Look at the front page of sites like Dribble or Behance and you’ll find an assortment of bright, strikingly unique, beautifully designed work. Although these sites tend to advertise themselves as a place to find designers, much of what is presented is art, not design.

“Can’t designers and artists be two in one?” Yes, of course, designers are often also artists, and vice versa. But the role assigned to them and the processes used are strikingly different, and for good reason.

Something well-designed is created with a clear intention, usually to improve some aspect of the user or consumer’s life. When done well, designed objects or experiences are hard to detect because they have been created in such a way that you will only notice how delightful their use is, not how aesthetically pleasing or unique they are (although visual design effects are a delightful bonus and a distinctive element).

Art does not have to serve any purpose or solve any problem; it can simply exist as an expression of human excellence-as the dictionary definition states.

Design and art satisfy two different needs in two different ways, but many inexperienced designers end up creating art where design should be. Design sites like Dribbble tend to highlight artwork over design work. And it has become a feature of our culture that we celebrate the most aesthetic rather than functional designs.

Why do so many designers identify art with design?

I believe that one of the reasons many designers do art rather than design is to bring creativity into the work process. Creativity-with its perceived unlimited potential and aesthetic allure-is what many designers crave in a world of fixed constraints, established design systems, and the application of “best practices.”

But adding creativity to the design process doesn’t necessarily mean turning it into art. In fact: when designers try to be creative for the sake of creativity, they end up sacrificing what makes design meaningful.

Creative design is challenging

Design itself is creativity. So you don’t have to do art or self-expression in your work to make it creative, which we’ll talk about a little later.

In fact, design only becomes truly creative when it is approached with the purpose of using it as defined. As a way of deliberately solving a clearly defined and understood problem.

The creative aspect of design does not come from pushing the boundaries in order to promote something, or from changing style in order to stand out.

In fact: one of the worst problems a designer can face is trying to innovate for innovation’s sake, or demanding that they add creativity to the problem they’re trying to solve, just to add a little brightness. These efforts are rarely successful, simply because the trade-off between trying to come up with something that stands out is usually an increase in the cost of creating it.

This helps explain why so many smartphones look and function the same, or why so many of the most popular apps look the same, too:

“App fatigue is a real thing. Most people are tired of jumping between too many apps and learning to use a new interface after each new download.”

Many may see this as a “lack of creativity” in these well-designed products. However, this similarity allows the designed object to achieve the purpose for which it is intended.

Studies repeatedly show how changing things for the sake of change itself is detrimental to the designed object. People struggle to adopt a product or use an app because the creative components have made usability difficult. The Nielsen Norman Group, for example, noted “inconsistency” as the second most common mistake in software development:

“Remember the rule of thumb – differences are complex. When users have expectations about how something will behave or where they can access it, deviations from those expectations cause confusion, frustration, and increased cognitive load as people try to figure out the problem.”

It’s like designing a chair without the part you’re sitting on. Different, yes, but ultimately not very usable. And this is where creativity begins to crumble.

To be creative, you first need two things: novelty and usefulness.

If the thing you develop is unique but useless, we call it creative (for example, art tends to be more unique than valuable). Or, if what you’re working on is useful but not unique, it’s just “status quo.” Design can easily go into a “status quo” state because its purpose is to solve a problem, and the problem itself is usually about creativity, not execution.

Only when the things you propose are unique and valuable can they be called creative.

What makes your work unique

You can very easily identify unique ideas or work by comparing it to the established norm or status quo.

If you look around and everything looks and feels the same, anything that is different is unique by definition. This means that to be creative requires an established norm. Creativity is not something that thrives in the absence of boundaries or rules, it really needs these constraints to exist. With absolute freedom there can be no creativity, because creativity requires an understanding of what is normal or habitual in order to stand out from it.

If you want to design creatively, you have to have clearly defined constraints to work with.

Designers creating digital products today have their own well-established limitations that are easy to identify. Hardware limitations are screen size, performance, Internet or operating system capabilities, and design system limitations, such as Apple’s Human Interface Guidelines or Android’s Material Design.

Working for a large company may mean that you also work with a design system or shared component library.

Being a creative designer means not ignoring or challenging these established principles and systems (that would simply mean that you are resourceful), but rather using them to inform the decisions you make. These constraints don’t limit creativity, they promote it by helping us make the best possible decisions without worrying about things like best practices, common interactions, or user expectations. These are already established things, so the designer is free to use them and then find other ways to add creativity to the work.

These guidelines and limitations are meant to guide us and keep us focused, because not everything unique is as valuable…

What makes your work valuable

Again: designing something creative requires us to make sure that the design is not only original, but also valuable.

You know something is valuable if it meets an established purpose or goal. Design without an objective or clear metric, again, is not design, but rather art. Design asks you to be intentional in your work; you can’t be intentional if you don’t know why you are doing what you are doing.

Before you start designing, you need to be clear about the purpose. Even the most microscopic attributes of a design affect its relationship with the user. This means that all aspects of the design must also have a clear purpose.

You won’t call randomly generated work “good design,” let alone design in general. Things made up of individual components that are easily added to an overall goal are examples of good design. Your computer or smartphone, your Porsche, your Timex watch, your Eames lounge chair are all carefully designed to not only look aesthetically pleasing, but that each part serves a clear function in relation to the main purpose of the thing itself. These are examples of valuable design.

Combining uniqueness and value in design

When you understand that creativity is ideas that are both unique and valuable, it becomes much easier to figure out how to add it to your designs.

You’ll want to create a product that offers pure value in a way that doesn’t offset that value at the expense of originality. But you will also want your designs to represent value along with the experience of unique elements or attributes. You have to strike a balance between uniqueness and value.

To add creativity to your designs, you just have to look at the problems you’re solving and the toolkit available to you. And you’ll see what you can do.

Tinder demonstrated this when they took the concept of a dating app and added the common swipe gesture left or right. The swipe to indicate interest was a subtle enough innovation – people were already familiar with the swipe gesture on their devices – but it radically changed the perception of yes/no interactions in mobile apps.

Similarly, the Clear app used the swipe to simplify to-do list management. Instead of tapping a button to set a reminder, mark a task as done or delete it. The app has received numerous awards and attention from designers and developers around the world. Again: the swipe interaction wasn’t new, what was new was how the app used an existing gesture to do something that most apps didn’t do.

Most of the creative patterns we see in the design world come from this combination of limitations and existing patterns (such as the swipe) with obvious problems (such as quick identification of potential dates).

If you want to be a more creative designer, you don’t need to add art to your work at all. The best thing you can do is familiarize yourself with the limitations available, and then look closely at the problem you’re trying to solve or improve with your designs. And aesthetics and brightness will be a bonus, not the core of the experience.

Design vs Art – The difference and why it matters

Design vs. art. What’s the difference, and how does it affect your design career? We all know there is a difference, and those outside of our industry may not see it. For example, your parents may call you an “artist,” even if you are a professional designer.

How do you tell them or anyone else who asks that there is a big difference between art and design? Are you even sure yourself what the difference is? Read on to find out.

Let’s go back to when you first decided you wanted to be a designer. For me it was when I was in high school. I thought I wanted to be an “artist” when I really found that my skill set was better suited for design. Why? Because I enjoyed the process of problem solving. I wasn’t interested in asking irrefutable questions for the whole world. I wanted to come up with a system for understanding the world around me.

The bottom line is that the main difference between art and design is that art asks questions and design answers them. Design is there to satisfy a need. Art is there to satisfy no need other than its intrinsic need to exist and to challenge the viewer. That’s not a bad thing, by the way. Art is one of the fundamental building blocks of human culture; Every culture that has ever existed has its own unique art forms that they leave for future generations. Think about archaeologists – what do you most often hear about past civilizations? That’s right – stoneware, architecture, paintings on walls or stones. Art is very important. And so is design.

There’s no time for wonder

Art inspires wonder and awe. When you look at a painting, sculpture, collage or installation, your mind begins to pulsate with dazzling new ideas, and you are inspired to ponder all the endless possibilities now presented to you by the artist and her work. Ah, the magic of art. What an exhilarating, deeply satisfying experience.

Designers don’t have time for that. If people are excited about your design, that’s cool, but that’s not the main reason you created it. You design to enhance people’s lives in ways that they don’t necessarily see or appreciate, but without which they would be lost. The art lovers who crowd around Van Gogh in the Louvre probably all have their phones and take pictures. They don’t pay attention to their camera apps, but the creator who created them plays a very important role in allowing them to share their experiences with their friends.

Art has no set process

Art does not have a process that can be reproduced in all directions to achieve the optimal result. There are no rules there. At all. There used to be rules about who could paint what, but they were all abandoned with the rise of modernism. Ever since Edouard Manet started painting prostitutes instead of aristocrats, the art world has gradually stripped itself of all the rules it once had. Some people aren’t happy about that, but that’s just the way it is. Anything can be art – a urinal, a tree, a dog – anything. Art has no rules.

In design, however, there are rules. Even if the result is “ugly,” there is a basic structure there that solves the problem. There are physical rules of design: the grid, the color wheel, the rules of composition and layout. Then there are rules about what the design should do. What problem are you solving? Is it ergonomic enough? What will be the average user’s psychological response to this particular arrangement of design elements? Will it cause them distress or will they have a good experience?

These are all rules that designers must consider in order to create a successful design. These types of rules can make an artist break out in a rash. But not us designers. We love these things. 

Philosophical opposites

You can appreciate a design even more when you know why it was made. It’s not just a pretty picture-there’s a specific reason why it exists and a specific problem it solves. Geeky designers like to delve into what makes a particular design so good. Simply put, designers use the left (math) side of their brain to create a piece that resembles something on the right (art) side.

Art, as we have learned, has no such structure or reason for existence. You don’t need to understand why a work of art exists or how it was made. All you have to do is appreciate what is. Art for art’s sake, they said. That doesn’t mean there’s no point in analyzing art according to the time of its creation or deconstruction of the process. It’s just not necessary for you to be able to enjoy it.

Too much design ruins art and vice versa

Exactly what is said above. Art and design are related in a general sense, but as we have seen today, they are not identical at all. They are two very different disciplines, and things can get very confusing if you conflate them too much.

Imagine bringing home a chair that was in an art installation and sitting on it. Now it has lost its value as art and has become just another chair. Art is much more dependent on the context in which it exists than design is. In fact, I would say that design is context most of the time.

Again, art and design are vital to human culture and progress. I love and enjoy them both, but at heart I am a designer. If you like to offer solutions to problems rather than ask questions, you’re probably a designer, too. If you’re the opposite, you’re probably an artist.

Conclusion of a review of an article on design and art

As we can see, the seemingly simple task of defining art and design is by no means trivial and depends on the temporal context. The fundamental principle of the emergence of stable structures, and with them the dominant paradigm, in a nonequilibrium socio-economic environment is the emergence and strengthening of order through fluctuations. Such fluctuations, or random deviations, of a system from some state, are initially suppressed and eliminated by the system. But in open systems, due to increasing disequilibrium, these deviations increase with time and eventually lead to the “undoing” of the former order and the emergence of a new one. This process is usually characterized as the principle of order formation through fluctuations. Since fluctuations are random, it is clear that the emergence of the new in the world is always due to the action of random factors. In design, the factors that can throw the system out of balance may be the results of the designers’ creative search that goes beyond the prevailing concepts. However, the probability that this fluctuation will become the growth point of a new concept directly depends on the level of skill of the creator of the new design patterns. If we draw an analogy between art, design and language proposed in this paper, we can speak of art as a language of expression of feelings and emotions or poetry, and of design as a set of commonly understood and widespread expressions. A person in the modern world faces a huge flow of information, but only the part that stands out against the general background, the part that is in harmony with his inner worldview, can become a pattern for expressing his feelings and emotions.

Cool ideas that will make even the most boring surroundings look new.

Designers often use art objects in their projects. We peeked at a couple of interesting ideas for interiors in all styles – from Scandinavian to loft.

• Decorate an accent wall – This apartment designer Olga Siruk decorated for herself, so it was possible to embody any fantasy. Olga staked on the Scandinavian style and light shades. One of the walls the designer completely decorated with paintings and posters. And so that the interior would not be too variegated, the pictures were chosen in a light and calm palette of colors;
• Used for zoning space – To zone the space of the kitchen-living room, designer Olesya Berezovskaya made an accent on two objects – a blue sofa and a bright picture of coral shade. By the way, this is the main color of 2019 according to the color institute Pantone;
• Decorate the interior of the bedroom – If you do not know what to decorate the wall above the headboard of the bed, take the example of Elena Zorina. She chose a large-format canvas in a neutral color scheme. The hues in the picture echo the textiles, and the setting looks harmonious;
• Used as color accents – In this apartment lives a Frenchman who loves Russia, Soviet art and design. And also the color red. Designer Mikhail Novinsky decided to complement the furnishings with bright accents and lithographs from the apartment owner’s collection;
• Decorate an art gallery – The designer Nadya Fedorovich decided to diversify the loft style with decor. On one of the walls she created a real picture gallery with backlighting;
• Diversify the bright color scheme – In her apartment, designer Nadya Zotova painted the walls in bright and saturated hues. To diversify it a bit, the interior was decorated with contrasting paintings – it turned out interesting;
• Experimenting with scale – The designers from Studio A3 have turned an old Stalinist building into an art object. Some elements, like the old doors and the textured ceiling, were retained for the sake of the atmosphere. And the artwork helped to complement it. Look how interesting a small painting in a large frame looks.

How to choose works of art to match the interior

When choosing décor, you can’t be guided by the principle “and now we’ll just decorate the walls”. Around a work of art, be it a painting, sculpture, installation or art object, the concept of the interior is built. A finished and elaborate apartment design project will not be “lively” if it is deprived of such “zest”. Today we will tell you how to find your work of art.

Difficulties of choice

When choosing a painting, it is important to consider the principles of interior design: style, layout, coloring, and lighting.

In order to create a harmonious interior, it is important to select paintings of appropriate stylistics, so that there is no dissonance with the overall atmosphere of the apartment. If your house is designed on the principles of metal high-tech style, it is unlikely it will be to the taste of the work of the Renaissance. The interior can be minimalist, then a picture or a photograph will give the character.

However, everything has its exceptions to the rule. In our case, these are styles based on a mixture of aesthetics – fusion, eclecticism and kitsch. In such an interior, a painting or sculpture is not the central place, but one of the additional details. The principle of excessiveness of the kitsch style is just a way of creating the right atmosphere. But such specific interiors are for the lovers.

To introduce a highlight or create a gallery

It is very important to decide on the location of the artwork in the interior. One large painting becomes the center of the interior composition, it should occupy at least 15 percent of the wall space so the perception is harmonious.

If you have two different sized paintings that need to be placed on the same wall, then you should be guided by the principle of similarity or colors, or styles, or techniques. Creating a picture gallery is a design technique that is sure to ennoble the interior. The main thing is not to go overboard.

For a spacious room with high ceilings and large windows, it is better to choose a large canvas. For small rooms, a medium sized horizontal image or several smaller works will do.

Artist’s Palette

The traditional color proportions of a harmonious interior are 60/30/10. 

1. 60 percent of the color in the interior is the background, the shade of the walls;
2. 30 percent is additional color – textiles and furniture;
3. 10 percent goes to the decor. A picture is a wall decoration, and it is necessary to start from it when choosing the 10 percent.

This is why the story “I will leave this wall blank, then pick up something” is an illiterate approach to design. The choice of accent should be planned at the stage of the project.

If the color of the room is muted, a painting can become its bright color accent.

Sharp plot

Of course, the choice of painting subject is a personal matter for everyone. However, interior designers warn against buying a portrait with an unpleasant face or a too acidic landscape. Paintings with a strong psychological impact can become a real problem over time. They advise to give preference to calm, creative subjects or abstracts.

The artwork should match the mood and functional load of the room. In the kitchen, a still life is appropriate, in the living room, for example, an abstract painting, in the bedroom – a painting that conveys an atmosphere of calm and tranquility. Of course, these tips are not literal, the perception of art is individual with each viewer.

In the spotlight

If a work of art is the focal point of an interior composition, it deserves special attention. Spot artificial lighting can accentuate the status of a painting.

It’s worth taking care about protecting the painting from fading or burning out in advance. Especially if the painting is expensive and has a high artistic value.

Where to buy a picture

When choosing a painting you should try it on for your future interior. Focusing only on the artistic value or cost is wrong. You can buy in big-name galleries, at auctions, at street art shows or by order, depending on your budget and personal preferences. It’s important that there is an emotional connection to the piece, then the interior will be dictated by the painting.

Art treasures move with the owners from one home to another, and are a key interior component.

Art or plagiarism

Our advice: give preference to works by unknown artists rather than reproductions by big-name authors. “The Kiss” by Gustaf Klimt or “The Birth of Venus” by Botticelli, although they are legendary paintings of world art, but in the interior will look like a consumer product. It is better to choose the author’s work: a painting on canvas, a glass panel, a piece of street art or photography – original, unique works, rather than widely copied fake.

If you are ready to buy expensive and high status works we recommend to address art-consultants. Galleries around the world offer a variety of contemporary art and antiques.

Correctly chosen work of art in the interior should create a harmonious space around itself, breathe in vital energy and fill it with colors.

Previously named a UNESCO City of Design, Montreal combines historic factories, plants and industrial refineries with experimental projects such as the geodesic Montreal Biosphere and House 67 by Moshe Safdie. By developing outstanding programs at institutions such as McGill University and the Canadian Centre for Architecture, the city promotes education and civic engagement through community initiatives. These are brought to life through lush urban parks, music and film festivals, and innovative buildings. The following projects, showing the architecture of openness and community, also showcase the original facades and envelope structures of one of the greatest cities in the world. We recommend to look for professional interest and study the design of Good Online Casino Sites which are located in Canada. Canadian players have access to a large number of luxurious land-based gambling establishments, as well as versions of online casinos, which replicate the style and spirit of gambling.

How to choose art for your interior: collection for interior or interior for collection?

Who plays the leading role – the interior or the art collection? What is the guideline for choosing art for the interior? And how to decorate a collection when it already exists? We asked these questions to famous Russian designers.

Decorating an apartment for a collection is reminiscent of the creation of a modern museum: a neutral background, pre-planned places for display, special suspensions for paintings and laconic not distracting solutions. This option allows you to truly enjoy the collection and show it in the best way. Keep in mind that any collection is a living organism, something is bought, something is sold, and something is put away in storage.

There are always favorite works that form the main impression, showing exciting themes. But that’s not the only option. It can be more interesting for an interior designer to create a residential interior with art rather than a museum house. You always want to find a balance and avoid the feeling of a stand at an antique show.

When we work not with a collector, but with a person who is interested in or appreciates the value of art, we are often trusted with the choice of works. The result is an interior with a “static collection,” which seamlessly “entwines” the living space and complements it. For any budget there are galleries with original works and sculpture, so no copies and imitations.

I can’t imagine a modern interior without art. A house can be furnished with the most luxurious furniture and its walls can be decorated with intricate, complex and sometimes overly expensive solutions, but if there is no place for paintings, graphics, photography and sculptures, there is no soul in it.

An elegant contemporary interior is achieved through the subtle unity of canonical design objects, the correct shapes and proportions of current furniture and decor elements, impeccable coloring and mix of textures, and, of course, the art that fills this space not only with soul, but also with an intellectual component.

Unfortunately, in my years of work in interior design and furnishing I have never had to decorate a space for a client-collector. But I have been involved in a project with a selection of art and the formation of an art collection more than once, and there are more and more such tasks every year. As the ingenious Christian Leaguer once told me: “Ideally it is better to line up an interior from an object of art, be it a painting, a sculpture or an antique carpet.

The color accents in the space will be predetermined by the coloristics of the existing artwork, either by its images, or, on the contrary, by shading it with a neutral scale so that as a result the interior would “frame” the work, giving it the opportunity to always play the “first fiddle”.

When choosing a space for the artwork, it is also important to consider its subject matter. For example, on the wall in the dining room a painting in the style of “nude” will look strange, and in the bedroom – still life or artifacts in the form of war trophies, as well as any work with an active and aggressive energy, appropriate for public areas.

I’m closer to picking up art. When I work on an interior I think in advance and decide with the client where the art is going to appear. I involuntarily refer to my experience of recently going through the collections of European and Moscow art galleries, exhibitions, and art fairs. Very often I catch myself thinking that I can already see this or that artwork in a future space. Then the coloristic solutions come immediately.

Generally speaking, there is no difference whether to match the collection with the interior or vice versa, since artifacts don’t determine the style of the house, but set the degree of its intellectual level. Classical art can fit perfectly into a modern interior, and vice versa, modern art can fit into a classic or neoclassical interior. There are a lot of options for combinations. It all depends on taste, knowledge and imagination!

Conclusion of the review of the article on interior designers

The article discusses the challenges and principles of contemporary residential interior design as an everyday human environment. Using traditional methods of solving in- interior spaces along with the latest technologies in the design of the object-spatial environment and their shaping allows the designer to create a new harmonized environment for human habitation.

The inevitability of connecting history and art to our own survival may be a flawed argument against the preservation of history

One of the questions historians have been asking for a long time is whether the preservation of history and art is threatened.

One of the ways in which people can contribute to this problem is the idea that people are not good enough to preserve ancient works of art.

The author argues that this argument can be used as a reason to avoid preservation work. He also shows why this argument can go too far and lead to the oblivion of the true reasons for preserving certain works of art.

 In his view, there are many reasons why someone might want to preserve an ancient work of art, making it more important than preservation just because of its history (“Because you don’t know how long it’s been preserved”). The author concludes by saying that preservation should be more than just a “pocket job.”

Museums should not decide whether they are “historical” by design

Museums should not decide whether they are “historical” by design. Museums are a living, breathing organism that must evolve with the past, present and future. Developing exhibits for a museum is an active process that cannot be static. It must have its own chronology, independent of the time zones and rhythms of the world. A museum’s chronology must be its own visual chronometer, an independent narrative that moves from the past to the present to the future. The history of the exhibits is very important. The story of each exhibit is a vital part of what makes a museum what it is, and why it matters to so many people.

What are the best exhibit designs?

The most common type of exhibit is a museum exhibit. It is essentially very much like a book, with paintings and sculptures as the main attractions. It is also designed to be placed outdoors, and visitors can see the exhibits just by walking into the museum.

The first thing that comes to mind when I think of museum exhibits is people walking through the door, coming in and out, interacting with the objects they see, exploring different themes, and so on. It all makes people feel like they’re really in a real museum or visiting a fancy art gallery, rather than just taking a little break from their daily lives. In other words, it’s much more interesting than the usual exhibitions, where you can just quickly walk through the exhibits without really getting into them.

Exhibition design is one of the most overlooked problems in museums | Why you should use exhibition design more

There is a huge disconnect between museum exhibitions and the exhibits they are supposed to represent. But there’s a big advantage to using exhibition design more carefully. Some museums even hire designers to create the exhibits they exhibit.

The role of exhibition design is extremely important to anyone interested in art, history or culture in general. There are so many different viewpoints and different opinions about what kind of exhibitions we should show; how should we arrange the sections of the exhibit? How should we present our work? The most important question is: How can we create an engaging experience for our visitors?

There are many ways to do this with exhibitions – but not all of these ways can meet all needs at once. This session will explore some practical approaches to making exhibitions more user-friendly without compromising their experience.

What’s the best way to develop themes for an exhibit or app?

There are many approaches when developing a theme. One is to use an “exhibitor” who will be responsible for showcasing the theme in the near future at an event or site. Another is to buy themes and let people create their own themes, although this may be more expensive because of the various costs and lack of templates available.

One thing often overlooked when developing themes for events or trade shows is that each theme comes with a set of rules that determine how to use it to get the best results.

How to use artificial intelligence to create a variety of trade show designs and themes that work well in different industry markets

We believe that good trade show design should:

1. be beautiful, not just functional

2. meet customer needs and be a business resource for the audience by providing relevant information

3. achieve a rapport between the content and the audience, thereby creating an emotional connection with them so they want to continue interacting with your brand after visiting the show. And finally; we need those slideshows so that our customers can remember the

Today I visited an exhibition at Mathildenhöhe in Darmstadt.  It is about Polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) or bether known as Plexiglas.
This  extremely weather-resistant plastic was developed to patent stage in 1933 by the Darmstadt-based Röhm company. Its constant high transparency, light weight as compared with glass and wide range of forming options are the attributes that make PLEXIGLAS® an equally attractive material for architecture and design.

With its variability in production this plastic put its stamp on the modernist movement, and made complex forms also feasable with transparency. From Panton’s lightnings and chairs to the light roof construction of Munich’s Olympic Stadium, many new forms were made possible by this material.

Mathildenhöhe, where the exhibition was shown is also the birthplace of the german art deco movement (Jugendstil). Several houses and a museum show how this movement opened the way to modernism. This place near Frankfurt is until today important for the design scene because there is also located the “Design Zentrum Hessen” and the “FH Darmstadt – design faculty”.

The Hangaram Design Museum in Seoul is located within the Seoul Arts Center, an cultural institution for music (music hall & opera house) arts (Fine Art Plaza & art museum, calligraphy art museum) and design.

Three different exhibitions were displayed at the Hangaram Design Museum, at the entrance is a popular cafe, conspicuous with the colourful Philippe Starck chairs.

Exhibitions:
All light! All right? (new influences in lightning design)
Dialog in the dark (the famous dialog museum exhibition)
Verner Panton (retrospective)

I went first to all light! All right? It was huge hall in dark. At the beginning there were cabinet/ square box for display of each light. Here was displayed work of famous international designers. And far inside was displayed work of Korean designers. In a free space without box, each light has enough space for it own lightning.

And in a separated hall there was fashion light! Passion light exhibition. This was consisting of 4 designers. Philippe Starck, Verner Panton, Jasper Morrison, Susanne Kessler & Petra Eichler.

On the wall was made with Paper cut art a nature in a deep forest. Such as a bird and trees and small dear. In the middle of the hall was a island on which was furniture and light of each designer displayed.

The Verner Panton retrospective showed famous exhibits like the Panton chair, the Heart corn and corn chair but also the many lightnings he made for Louis Poulsen.

After my visit in design museum I have also seen the Calligraphy Art Museum and art museum. In Art museum i could see fresh drawings of young Korean painters. Many of them were young but also well known in their branch. They were whether professor of university or winner of an award. I could see by this exhibition young talented painter in our generation in Korea. As following program was in Calligraphy Exhibition named “Emtpy Fullness” by Choi, Jung-Gyun. His widow sponsored these Drawings for this Exibihition. His work was Drawing with Poem or Writing only.

Yesterday I was in Nuremberg. The capital of the Franconian County in Bavaria is well known in Germany for it’s Christmas market and the traditional Christmas sweets like “Lebkuchen”. The last time I visited this town during my studies in 2003 on a step to Munich. We visited the “Neues Museum” (which hosted exhibits of the “Neue Sammlung” design collection at this time) and the Nazi buildings with the world war II documentation centre. At my trip yesterday I decided to see the “Neues Museum” (new museum) again and was disappointed. In 2003 I was surprised by the freshness of the building and the ambivalence of industrial design and contemporary art side by side. The design items are at the present time not showed, but the art collection did not benefit from the surplus of space. It is a fact that you will find some famous artists like Beuys or Avramidis, but you will miss a general system or a path. The permanent art exhibition looks like an overdimensioned flea market of expensive works without any system. Even a private collector would invest more time in a concept of uniformity or a patchwork. So it is not a wonder that this museum has a lack of visitors, even if it is in the heart of town. It is too boring for tourists and too poor in exhibits for art fans. Let’s see what happens when the design collection is back!

A museum preserves and exhibits this. Sometimes the building is an exhibit itself, if it is built by an famous architect, or if it is of historic relevance.

But what if the exhibition design becomes historic as well? In 1976 the famous functionalist German graphic designer Otl Aicher made the corporate design of the “Historisches Museum Frankfurt”. From pictograms to displays and prospectus. Today only some fragments remain in the prehistoric and numismatic department.

The clear functional design of the Ulm School (founded by Inge Scholl, Otl Aicher and Max Bill) already vanished from daily life, and my generation could experience it only by books or some exhibits. In this museum somebody can see the perhaps last remaining original exhibition made by Otl Aicher. It’s future is unsafe because the geat parts of the Museum will be teared down and replaced by a new building.

Its permanent collections are displayed in a series of exhibition halls in the first floor, each of which has its own period (Renaissance, baroque, oriental, art deco) as well as a room about the Wiener Werkstätte (company that manufactured items of Austrian Avantgarde designers like Josef Hoffmann and Koloman Moser) and a room with architecture models.

The ‘Studiensammlung’ in the basement contains fascinating studies of different materials, like metal, wood, ceramics and the furniture collection. This part seems to be the more succeded part of the collection. It looks like a stock house and the clear white painted walls without windows focus the view on the exhibits.

The exhibition in the first floor suffers from the strong and heavy decorated rooms. It’s hard to feel them, because the building draw off the attention, e.g. in the floor it was hard to see the welded architecture model of Zaha Hadid’s Feuerwehrhaus.

The wide range of rare exhibits give a goog overview of 20th century design, for experts it is the best place to see and discover the relevance of the Austrian part of the modernist movement. In an other city this would be the mayor tourist attraction, but competition is hard in the capital of Habsburg and music history, historism and art decó and the viennese coffee houses. But visit the MAK and you will see Vienna with other eyes!

How often design is confused with art and how often art is inspired by design? Michail Galanakis collected some impressions at the Art Fair Suomi 08:

On Thursday the 11th of September there was the opening of the Finnish Art Fair 2008. Venue was the famous Cable Factory and the organizers (MUU artists’ association) managed to put together a terrific show. Admittedly here reigns photographic art but contemporary, experimental, exciting. Painting was almost absent, and only a few attempts for sculptures. Video and performative arts were also present. Could this signify the trivialization of the art scene? Or simply the desire of the artists for reproducible less time consuming pieces that can sell at reasonably high prices in these times of artistic pluralism (saturation?) And foreseeable economic crisis? In any case it seems to work! There was certainly a commercial interest motivated by the wide artistic offer and its affordability. The highlight of the opening was the performances of London based Finnish artist HK. With her funny uncomplicated lyrics and staging she comments on popular culture and sexualisation. Briefly my impression of the fair is this: Finnish artists often demonstrate a dark idiosyncrasy; the “put-a-smile-on-your-face” occasions though do take place and consist of the instances when Finnish dryness and quirkiness make their defining artistic splash.