I can’t count the number of times I’ve gotten in to an argument with fellow designers about “design” versus “art” and how they are/aren’t the same thing. My stance is pretty clear: Design is not art. Design can be visually appealing, attractive, interesting, exciting, controversial, but it is not art. The goal of design is to communicate. Art is personal expression. Design is communication, use, information — which can be wrapped in an attractive package.

Joshua Porter puts it a little more eloquently in his Five Principles to Design By. To sum up:

1. Technology serves humans.
2. Design is not art.
3. The experience belongs to the user.
4. Great design is invisible .
5. Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.

You go, Mr. Porter!

Tagged as design + Categorized as Ideas & Theories