The fact that graduate design programs bestow upon their students the MFA (Master of Fine Arts) degree is antiquated and irrelevant. Instead, the design discipline should have its own standardized classification of academic distinction, as programs at IIT, Cincinnati, and Carnegie Mellon do: a Master's of Design. And as architectural programs do. When have you ever heard of someone with an MFA in architecture? Never. Because nobody has one. Because architecture, while encompassing elements of art, is not art. It's Architecture. Design is not art, either. It's Design. Here's an example description of such a program:
The Master of Design (MDes) program is a two-year, 54-credit-hour degree program intended for those seeking professional mastery at the highest level in the planning and design of new communications, products, services, environments and systems. The degree terminates with a project demonstrating the application of new theories and processes to contemporary and developing design problems in a variety of areas.
I'm writing this because I'm really, really tired of people not understanding what I do. Of people equating design with art (IT'S NOT THE SAME), and of people assuming that I draw pictures and make web banners for a living. This is not what I do. But part of the reason people think it is, I'm theorizing, is because my alma mater, the University of Washington, mislabeled me. I have a Master of Fine Arts in design, which in itself is a paradox because design does not equal fine art:
fine art
1 a: art (as painting, sculpture, or music) concerned primarily with the creation of beautiful objects —usually used in plural b: objects of fine art
vs.
design
transitive verb
1: to create, fashion, execute, or construct according to plan : devise, contrive
2 a: to conceive and plan out in the mind b: to have as a purpose : intend c: to devise for a specific function or end
The primary difference is that art is about making beautiful things. Design is concerned with beauty, too, but not as much as it is about function. Therein lies the difference. The act of designing involves greater dimensionality than does art. A designer has many more externalities to consider when creating an object, which requires more sacrifice and compromise toward the end product. It's difficult to make beautiful things, lest you think that I'm dissing fine art. It takes talent and hard work. It's also difficult to make functional things; ask any engineer or computer programmer. Enter design, which is concerned with both. Creating something that is both functional and beautiful requires a broader skill set and the ability to collaborate with others and work within a narrow set of parameters. Dare I say that design is twice as hard?
Perhaps at the advent of design programs in the early 20th century, the MFA made more sense. In terms of two-dimensional design – posters, album covers, etc. – a designer often did create art as part of the overall design. Graphic designers worked with illustrators, painters, and photographers as a general rule.
Today, however, with so many more disciplines of design in practice, this automatic association of design and the fine arts displays ignorance about the multi-facets of contemporary design. At least in terms of newer fields of practice, such as interface and interaction design. It fails to take into account the other fields one must be well-versed in to succeed in designing interfaces.
As an interface and interaction designer, I am far more likely to interact with business analysts, system admins, computer programmers, library scientists, and cognitive psychologists than I am to work with painters, illustrators, or sculptures.
So, please don't insult me by calling me a "web designer" or a "graphic designer". While graphic design falls under the umbrella of what I do, it's simply a tool in my interface design set. Neither of these terms aptly describe what I do for a living. And god forbid you should ever call me an "artist".
In the glow of the launch of the new NPR.org – a yearlong endeavor involving an incredibly detailed overhaul of a very complex content management and publishing system – I've decided that I want new letters. I'm definitely a master of something, just not the fine arts.
