Design -- the Cheapest Vanity 設計是最便宜的浮華

我常常逛敦化誠品, 雜誌區是我的最愛, 其次就是工作需要會待上一會的設計書區, 早在7, 8 年前, 設計書區往往冷清, 現在每次到那裡去, 總是有一些年輕人, 翻著像平面設計,商標設計的書, 或是討論日式風格跟歐式風格哪個室內設計比較突出, 我突然意識到設計在台灣, 似乎已成為一種流行, 我曉得這幾年來, 有幾位文化人在台灣推動設計和創意, 這的確把以往向來不被重視的美感藝術及物品文化價值的層面讓大眾接收, 看著路上精品店越來越多, 自有品牌設計師也逐漸有勇氣, 大膽的嘗試市場.
如果有錢, 家裡買些所謂設計精品來用或觀賞, 也已成為浮華文化的部份, 但設計的好處是, 它可以是免費的, 就算買不起精品, 自己也可以透過書籍及互動媒體, 來成就這種奢華, 這不只是自己對於美的事物的欣賞, 也可在社交當中, 用最低的成本來創造話題, 宴會間可以討論孫芸芸今天拿什麼牌子的包包, 或者只要唸出幾個有名設計師的名字與作品, 同樣都是吸引目光.

就經濟學考量, 這些待在誠品的年輕人是對的, 不用花錢, 卻一樣浮華, 真的希望他們也領受到文化的本質, 而不是單純的追逐美感流行而已.

Art to Design

Few years ago, I had a debate with my friend who was a graphic designer in a design firm on the topic of art and design. Be more precise, our argument was “is designer an artist or is an artist a designer?” She insisted on by implementing graphic art to her work is design. I disagreed with that. My stand was design is more than just art. Art basically satisfy human emotions, but design is more complicate than that. Of course, art works can be part of design, but definitely not all of it. Factors of human behavior are what we need to achieve on designing objects. My definition: If we create something making your eye shine and your emotion high, that’s art. But design, despite of that, we still need to consider the usefulness of objects. It doesn’t mean designed objects have no taste of art. Surely it is also important we apply the sense of arts on to the design. It absolutely helps us to use things often with better feeling. But making things ease to use is our goal for design, isn’t it.