Graphics Reference
In-Depth Information
Though most products don't involve life-and-death consequences, the difficult relation-
ship between the necessities of art and user needs has always been there. When one doesn't
fit the other, this relationship weakens, or ends. A streamlined, styled toaster might have
award-winning looks, but what if it fails to make toast? Its creator may be puzzled about
his design's critical failure, but everyone else will know. In just about every field, novice
artists are confronted with the conflict between work rising from their artistic visions, and
work that pays the bills. A musician might have to choose between poorly paid gigs play-
ing for enthusiastic fans, and high-priced studio work for TV commercials. A visual artist
steals time from profitable website designs to finish a set of revolutionary paintings. An
actress performs in a coffee commercial so she can justify playing roles without pay at her
community theatre. An author spends his days writing press releases so he can work on his
Great American Novel at night.
Up until now, digital design has been different. Like any artists, designers could come
up with ideas anytime anywhere, but most of them didn't have to wait until they got home
to construct their creations. They were encouraged, and even required, to do it right there
at work. It was their job. Obviously, user experience changes this, but maybe not as much
as it seems.
Yes, even in the arts, work is work, and the line between artistic vision and commercial
viability isn't always that stark. The guitarist entering a studio to play background licks
for a beer commercial might figure out a progression that fits his new song perfectly. The
drummer might offer the guitarist a tryout for a spot in his new bar band. When a visual
artist's painting goes up in a gallery, an entrepreneur buys it, seeing one of its details as a
logo for his company. On the stage of her community theatre, the actress creates a character
and voice that fit perfectly with a car commercial. When she tries this out in a studio, the ad
agency hires her to do a whole series of spots. The author's press releases for his company
become the inspiration for the format for his novel.
Art is always about life, and when commercial artwork becomes a part of life, art
and commerce collide. Digital designers are in the middle of this collision, and its conse-
quences are just becoming clear.
With the individual artist/designer, art begins with identity. Identity expresses itself in
an artist's personality and individual style. The primary raw material is memory: the accu-
mulation of life experiences and their impressions. These impressions are where images,
events and circumstances meet aesthetic sensibility, creating the artist's individual percep-
tions. This gives form to one's artistic identity. For an individual artist this identity is the
ultimate truth.
