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Monday, 01 August 2005 | ARTISTIC v ACADEMIA
ARTISTIC v ACADEMIA
Why is it that as a child, artistic skills are admired and encouraged but from the moment that we learn how to read and write the words of encouragement seem to focus on the more academic facets of ones skills?
There seems to be an unspoken opinion, that it's ok to be artistically inclined as long as it's a 'hobby'. Mum and dad would really prefer that you became a doctor or lawyer.
Isn't that what most parents want for their children? Well maybe most, but certainly not me. I think that medicine would probably be one of the last things that I'd like my children to select as a career choice. Too much work and not enough play!
I will never forget the look of disappointment on my fathers face when I got accepted to the UNSW to study fine arts. That's not a real job, how was I ever going to make any money as an artist. Well I haven't sold a single painting, (through choice) but completing my degree in fine arts lead me to discover graphic design; a nice compromise.
Even though I think that design and art are two very different things. It just so happens that it's handy to have artistic skills to be a designer. But it certainly isn't 'art'. Art comes from within. It's a manifestation of an individual's vision of the world and themselves. It's intimate and personal.
Design is about communicating information visually. It's everywhere; from the moment you get up in the morning it's all around. The alarm clock that wakes you, the label on your shampoo bottle, the branding on your toothpaste, the packaging of your cereal, the street signs and signage you go past on the way to work, the newspaper you read or don't read, the train ticket, the logo imprinted on the sole of your shoes and the list goes on and on.
One of the gripes that I have with my profession is that it is often undervalued. Everybody thinks that they're a designer. It seems that these days with the accessibility of desktop publishing software everyone thinks that they can have a go.
Why is it that you wouldn't tell a doctor how to perform heart surgery yet no one thinks twice about telling a designer to rearrange the elements in their design?
The majority of people simply do not understand just how much thinking is actually involved in the design of even the simplest looking logo. Most think it's just about aesthetics and making things beautiful. They don't realise that selecting the wrong font or colour can be detrimental when appealing to a specific audience or communicating a message.
Some times I do think that my job is pretty useless. It took a catastrophe like September 11 to make me re-evaluate my role in society. It suddenly occurred to me that my job really didn't contribute much to society in general; I'm not saving lives or easing the pain of others. I'm simply organising the ever multiplying visual clutter that procreated during the industrial revolution.
So perhaps all those parents are right. Who knows?
I may not have become a brain surgeon, but I know that my father is proud of me after all. It just took him a little while to realise that artistic skills can be used in order to make a fairly good living. And even with all its gripes it's still a very enjoyable way to spend 8 hours a day during a working week.
Well at least most of the time.
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