Message Design is NOT Art (nor Completely Science)

Design has always received a bad rap. This is possibly one of the reasons why so many objects are poorly designed. The purpose of art and design are different, and yet design is often taught by artists who have been trained in a certain school of thought that is antithetical to design.

Art is an exploration of visual forms, of the range of visual expressions using certain media as well as the human imagination. The emphasis in art is on expression and testing the limits of the human imagination. At times, "art" is framed as rather lofty and pretentious. I always cringe when I hear someone define them self as an "artist" (or "actor") when they so clearly aren't. "Art" often becomes an excuse for vulgarity and trashiness.

Message design is about communication. Self-expression is often irrelevant since message designers often are not speaking in their own voices. In message design, the emphasis is on the meaning that the receiver derives from a message (rather than the act of creation). And so, message designers must know something about psychology (attention, memory, information processing, sense making...) to better understand message receivers. And, message designers need to know something about human physiology in order to better understand message reception. And, message designers need to know about speech, text, graphics, music, and film in order to better construct messages. Message designers are problem solvers. Message designers create interfaces for people to interact with each other or to interact with the environment.

Art is all about beauty, form and aesthetics. I love art. It's fun and interesting. But, I don't want my textbook to be a work of art. I don't want my TV to be artsy. Does this mean that message designers are not creative? No. They are creative problem solvers. It's more that creativity and self-expression are not top priorities of message designers. Of course aesthetics are important in design, but aesthetics are just one piece of the puzzle rather than the ultimate goal.

Of course, message design relies more heavily on scientific research than art. Message design is all about testing. Finding out about the client, about the audience, about message design strategies and their effectiveness in fulfilling the intent of the message design... I am not really sure how to evaluate art (my guess is technique in combination with some rather amorphous concept of originality???). The evaluation of message design is quite clear: how successful the message was in accomplishing its purpose. While there is never a perfect message, message designers strive for a set of universal rules for message design.

Message design is not art. It is more than art.

If you are interested in this topic, you might like to read the following:
Graphic Design as Communication.