is graphic design art?

[Telp]

Sure.

Now, what is art?

Good point. Art is such a broad statement. Just about everything falls under "art." The best piece of artwork in my house has to be my iMac .

 

[Kwill]

"Yes bee can"

Agreed. Depending on the context, graphic design can bee art.

 

[rjfiske]

Someone else earlier in this thread said a variant of the following:

Art is creativity without constraints.
Design is creativity within constraints.

I think for me that this is pretty close.

 

[63dot]

I remember when I first started using the web a lot in the 1990s and I saw so many different types of sites before designers had restraint. The worst site, by far, was Microsoft's site. Too funny. I wish I had a link from the past.

 

[spetykowski]

of course it is.

 

[Yr Blues]

Someone else earlier in this thread said a variant of the following:

Art is creativity without constraints.
Design is creativity within constraints.

I think for me that this is pretty close.

Ummm…forgetting institutionalized art from the academies? That was extremely restrictive.

Fine art can have a crap load of constraints.

 

[klymr]

Ummm…forgetting institutionalized art from the academies? That was extremely restrictive.

Fine art can have a crap load of constraints.

After reading your comment here I thought about my art history class I'm currently in, Greek and Roman Art. Many of those statues that we consider great works of art were carved using a specific canon of proportions. That would also be considered "design constraints" eh?

So, the next question I propose is to everyone...are those not considered art because they were often commissioned and made following certain guidelines? I'm not trying to start an argument, just wondering where and how we draw the line.

 

[AlexisV]

Is art something that brings pleasure? Something you enjoy looking at? Perhaps something you admire and can see skill in? But then you'd be able to look at something you detest, but can see the idea and skill behind? Is that art?

Maybe it's just something visual than envokes an emotion? A lampost could be art if you enjoy looking at it.

 

[Yr Blues]

It's funny because many fine-artists don't consider photography as a fine art. There are so many debates trying to define things it's pretty unproductive.

 

[Telp]

There are so many debates trying to define things it's pretty unproductive.

So true is so many situations.

 

[Nicolecat]

I would put graphic design into the same artistic category as marketing...It certainly takes an artistic mind (or group of minds) to come up with something that moves people enough to purchase an object or service.

Isn't art supposed to move people?

So, all-in-all...Yes, Graphic Design is art.