Design Vs Art: Difference & Relationship

Design versus art. How are they different and why is it important to understand their relationship?

The difference might be obvious at one instance while difficult to pinpoint the next. Certain inherent differences are very important to acknowledge to understand both art and design. What are these fundamental differences and how to tell them apart? How do their similarities branch out into these differences? Read on to find out.

Two Branches of the Same Tree?

As law students, one of the first things taught is the importance of structure. And just as the swirls of Van Gogh’s Starry Night capture the complexities of fluid dynamics, I am led to believe, art and design have the same roots. If art originated from the need to fill, the overlarge void of the human soul then designs to understand it and provide it with structure. Art is open to interpretations, so when the world stares at Pollock’s abstract splatter, the emotions we feel may be significantly different, and what our minds make of it might not align with the intentions of the creator. On the other hand, the design gives rise to a definite understanding of the question ‘Why’, bringing order amid chaos.

Inherently Similar Yet Intrinsically Different

The bond between art and design is eternal. If art is the soul and the very essence of being, the design is the skeleton that gives structure and holds it together. Art can be both the question and the answer. While it questions the way you look at the world and everything beyond, it answers the internal voices when a broken heart breaks into a song, when a frustrated mind holds a pen and when dancing to the rhythm the heart chooses to let go instead of giving up. The design builds, art creates.

How Origin Helps Understand the Difference Better

If we learn about the time in history, when a painting was made, we would gain perspective and context, get a peek at society at large through the artist’s eyes and understand how his artwork stands as a documentation of both time and space.

If we try to find out the context behind why that rusty monument was built, and why the curvature of the dome, we get to analyze a more methodical and mathematical point of view that helps us understand the structure better. This is where design comes in.

Inseparable in Their Differences

When early humans decided which caves are better homes, they showed an eye for design and implemented it when they shaped their hunting tools. They showed artistic abilities when they created cave paintings. So design and art have been with the human race since time immemorial, and have evolved as we did, separately yet connected. They have different purposes, their creative processes differ, and the results are different. Yet they are inseparable in these differences.

What Do You Think?

What other differences and parallels can you draw between art and design? Can one exist without the other?