1. What is the purpose of a designer, do they always work for a stakeholder?
- The designer exists to create useable objects that people want and need. In Judd’s It’s Hard to Find a Good Lamp, he states that “The only possible way perhaps to make cheap mass-produced furniture is to start with a construction costs and to design accordingly.” The designer must follow the specifications given and design what is needed by the stakeholder. Even in design art, where the designer is able to make the object functional and beautiful, design art is still based on salesmanship rather than the designer’s feelings (Scanlon, Please, Eat the Daisies).
2. Is the artist always a self-expressive narcissist?
- The artist, is someone who creates for the sake of creation rather than its use. Artists must be individualistic because they are not making art for any specific use, they make art to invoke feeling and thinking in others. Though they use their individualism in order to create, they use their creations to connect with their audience in a less practical way (Dorst, But is it Art?).
3. Can the designer/artist exist?
- The designer artist can exist, though most people try their best to keep the distinction alive. In Poynor’s Arts Little Brother, he says “To move forward, we need a wider public understanding that design is a means of personal and cultural expression with the potential to equal and even extend art’s reach”. Design is able to overlap into the art world because of the need for expression and visual stimulation that makes life better.
Personal Reflection
1. What is your personal view of the difference between the designer and the artist?
- I believe that each exists in order to provide some necessary thing for humanity. Whether that thing is something you can sit on or something you look at, each has a purpose. They separation is real since designers and artists must meet different needs when they create, but that doesn’t mean they can’t stray to the other side.
2. Which are you, why?
- I am both, though I might be slightly more of a designer. When I draw or write, it is usually for a reason other than pure creation. I draw to get better or make something specifically for someone rather than to make a point or connect with others through expression. However, I do focus on the aesthetics of my creation more than the practicality of it, so I am also an artist.