Maxim Gorky: "An artist is a man who digests his own subjective impressions and knows how to find a general objective meaning in them, and how to express them in a convincing form." Again, we look to a Dutch artist, the master of light and painter of the Girl with a Pearl Earring, Johannes Vermeer. Vermeer lived during the middle part of the 17th century, experienced modest success as a painter, and died under a mountain of debt. Nearly two centuries after his death, however, Vermeer’s work was rediscovered, and his standing as one of the great painters of all time was cemented in the annals of art history. His paintings contain lighting and perspective distortions that can only be seen through manmade lenses. Here’s my point: In the world of contemporary design, art has been narrowly defined and unfairly diminished into a pathetic, watercolor caricature. Designers have flippantly inflated the significance of their own disciplines (which vary in substance to a comical degree) over centuries of artistic practice, philosophical inquiry, and cultural understanding. Design is art. Art is design. No exceptions. Miklos: Design needs to fulfill a function. Not art.

Art vs Design – A Timeless Debate | Toptal® Art vs Design – A Timeless Debate | Toptal®

One of the most influential designers of the twentieth century ... Munari has encouraged people to go beyond formal conventions and stereotypes by showing them how to widen their perceptual awareness' I liked it, I didn't love it, as much as I expected it to, so let me bullet point what I think you can expect from this book. Born in Milan in 1907, where he worked as a graphic designer from a young age, he opened his first studio in 1929 with Riccardo Castagnedi, another important figure in Italian design. He adheres to Futurism, from which he breaks away to develop a path characterised by curiosity and a desire to overcome conceptual and technical limits.One of the ideas I enjoyed reading about that truly questions the relation between art and design was Munari’s reflections on ‘wearing’. He asks us to look at how an object is ‘worn’ and becomes ‘worn’ with use. He then asks if we should design on the sole merit of aesthetics or if we should limit ourselves to user-needs? Munari suggests that maybe we should design objects after observing how they have become worn with time. How do we see the world around us? The Penguin on Design series includes the works of creative thinkers whose writings on art, design and the media have changed our vision forever. Bruno Munari, Curve di Peano P64.1, 1974, oil on canvas, 80 x 80 cm. Courtesy: Andrew Kreps Gallery, New York

Design As Art (Bruno Munari) | PDF | Paintings | Color - Scribd Design As Art (Bruno Munari) | PDF | Paintings | Color - Scribd

He knows the means of effective design, and he applies this to get his job done well. He is the problem-solver, who does not resort to stylistic preconceptions, or absurd and false notions of dignity derived from pure art. In a sense — What does all this mean? Vermeer likely used an advanced, and still unknown, form of camera obscura to create his masterpieces. This is a contentious theory, but there is ample evidence from multiple sources to support such a claim. I’m not sure how it happened, Miklos, but it looks like we’ve found some sort of common ground, and I’m pleasantly surprised. Similarly, Design as Art is useful for designers and architects interested in communicating their projects effectively, as Munari does in this book, narrating the development of some of his most interesting projects. For example, we call upon graphic designers to make posters for events — and not the artist. This is because the artist is comfortable only with the easel, but the designer is much more competent for this case of visual communication. With all the knowledge of printing, and paper types and technicalities, the designer almost seems like a genius. He works keeping in mind the printing techniques right from the start, he designs work that fits the psychological functions, and this makes him so much more valuable. After all, the form follows the function.Affordances provide strong clues to the operations of things. Plates are for pushing. Knobs are for turning. Slots are for inserting things into. Handles are for lifting. Balls are for throwing or bouncing. When affordances are taken advantage of, the user knows what to do just by looking: no picture, label, or instruction needed. The book is full of mental jiu-Jitsu that truly makes you think about the design of everyday objects. As Andrea Branzi describes it, Munari has a subversive style of thinking that might strike a chord with any designer trying to do something different with his practice without going overboard. For example, in one essay Munari describes an orange, a pea and a rose as though they were industrial products. He proposes that the rose is “an object without justification, and one moreover that may lead the worker to think futile thoughts. It is, in the last analysis, even immoral.” Impeccable reasoning, absurd conclusion: a perfect illustration of Munari’s mental jiu-jitsu in action. As someone learning 3D and 2D visual art and design and who specializes in science illustration there just isn't that much interest here. I'm not sure if this was intended for a Western audience, but some of the cultural issues he has with bamboo just aren't that relevant or generalizable to other aspects of design. None of these essays have principles that can be extracted and applied to other areas, they are basic musings that are as specialized as they are useless to inspiring design. They don't encourage further thought, they question nothing, they simply state observations. The majority of the book is saying 'it is this way *just because* it is'. Being told fast cars are a luxury as if we didn't know this before without critiquing it in any useful way seemed patronizing, pandering and pretentious. Maybe this is the stride of a designer, to simply identify consumer interests and provide a sellable solution, but there's just no self-awareness or detail to this here. It felt like he wanted you to think he knew what design was more than to encourage, inform or instruct readers. He refuses any depth, and so I just drew blanks. All of this said, most of the essays are light and accessible, but not as interesting, brave or complex as say John Berger's or Susan Sontag's essays on art. Bowers is a brand designer and illustrator who believes that art encompasses many creative disciplines, design being one, and therefore design is art. Instead, the emphasis now is on formal coherence — as seen in nature, like in the example of the leaf.