Lee Krasner's "Mosaic Table" in "Crafting Modernism" at MAD Museum. Photo Credit: Pollock-Krasner Foundation/Artist Rights Society (ARS), New York.

Have you ever thought whether design and art was the same concept? Well, they are not. There are actually many differences between them. Having spent ten weeks at the Museum of Arts and Design (the MAD Museum), I’ve come to some conclusions.

According to dictionary.com, the literal definition of design is to “prepare the preliminary sketch or the plans for (a work to be executed), especially to the form and structure of:” In other words, it can also be defined as to plan skillfully. Designs are in a commercial sense and are calculated. They are more of a problem solving through communication. Communication is a way to figure out what the designer conveys. Some questions you should ask yourself when you come across a design are: what does this mean? or What is the message that the designer is trying to tell us? These questions are made to make you think and analyze the piece.  If you do not understand what the designer is trying to convey in his piece, then he has failed and the design is not successful. Unlike art, designs are always objective which makes it easier to depict whether a design is good or bad. Many people can immediately tell if the design was good and easy to understand, or bad and misunderstood. Designers make their designs to be audience driven. It is meant for the viewer to be entertained and have fun. Designers are limited due to the costumer’s requirements. Furthermore, designs are more architectural and building rather than being open-minded and unlimited.

Art is a form of expressing one’s self in way that you can easily tell what the message of the artist conveys. It also expresses one’s feeling and emotions. I feel that art is a more loose and unlimited content. Anything around you can be considered as art.  It can be interpreted as many things, and can be used to express yourself through paintings, drawings, sculptures, and even pictures. Thus, according to dictionary.com art means “the quality production, expression, or realm according to aesthetic principles, of what is beautiful, appealing, or of more than ordinary significance.” Comprehension is one thing that is not important in art. You might come across a painting that has both happy and depressing colors in it. In a picture described as that, no one would know what the artist is feeling, and it isn’t important to find out. The objective of an art piece can be created by what the artist is feeling through the color he uses. Artist uses art to burst out their creations in mind. Their art piece is not supposed to be audience driven. It shouldn’t have to target an audience whether they do like it or not. Art is subjective. A painting can have many different interpretations. And no interpretation is considered correct or incorrect. An artist can have an analysis for why he created a specific piece, but a viewer can have a different analysis for what that piece means to him. This is the difference between the two.