Are we artists or designers?

November 7, 20231 Minutes

One of the longest debates out there. Are designers artists? Well, no, we are not.  Let me explain from a different perspective why not.

“Design solves problems; art creates them” is a great quote about how we approach things. Each of the disciplines has its own direction. Designers have a strict, limited, and focused direction for what to design; the artist is free to create whatever he feels.

When I wrote, “Problem-solving is science, design is a craft, and creativity is an art form,” I tried to define how we solve problems. You need to act freely if you are trying to come up with a creative solution, but only the craft will create the final solution within the limits of the research phase (problem-solving).

Art will always stay free and without limits; that is the reason we all respect artists, because it is so hard to create without limitations (the brief). Design is a craft; we act exactly like all other craftsmen, and our power is in our skills and way of thinking. That’s hard enough; we don’t want that artist’s mind to interfere with our skills.