Red lips, lined eyes and defined brows..

purrr…  purrr…

Step this way for some genuinely frightening Halloween costumes..

A small selection of my favourites after the cut.

Aces

Original image is the work of photographer Riccardo Tisci for Muse magazine, 2009.

A designer must exercise practical and technical skill, an aesthetic sensibility and a knowledge of the consumer. Designers must also be skilled in the use of language – they must be able to write clear specifications, discuss ideas coherently and argue their points persuasively. These abilities are often underestimated. Artists need only express themselves on their own terms. They do not need to be technically proficient. A designer must be able to understand the needs of their audience. To do so, they must exercise a degree of detachment towards their work, weighing up the task at hand in a more dispassionate way than that of an artist.

I don’t think I write enough on here. The quote is from an essay I wrote during the first year of my degree. It’s called “Art vs Design” and you can read it in full after the cut.

Art is entering
Design is showing what you found inside

 
A bottomless debate

Allow me to get straight to the point. I don’t think designers are artists, and as far as I can see, it is a futile debate. Is design art? A clear distinction would be hard to come by. From an infinite number of approaches to terms such as ‘utility,’ ‘beauty,’ ‘method,’ ‘expression,’ and ‘society’ you may pick one and with it, create an instrument for measuring the distance between art and design. The result will always be subjective, and merely an estimate.

 The only way I can see this debate as useful is if it succeeds in forcing us to clear up confusion by addressing the terms separately, making sure students understand and design educators teach each differently. Failing to make a distinction between the two, results in the diminishment of both terms.

 Discussions of the relationship between art and design usually argue either that design is a kind of art and therefore could not be distinct from it, or that design is fundamentally distinct from art thus rendering linkage between the two irrelevant.

 The terms ‘art’ and ‘design’ contain a broad spectrum of disciplines. Design is easier to recognise e.g. fashion design, product design but when it comes to art the question is more complex. In his paper titled ‘The complementarity of art and design’ Tsion Avital outlines two different kinds of art: figurative realism and non-representational, abstract art. He proposes to contrast design with realism and not abstract art because ‘it is not possible to provide a clear specification of the works that ought to be assigned to this art’. Therein lies the first problem.

 Role

Generally speaking, art is an act of creation, using an infinite array of media to intensify the viewer’s perception of reality. In ‘Art, Design and the Spaces Between’ Michael Brady writes “art is judged in terms of beauty and truth, insight and revelation.. Design is judged differently. If it doesn’t get the job done it is considered not good or, worse, not successful”. Successful design is supposed to go unnoticed (at least in terms of function, form is another thing) whilst art deliberately draws attention to itself. In the book ‘user-centred graphic design’ Jorge Frascara points out that “even though there can be beautiful computer keyboards, excellent typefaces and magnificent dinning furniture, we concentrate on our typing, reading and eating”.

 A designer must exercise practical and technical skill, an aesthetic sensibility and a knowledge of the consumer. Designers must also be skilled in the use of language – they must be able to write clear specifications, discuss ideas coherently and argue their points persuasively. These abilities are often underestimated. Artists need only express themselves on their own terms. They do not need to be technically proficient. A designer must be able to understand the needs of their audience. To do so, they must exercise a degree of detachment towards their work, weighing up the task at hand in a more dispassionate way than that of an artist.

 Value

Having to treat work in this way may hinder creativity and frustrate many designers. Matti from ‘Orangeflux’ often feels that his role is “reduced to being a facilitator of (the clients) process, the guy who works behind the magic box.” The average client does not understand that investing in design can make a valuable contribution to their product/company. Designers end up feeling demeaned and wishing that their knowledge could be put to good use and their creativity given a chance to flourish.

 This may help to explain the desire, over the past 20 years, to elevate the status of graphic design to that of a ‘legitimate dscipline’ and thus the reason for comparisons with art.

 Parallel

There are of course, going to be similarities between art and design. A commonly held misconception is that artists operate alone, working only to please themselves. The fact is that a lot of artists, past and present operated as a firm e.g. Damien Hirst, The Rembrandt project. In addition, like designers, artists have clients to answer to. There are those that make their work a success, namely critics and buyers; those that give them a chance to gain recognition for instance gallery owners, curators; and those that fund their projects in the first place such as grant committees. Artists must please a multitude of people to be able to carry on with their profession financially. Émigré contributor Kenneth Fitzgerald believes that “art was born of the marketplace, as was design. Design was merely a new product line.”

 Norman Potter, in the 1980 article ‘What is a designer?’ generalised that “The real connection between fine-artists and designers springs from the benefit of a shared visual sensibility; not from a relevant or direct transference of skills, language or formative insight from one field to another.” And that is where the similarities end.

 Separation

I believe that the significant differences lie in user experience. Take for example, a chair. The designer designs the experience you will have with the chair, while the artist designs the chair. Art versus design isn’t the question here; I think it has more to do with creativity versus reasoning.

 Design educators should be careful not to reward too much students that come up with obtuse responses to briefs whilst penalising those who do the obvious. This should help prevent art from getting tangled up with design.

 Conclusion

 Graphic designers seem to possess an inferiority complex. They have a habit of demeaning the value of their work as though it is a lesser entity than art. Indeed, art has ‘a higher cultural station’ but as Michael Brady pointed out in Critique, art and design ‘have different purposes, they are made differently, they are judged by different criteria and they have different audiences.’ Designers pining for art legitimacy are like rock stars writing operas – there is nothing wrong with experimental crossing over, but the music works best when it’s closer to home.

‘For those amongst us who favour entertainment of a more ‘experimental’ nature, the Moon Wiring Club is as infamous and inevitable as cod-liver oil. One might say that no gentleman whose adventurous instincts have not been warmed and purged by what is on offer here, can hope for much future in the English-speaking world.’
Dame Priapus Fripps, 1936

In a corner of England, a long way northwest of Broomhouses, lies the tiny moor town of Clinkskell. Over the passing years Clinkskell has become a fairly isolated place, in 1964 her closest neighbour Hatherston was demolished to make way for the proposed B429 duel carriageway (a costly project that was later abandoned.) The nearby village of Ercil Meer was submerged by the construction of the 1932 Vortigan dam, and in 1899 the noted holiday resort of Dugdale infamously became quite impossible to find, to be known as the ‘Misplaced Village’.

Over the years Clinkskell’s town council has produced a number of promotional items with the aim of highlighting the rich heritage of the area.

It is along one of Clinkskell’s most charming and dusty lanes that one arrives at the Blank Workshop. Founded in 1853 by Green Douglas, this curious place has over the decades been known variously as an exclusive club for the elaborately versed gentleman, a stronghold of charlatans and a parlour room for those who sleep on the left side of the bed.

Currently it is known to contain a rich harvest of unusual and uncanny individuals, with a substantial archive of the arcane and extraordinary. Most famously, The Blank Workshop is also home to both Gelographic Radiotelevsion and Gecophonic Recording Productions.

Presented here is something to suit anyone with a taste for the… delightfully other.

The Blank Workshop currently houses an exhibition of authentic books on bird language. A selection of these esoteric and offbeat items are presented below.

One of the more famous fellows of the Blank Workshop is Mr Arnold Van Rensburg, world renowned purveyor of Scrumptytons Sweets. Mr Van Rensburg’s bizarre ideas in confectionary were thought to have been discontinued in the 1950’s due to some unpleasantness, however the Blank Workshop is delighted to say that many of these historical sweets are now available again at the highly specialised retailer.

Painstakingly recorded by various antique methods at the Blank Workshop and beautifully mastered by the esteemed Jon Brooks, this exceptional disc is bound to give you perfect stereo sound reproduction for years to come.

A modern master of print.

Here are some items I’ve bought in the last 3 months.

^Topshop shoes, Superdry rucksack

Urban Outfitters

Topshop

Laura Mercier tinted moisturizer

Converse all stars

Doc Martens girl boots

mac lipstick in capricious

mac lipstick in chatterbox