more about the world of design

Try to imagine what Matisse's painting would look like if the people, table, and other objects were not elongated and the stylized lily pads on the walls were not angled. How would it make you feel? How does the feeling of the picture you imagine differ from the feeling of the picture Matisse chose to design?

This comparison makes visible some of the techniques that can make up a design and it shows how a design can affect the totality of a work of art. Perhaps it illustrates why this painting is so superb an example of design as found in Fine Art and what inspired design can do for and to a painting.

visual art, Fine art, not-so-fine art, and design art

Visual art is art that appeals to the visual faculties. As usually defined in arts circles, a visual art is any one of a specific set or family of arts. The specific set of arts that make up the visual arts consists of drawing, graphics, painting, sculpture, and the decorative arts.

In "serious" art circles, visual art of very high quality has come to be known as Fine Art. Traditionally, an essential requirement of Fine Art is that it be created primarily for aesthetic purposes and judged for its beauty and meaningfulness. Another essential requirement of Fine Art is that it take the form of painting, sculpture, drawing, watercolor, graphics, or architecture.

This feature—The World Of Design—is not about Fine Art as serious art circles see it. It's about the kind of art The Muse Of Fine Arts calls not so fine—visual art that is not created primarily for aesthetic purposes and judged for its beauty and meaningfulness. Not so fine art is art produced typically as an output of industrial or commercial artistic activity. This kind of art consists of decorative art objects like posters, drawings, commercial graphics, paintings, sculptures, photos, and less glamorous utility objects like trucks, housewares and tools, architecture, and much more.

In art, Design is the organization or structure of formal elements in a work or composition. Simply stated, it is the outline, sketch, plan, form and structure of a work of art or an edifice. Clearly, Design is a facet of art that is integral to all the visual arts, whether or not they are fine. Good design is just as important in not-so-fine art as it is in Fine Art.

Because the art that adorns commercial and industrial products relies heavily for its effectiveness on the design skills of the artists who create it, it is often called design art. The career fields that comprise design art go by many names and disciplines. theyinclude graphic design, media design, fashion illustration, advertising design, graphic design production, interior decoration, graphics coordination, cartooning, fashion advertising, dressmaking design, production artist, visual effects, print production, and lots more.

In the feature you are now visiting, The Muse explores a world called not so fine art. Don't be confused; it's the same world that others prefer to call design art. Because artists often refer to their field by the blanket term design, the Muse refers to their world collectively as The World Of Design.

Visitors wanting to explore The Muse Of Fine Arts' treatment of the Fine Arts should visit the following pages:

• Begin at the page called The Muse Of Fine Arts Welcomes You: click here.
• The Muse Of Fine Arts treats fine arts painting in the feature called Painting As A Fine Art. Visit the feature called Painting As A Fine Art to explore the field of Fine Arts painting: click here.
• The Muse Of Fine Arts treats fine arts sculpture in the feature called Sculpture As A Fine Art. Visit the feature called Sculpture As A Fine Art to explore the field of Fine Arts painting: click here.

the function of design in the world of design

What is the difference between design in Fine Art and design in art that is not so fine? In The Muse's view, the principle differences are 1) quality, and 2) purpose:

Serious art circles tend to relegate visual art created for commercial purposes to a lower status than Fine Art merely because visual art is produced for profit and because so much visual art is of low aesthetic caliber. The Muse sees commercial and visual art through different eyes. In The Muse's view, a small but significant portion of the art produced primarily for commercial, industrial, decorative, or other "practical" purposes is high caliber art even if it doesn't fit the narrow definition of Fine Art.

Furthermore, The Muse believes that any work of visual art that has aesthetic merit is worthy of serious attention regardless of its origin. Art inspired by the profit motive or other motives can be good—even great—art; it can be meaningful and beautiful regardless of its raison d'être.

The Muse also departs from custom by giving serious consideration to visual art objects other than drawings, graphics, paintings, sculptures, photos, and architecture. For example, The Muse believes that symbols and visual abstractions are worth consideration, as well. Among them are visual art objects devised neither as pure art or for commerce in fields such as religion, politics, philosophy, mathematics, and in the art of primitive ancient or contemporary cultures. To exclude such sources of art from serious consideration would be to arbitrarily shut out the a rich heritage of some of mankind's most significant accomplishments.

In The Muse's view, all these kinds of art are worthy of serious consideration. That's why the focus of The World of Design is so-called design art—objects of the highest artistic and aesthetic merit that have been deliberately designed to serve "practical" purposes.