One of the first things you talk about in design school is the definition of design, what makes good design good and conversely the opposite. Oddly, I think it was my color theory teacher, a painter, who taught it best – good design is what the majority of people find good – plain, simple, to the point. So yes, it is to some degree a matter of personal preference, but to leave it at that would do designers the world over a disservice…at least the good ones. Inevitably the quest for a definition turns towards the difference between design and art.
Art: the expression or application of human creative skill and imagination, producing works to be appreciated primarily for their beauty or emotional power
Design: the art or action of conceiving of and producing a plan
Perhaps the most marked and overlooked distinction is the fact that design is both a noun and verb. By the strictest of definitions design involves a direct intention, a plan, something most often divorced from art. Hence the maxim “art for art’s sake.” But I’d like to argue that good design is to some degree art, it touches the unconscious and has the power to evoke emotion and alternately that art whether conscious or not has within it a most decisive intention, albeit sometimes hidden even from it’s creator.
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