In this blog, Bela reflects on her role as both an artist and a designer. She shares how her habits as an artist translate to her design process, and how she realized that these two professions aren’t as different as she initially thought.
Written by Bela Wong, Graphic and Communications Assistant, Honours Bachelor of Arts in Art and Art History and Communication, Culture, Information & Technology (CCIT)
For as long as I can remember, I thought artists and designers served different purposes. From my point of view, being an artist meant exploring one’s self-expression, while a designer’s job is to create functional work. While working at the Innovation Hub, however, I realized that what I believe isn’t necessarily true. As I worked on iHub projects throughout the term, I slowly realized these roles were not mutually exclusive. That’s when I learned that there is no one-word answer on what profession I fall under. Being an artist and a designer means I can leverage fundamentals of both of these professions to bring projects to life through impactful visual storytelling.
Learning to Experiment and Make Mistakes
When we did a painting social at the iHub, I remember that one of the questions my peers asked me was how I got a finished painting so quickly. I tried to explain that the process of getting there isn’t always easy—and there’s a lot that goes into painting even before I put my brush to canvas. For example, I’m constantly testing new painting techniques in my sketchbook, trying out different ways of applying paint that suit my personal style. Sometimes, when I’m painting, I’ll patch up some mistakes in a way that makes it look like they were always meant to be there. My mindset as an artist is to keep playing with my initial idea until I like what I see, but I found that this didn’t always translate to my design work.
Early in the design process, I found myself frustrated. Initially, I tried to work with one idea, and that didn’t always work. I realized that experimenting as a designer meant doing things differently than I was used to. So next time my team was sketching ideas for a design, I tried a lot of different sketches and colour palettes just to see what options I could come up with. I soon realized that it was no different from trying different techniques in my sketchbook. But where my sketchbook just documented my experimentation to prepare me for painting, the sketches I did for my designs directly contributed to the final version. This experience showed me that, even though experimentation can look different, iterating and trying out different solutions can help me see a wider range of possibilities as a designer and as an artist.
Following my Intuition to Solve Problems
Because I’d always thought that it was a designer’s role to create work for someone else’s specific vision, problem-solving always seemed to me to be a designer’s skill. I quickly realized that the way I experiment in my art and design work could extend to problem-solving. For example, when I’m painting, I face a lot of trial and error, to the point where I’ve felt like I needed to scrap a painting and start again. What always keeps me picking up my brush and moving forward is my intuition. Following my intuition to create a version of a painting that’s pleasing to the eye is a form of problem solving, because I’m trying to create a painting that meets my needs as the artist.
As a designer I learned to understand what others need and how to meet those needs with my design. I started using my intuition to create something that’s not just pleasing to me, but to a wider audience. One way I’ve done this at the iHub is to pursue different options for representing ideas visually. For example, when my team was working on the 10th Anniversary Report, I thought we could represent certain ideas with icons, like we had for our design research project. As we were working through it, though, my team and I realized that photos would be a more efficient way of conveying the same idea. With this solution, I was able to supplement the visuals without compromising on quality.
Visual Storytelling Creates Impact
One of the things that draws me to art and design is seeing how my work impacts others. Both artists and designers influence how people see the world through creative projects. As an artist, I want my projects to bring solace, while at the iHub, I’m giving data meaning through visual design. What these two media have in common is that they let the viewer easily connect with an experience. When I showed my finished paintings to my peers, they told me that they felt really immersed in the natural scene. Similarly, when I flip through one of our design research reports, I can step into the shoes of our personas.
Both art and design are a form of visual storytelling, which helps people understand and empathize with others. Being an artist and a designer means I can leverage skills from both professions to effectively create something that tells a good story. When I realized how these two professions overlap, I realized that I couldn’t be one or the other. I’m always going to be both an artist and a designer, no matter if I’m working on a painting or a report. Being less firm with the line between the two has helped me recognize the power of visual storytelling across different media.
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