their art and if others enjoy their art. That being said, I think that it may seem that artists are more self-serving. However, this may not always be the case, for there are artists who make art to impart certain messages to the world, to speak for those who cannot, try to right wrongs, etc.

3. Can the designer/artist exist?

Most pf the articles seem to point to the notion of them being separate things that work in a similar way and can sometimes work together. But I think the authors of the articles would find it a bit of a stretch to say that artists are designers and designers are artists.

Personal Reflection

1. What is your personal view of the difference between the designer and the artist?

A designer is more specialized than an artist and more work for companies, whereas artists can work for companies but a lot of times for work for themselves or strive to work for themselves.

2. Which are you, why?

I am an artist because I do not know much about design and for me, the term “artist” feels more liberating than designer. I feel like since its tasks may be a little less specific and a little broader, which may in certain ways be a bad thing, I feel like the possibilities for me are endless. Also, and I may be wrong, but I kind of associate more neat works for designers like logos. That it not my style—I like a lot of detail and chaos.

1. Based upon the reading how are priorities set for specific projects? Or in other words, what is it that determines the guidelines for given projects?

Priorities include what you define as success, as versed Superflex’s response to Asa Nacking’s question as to whether or not the Biogas project was a success, “[there are] several aspects that may be more or less successful.” In other words, you need to define the certain aspect, that if achieved, would indicate success for a particular project. For Superflex, it was the fact that their project enabled dialogue. Another priority can be whether the work is to be specific or broad. Specific or broad when it comes to disciples (should the project be exclusive to one field, art for example, or crossover different disciplines such as, what Maria Lind in her article, “What If?” calls “hybrids,” which are projects that can intertwine art, politics, design or film?)

2. How does the artist/ designer approach decision making differently or do they?

Artists and Graphic Designers share similar questions that influence their decisions Both question “genre boundaries and subject areas” in their processes (“What If?” by Maria Lind). Both use “methods or tools” in their decision-making. Graphic designers are “liberated from the weight of art history,” as Mathias Augustyniak puts it in the “Royal College of Art discussion,” “and therefore able to approach the notion of art with a degree of nonchalance.” “Nonchalance” may be baffling to an artist as a way of approaching art. Then perhaps it can follow that artists may approach their craft and therefore make decisions from a more abstract perspective, while designers may be coming a little more from a place of technicality. Augustyniak also asserts that “artists seem to insist on positioning themselves outside of the real world in this exclusive space called art,” conversely inferring that designers may be more likely or willing to work with several different disciplines outside of their specific field when making decisions on projects.

Personal Reflection

1. How do you make decisions? Are they based upon anything substantial? Why or why not?

I make artistic decisions based on what effect that I want to piece to have/what kind of emotion I want it to evoke. I also make decisions as to where I want the eye to first land, and how I can make that so. This is because my high school art teacher made me aware of the eye of the viewer and how if you do certain things, you can change where the eye first goes to, which is arguably the most important information, which intertwines with what effect it has and eventually the certain emotion that I want a piece to provoke.

2. How do you know when something is “good” or working?

When I can look at the piece as a whole after getting a new perspective from having left it alone for a while and my first impression is the certain effect or emotion that I originally wanted to create. If my eye goes where I want them to go. If there is a sense of “completeness.” If it successfully communicates the elusive, abstract thing that was inside me when creating it. If I took any chances. It is important to me that I at least took one risk in making the piece and that will give me some satisfaction, because I know that that is the only way I will grow and I want to grow. I will possibly feel more successful if the risk actually turned out well in a dynamic way than if it ruined the piece, so that is a way of measuring the success of the piece. If I jumped and the net caught me. But I am concerned with whether or not I took a risk before concerning myself with whether or not it turned out like how I envisioned or hoped.

3. How do you rework projects to make them work?

I usually just work with whatever went wrong in the piece and figure out what I can do with it to make it look intentional in the piece. It depends on the medium. If I am working with pencil, I’ll consider if I can just erase it without it being too noticeable. If I’m working with paint, I shall do what my high school art teacher said to do and paint over it! If it is a pen mark or sharpie, something non-erasable/non-cover-up-able, I usually do the same thing three times to make it look intentional and see if it contributed well to the piece.