Monday, February 13, 2017

Design vs Art | The Real Role of Web Designers



Art and Design Are as Comparable as Apples and Oranges

Have you ever gone to a website and been just blown away by the imagery? Did it wow you in all of its feature rich glory? Were you so taken by it that you destroyed your laptop trying to nail it to the wall? (We hope not.)

So then surely you remember what that website was advertising or promoting, right?

There’s a good chance that you said no. And if you did, then the website designer failed. At least in terms of designing a website.

According to Mark O’Brien at printmag.com, “designing a website with the primary goal of demonstrating creativity is akin to an architect designing a demo house with the sole intent of showing how many different styles she can design.”

We can imagine that end product would be an amazing house - the likes of which would make excellent fodder for a tome on the psychology of Dr. Seuss. But it wouldn’t be a very livable dwelling. A design fail.

Here’s the deal.

Design is not art.

Even if a designer went to an “art school” to get his or her degree - which many of them did. Design is neither better nor worse than art. It simply ISN’T art. So what’s the difference? Graphic designer Alex Trochut put it this way:

    Design is solving a problem. Art is raising a question.
    Design is conclusive. Art is an open debate.
    Design is the mind looking for solutions. Art is the voice of the soul.
    Design needs a collective acceptance. Art only needs an inner approval.
    Design is an act of empathy. Art is an act of freedom.

In a nutshell, design focuses on problem-solving and functionality. This is an important distinction. And it’s one we fully comprehend at LeDuc Creative.

Our designers approach web design with some key questions in mind:

        What problem am I solving for the client?
        How will the typical site user respond to the way I arrange the elements of the design?
        How can I ensure that the viewer will have a positive response?
        Who is the website’s target audience?
        What are the technical parameters and strategic nuances of the assignment?
        How can I make this a highly usable site where people will stick around?
        Will my hands shake too much if I opt for that sixth cup of coffee?

Effective designers are first and foremost problem-solvers.

The 87-year-old graphic design legend Milton Glaser gave the best definition of the practice of design when he said, design is the process of going from an existing condition to a preferred one.” Well said, Milt.

Successful designers have the inherent understanding that to design is to make people’s lives better in ways they don’t necessarily see or appreciate, but without which they would be lost.

Simply put, designers use their mathematical left brains to create work that resembles something from their artistic right brains.

Or they’re sorcerers. That’s a possibility too.

Either way, the fearless designers at LeDuc Creative love to get to the bare bones of what makes a design work well. Long before they get geeked about colors, images and fonts, they start with an overview of the client’s goals.

So if it’s successful website design you want, turn to LeDuc Creative.

Whether your focus is on incentivizing buyers, making checkout easier, having a mobile ready design, up selling users on related products, re-marketing to past visitors who haven’t yet purchased or any other number of goals you envision, the designers at LeDuc Creative can help you realize those goals. (And if you’ve got any luck, they’ll teach you to ballroom dance. Bad luck, that is.)

At LeDuc Creative, we know that the main difference between art and design is that art asks questions, while design answers them.

Our website designers have answers and solutions for you.

So our question is, how can we help?