I recently read a great post by Joshua Porter about his design principles. For the most part I understand and agree with his list. However, when he talks about the role, or lack-therof, of “art” and personal expression in design I think I may disagree with him. In any case, it really got me thinking about about the role or art and emotion in design.
In his post, Joshua says:
Art is about personal expression. It is about the life, the emotions, the thoughts and ideas of the artist. It matters very little what observers do, their activity is not required, only their appreciation. The practice of Art doesn’t require them. It is a necessary activity for the artist, and the artist alone.
Design, on the other hand, is about use. The designer needs someone to use (not only appreciate) what they create. Design doesn’t serve its purpose without people to use it. Design helps solve human problems. The highest accolade we can bestow on a design is not that it is beautiful, as we do in Art, but that it is well-used.
I certainly agree with the idea that design is about use or communication and that it is not art. They’re not the same thing. However, I think there is room for self-expression and therefore emotion (and appreciation) in design.
He also talks about how we design for humans and I think that’s an important way of thinking about design. We do design for people. Real people, who think and use and feel.
In his excellent book The Laws of Simplicity (my quick review here), John Maeda talks about the effect of emotion on design and simplicity. He takes on the traditional design mantra “Form Follows Function” introducing what he calls, “an emotion-led approach to design: ‘Feeling Follows Form.’”
“Feeling Follows Form.” An interesting concept and one I think anyone designing for humans should pay attention to. Humans are emotional creatures and we tend to gravitate to that which evokes emotion within us. Wouldn’t you agree that something which causes you to feel is more relevant than something that doesn’t? Now, when we’re talking design it’s probably to evoke good feelings within people: feelings of comfort, love, satisfaction, etc.
I think evoking those kinds of feelings in your design is a good thing. A little self-expression—a little “art”—can do that. That is not to say that designs devoid of self-expression can’t evoke those feelings. Only that if you can use art to evoke emotion in your designs it can be a good thing.
I have to agree with you on this one. I think designers always need to keep in mind that we’re designing for people, and that people can be emotional, unpredictable and cannot always be grouped in a “does this, does that” manner. I also feel that a little art in design is almost always a good idea. A functional design that looks nice has to be better than the same functional design that doesn’t, correct?
I think you could assert that you can’t design without putting a bit of self expression and art in there.
I guess what makes this an important topic is that it seems like we try and intentionally suppress art when it comes to design and I think, if anything, we should me making sure our designs carry and evoke emotion so that the people who interact with them can better relate.
In a way, art can be a strategic technique to help make sure our designs are connecting with our audiences.
Speaking of art and design (literally) I’m looking forward to <a href=”http://2007.sxsw.com/interactive/programming/panels/?action=show&id=IAP060235”>your panel at SXSW.</a>
I don’t know that I agree that there’s room for self-expression in design — except, of course, when you’re designing something for yourself.
Seems to me that a great design would express the emotions necessary to evoke the desired reaction and experience from the user. Most of the time, a designer putting his/her own self-expression into a client project is masturbatory at best, and downright offensive at worst. Our job is to serve our clients and our users, which is an <em>entirely</em> different mission than that of art.
If you are using art, as you say, Keith, as a “strategic technique to help make sure our designs are connecting with our audiences,” then I’d question whether it’s really art. If it’s strategic in nature, then I’d argue that it was done <em>by design</em>.
We can absolutely be creative and we can absolutely use “artful” techniques (illustration, photography, painting, etc.), but unless we are doing so with the express purpose of serving the needs of our clients and users, then we’re aren’t being responsible designers.
Want to create art on the web? Get a personal website. :)
(All that having been said, it’s probably unavoidable that <em>some</em> degree of self-expression will come out during the design process. It’s inevitable, and it’s human nature. But, I don’t believe we should <em>try</em> for that.)
Jeff — We may have to agree to disagree on the self-expression thing, but I think I get what you’re saying. Also, I don’t think we should “strive” for self-expression although I do agree it’s unavoidable. That’s what I was asserting in my comment.
I think there is room for some self-expression in all design. There has to be, it could be very hard to design without it. You may even need it or be unable to avoid it, to inject emotion into your designs. However, as you say, if done correctly and strategically and <em>by design</em>, isn’t that now design, not art?
Sure. Maybe. And this could easily turn into a semantic debate about what is “art” and what is “self-expression” and what is “design.” But let’s not go down that road…
Regardless of what you call it, what I do think we <strong>can</strong> strive for is more <strong>emotion in our designs.</strong>
That’s the important part of what I’m saying here.
<blockquote> Regardless of what you call it, what I do think we can strive for is more emotion in our designs. </blockquote>
I definitely agree. After reading your response, I think we agree more than we disagree. I just think designers need to be careful about thinking of themselves as artists. We’re creative people, but we’re not artists (well, some of us may be artists <em>and</em> designers, but that’s two different roles that need to be exercised at different times).
THanks for the clarification — like I said, I now think we agree for the most part. :)
Yeah I tend to agree with your points. If you just design without any ‘emotion’ or that little piece of individualism it will be just plain boring and dead….
Most designers (builders, carpenters etc) all have their touch of flair which adds to the final product. Web designers are no different.
Hi Keith. I knew the Art vs. Design topic might get some pushback…and really there is a big grey area in and around those words.
But to me Design is never about the designer while Art is…if a designer does their work then the design seemlessly accomplishes the goal of the user. It may be that they’re passionate about it, and they invest a lot of their emotion in it (which would probably make them better designers), but the resulting product has to do its job.
Art, on the other hand, is better when this emotion is apparent, because it is about the aesthetic, not the functional.
The Shakers, who make absolutely beautiful and functional furniture, have a clear idea about this:
“Don’t make something unless it is both necessary and useful; but if it is both necessary and useful, don’t hesitate to make it beautiful.”
Also, I’m a huge fan of Maeda, it’s very cool to be mentioned in the same post, even if it is only tangentially. :)
Hi everybody,
I like the way the topic is discussed here. We are trying to differentiate between evoking emotions through design and putting emotion into a design.
I regularly write and talk about designing for emotion and in the workshops we give, we always emphasize the FOR part (not WITH). As soon as designers get this, they are able to better ‘serve’ the emotional needs of users.
What is difficult about the comparison with art, is the thin line that exists between the words ‘design’ and ‘art’ used by people to refer to ‘a beautiful concept or object’.
Both concepts try to evoke certain emotions, but there is a difference, which can be illustrated by looking at three levels of ‘emotional experience’: 1)Visual appeal, 2)Usability and 3)Reflection.
Both art and design evoke emotions at level 1 and 3. However, art usually does not involve any usage and therefore doesn’t evoke emotions at a usability level. In that sense, I do agree with Joshua.
Another difference is in the creation process. Where design should be done with the best of interest for people, it involves a certain structured process. In designing for emotion, this process is about 1)Understanding what emotional experiences are, 2) Researching the emotional impact of your creations by analyzing your design decisions in relation to the emotions they evoke, and 3) Incorporating emotion structurally in your design process. Artists do not necessarily need to follow a process like the above, otherwise we might not call them ‘creative’ artists anymore ;-)
I agree with your opinion. I am a designer and web artist and also design people that really can be used by people.
Thank you for the useful informations. I really enjoyed reading all of your posts. It?s interesting to read ideas, and observations from someone else?s point of view? makes you think more. So please keep up the great work. Best regards…
I’ve been using different tools for the last ten years, but these tips were just mind bogglingly brilliant.
By the way, Jeremiah, double-clicking on a word is supposed to select that word. And if you don’t let go after the second click, you can drag to select the whole sentence or paragraph. It’s very handy when you copy and paste a lot.
whoa. i am in the food world and trying to start a blog which follows my kitchen experiments and ramblings. my girlfriend is an interior designer. much of my inspiration comes from architecture and design.
some say my food is built rather than composed.
for me it all comes down to putting ingredients on a plate which do the following:
is there anything ‘wrong’ with designing for the sole purpose of emotion?
Yeah I tend to agree with your points. If you just design without any ‘emotion’ or that little piece of individualism it will be just plain boring and dead….
Thanks
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thanks.