Written in January 2023.
When I was young, I agonized over what a designer even is. Specifically, I couldn’t understand why a designer couldn’t also be an artist. I dug through a pile of books looking for the answer.
Looking back now, a young guy obsessing over that question every season of the year? Cute, isn’t he?
The answer was hiding somewhere simple
It’s been about twenty years since I started doing design work. And from here, the answer looks almost embarrassingly simple.
If you make work that sells, someone will show up with a bag of cash and buy it. It doesn’t matter if it’s design, art, a masterpiece, or a velvet Elvis. Whatever it focuses on, whether that’s marketing, trends, quality, or price, if it becomes attractive work that sells, someone buys it.
And selling means something. It means people recognized that much value in it.
So where’s the line?
Do artists make work in order to sell it? Not necessarily.
Designers definitely make work that has to sell.
So what about an artist who takes a commission? Designer? Artist?
My definitions:
Design, to me, means jumping into the middle of nothing, or a total mess, and picking things up one by one from the very beginning. You plan it, you build it, and you end up feeding the client a dish made exactly to their taste.
Art, to me, is release. You take the thoughts that are already organized in your head and you let them pour out.
People say the line between the two has mostly collapsed lately. Maybe. But they still start in different places.
And me?
So which one am I?
Both. When I get a request, I try to give the client a design that fits them just right. And when an idea pops into my head, I try to express it however it comes out.
If I’m honest, I lean more toward the artist side. I’ve just been too busy making a living to let it show.
So, little by little, I’m going to give more time to a life that actually fits who I am. A life that’s really mine.