This is one of the ongoing debates in graphic design, the reason it keeps rolling along is because there isn’t a definitive answer. It’s up to each of us to form an individual opinion according to the work that we produce. I first started thinking about this debate during a long drive on the motorway a while back. Road signs are an example of function over form. They are not the most attractive of things, but the whole reason for their existence is to impart information, clearly and without embellishment. In this task they are a huge design success.
I find that this question of aesthetics and application is a perpetual balancing act. Every project is different in it’s aims and how it needs to be perceived by it’s target audience. The factors within the brief need to be considered then it’s part of the designers job to alter their approach according to what a piece of work needs to achieve.
I’ve commented before that design at it’s core is all about communication, so in my opinion function is always the most important thing. A message needs to be delivered, that is the first aim in most design projects, then this is usually tempered by how the message is sent, and ‘dressed up’.
Something cannot be considered to be a piece of art if it has any other function apart from itself. Art is simply an adornment that has no real use. Obviously art has an important part to play culturally and historically but at the time of it’s conception it can be seen as completely self-involved.
A piece of design is far removed from this. Design is created for a purpose, and is made aesthetically pleasing as a means of supporting the message it has to transmit.
Function is paramount in design because it is it’s very essence, it is it’s purpose. The form a piece of design takes is directly linked to it’s function, so in my mind there is no debate at all. In my work it isn’t about form Vs function because the form is a direct result of it’s function.
Let me know what your opinion is on this debate. Do you think about form Vs function before beginning a project? Has art had a bad influence on design? Do you consider yourself an artist even though you have been pigeon-holed as a designer?
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