opinion DESIGN IS NOT ART
The legendary Paul Rand once defined design as "art in the service of commerce." Pshaw. The two are intrinsically opposed. Art celebrates expression; commerce rewards conformity. To make a living as a creative the way our social and economic space is constructed requires a Faustian bargain with clients: I'll sell my soul/work to you so that you can be more successful, as long as you pay me something. Cash preferred, but ego-pumping will do in a pinch. Until we stop selling out like street-corner entrepreneurs, we will always be aesthetes, operating on the margins. Design is neither art nor commerce; it is an essential human activity, it is the act of making sense of the world and then engaging it.

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