Anders

@vanschneider Some design become art, if it's great. But design is meant to sell sodas or help with directions.

As a young designer, I would have done everything to convince you that designers are not artists. I would have said a designer's work needs to be understood and used by everyone, while an artist's work is subjective. I’m sure you would have agreed with me. Perhaps it's what you believe today. It's what we everyone likes to say, at least: Design is created to solve specific problems, whereas art is created to provoke subjective feelings. A piece of art might evoke a different feeling for you than it does for me. But, like most "universal truths" in life, I've learned it is not as black and white as we'd like to believe. As with most things, there's some nuance to it. Not all designers are artists. In fact, most designers aren’t artists and that’s perfectly fine. But the best designers are indeed artists. And that's the difference. For the most talented, successful designers in the industry, art is the secret ingredient that takes their work to the next level. Art is that little extra. Art is the personality infused into a piece of design or communication. Art is what sets it apart. I’ll give you an example: Let's assume that design has nothing to do with art. Let's assume it is totally objective and a craft everyone, with the right process, can replicate. Within this system, let's assume there are three designers. All three designers are at the top of the industry, equally impressive. All three designers are asked to solve the same problem, independently from each other. They all do their very best, creating an objective solution to a singular problem. At the end, we have three designs that solve the problem equally as well as the others. But only one of them wins. Only one solution makes your heart jump higher, even though you might not be able to explain why. The "why" you can’t explain is the art I am speaking about. Deep inside, we’re all artists. And the best designers infuse a little bit of art into their design. Some may call it opinionated design. It’s when you, your character, your life's experiences and your own taste are infused into your design work, while still solving a problem with it. As a young designer, I would have said you should never let your personality seep into your work. That you should follow the most objective process when designing something. But today I'm calling the bullshit. It's not only a lie. Worse, it's pretentious. There’s simply no way to ignore your own personal feelings, your experience, your character and your taste when designing. And the best designers take this to their advantage. Not just because they’ve accepted it, but because they know this is what makes the difference. For others, and for ourselves. It’s the little bit of meaning we inject into our work. It’s what keeps us designing and creating. It’s that feeling of magic someone else loves, but can’t fully put their finger on. The best designers are artists 🖤

@dariusdan You can still design the old way. I love to design the "old" way, but understand the industry is moving ahead with ai, with or without me.

I don’t know about you, but I’ll never prefer designing by firing prompts like a machine gun. I want to draw rectangles, tweak bezier curves, and polish gradients and radiuses for hours. That’s the craft I fell in love with. 🫠

@EyeOfScar @J_Lee_Design @mattworkman "it takes away from the love of wanting to do my craft" You can still create games, film, design etc the old way. I love to design the "old" way, but understand the industry is moving ahead with ai, with or without me.

@J_Lee_Design @mattworkman I LOVE cg cinematography - example here - eyeofscar.artstation.com/projects/2B50vJ I have never wanted to use GenAI because it takes away from the love of wanting to do my craft. You can check out https://eyeofscar(dot)artstation(dot)com/ . So I second @J_Lee_Design . Skill issues @mattworkman

people who “hate Gen AI” may not realize that most filmmakers cannot afford a cinema camera, lens, 4x lights, and grip equipment to make a shot that looks 1/10 as good as a 10 cent Gen AI shot I’m a die hard live action cinematographer in my heart, but I know the math I’ve also worked in 3D/Games for a long time and it’s similar that most can’t afford the computer hardware and lack access to the training to make again shots that looks 1/100 as good as the sloppiest AI gen image Consumer and gamer takes on this issue, I ignore. People in production see the state of live action production AND in 3D/VFX business and can also do math

@J_Lee_Design @mattworkman No one "needs" ai to create films and games, but it does help with cost and/or time. That's the big unlock right now.

@mattworkman I’ve worked on games and movies, I’ve worked at every level from Indie to AAAA games, I’ve made my own films on $30 cameras and gotten “cinematic” quality out of them. I never needed AI once to achieve art. Skill issue.

What is the ideal ai stack for a design, photos and motion? (I have Adobe)

@wadechicago @1curiousgeorgey @samsheffer Too many sites are reporting the same news with the same stale takes. If I want to spend money on in depth articles, I would rather subscribe to indie writers on @Substack

@1curiousgeorgey @samsheffer Josh was awful, just completely self absorbed, it got really bad before he left. It still seems pretty good but I just can’t justify a separate subscription to the verge and vox and nymag.

what in the bryan johnson

@1curiousgeorgey @samsheffer It just seems too dated now.

@samsheffer I have a completely unrelated question. Why is The Verge terrible now? Ever since Josh left along with many of the original crew, it’s been an absolute dumpster fire. I mean, it doesn’t even remotely resemble the website it used to be.

Spot on

@aryamaniac_ @annakatherines_ One may say, except for Apple, Silicon Valley never had taste to begin with. It’s always been about making things functional, aesthetics rarely mattered.

@annakatherines_ This comes off as shallow. Most technology starts off as passion projects, for the l'amor du ju, and only later gets co-opted for profit. Taste is Silicon Valley rediscovering its roots

Tech bros will never have taste because taste evolves from liking things purely for their own sake, and tech bros cannot conceive of value that is not tied to profit or clout

@chaykak Meet the analogites, the analog creatives with appreciation of taste.

this week's column is for all my taste bros out there

@chaykak People with taste (analog creatives) don't need to fear tech bros picking up taste. It takes a bit more than a youtube video to "get it".

@jameygannon @midjourney I look towards creative professionals for guidance, rather than tech bros when it comes to aesthetics and taste used in Ai.

i do think @midjourney should make more of an effort to diversify those that help them with training the overlap of people with extremely high taste and active discord accounts is likely not very high (sorry) thus the general public has to work against these extremely difficult stating conditions (with pretty vague documentation)

the @midjourney hate is a total skill issue and once again reinforcing that AI is an extension of a creative process, not a replacement for one every model release and platform is different. stop looking for a silver bullet.

@thattallguy @amosrazi Yes. But if you are working in creative, can you afford to ignore ai? I understand the regular creative output for personal use, but if you work with clients or at agencies, can you afford to just say "I've take twice as long to do this task", I'm sure the client understand"

@amosrazi sure, but the political ramifications seem more relevant with ai than other tech

I think folks on this app are greatly underestimating how much the general public hates AI. Like, haaaaaaates it.

@jeffinvenice Disagree, but the spacing is off

If you’re a designer and these are the logos you’re showcasing then i’m sorry you’re ngmi

@oykun @figma @paper Imagine if Adobe just swooped it up.

so, when is @figma acquiring @paper ?

@sometimesfrunny @dr Helvetica got so much usage, we had to try something else for a while.

@dr We can't stand sans-serif anymore.

Why did old-school serif fonts become synonymous with ultra-modern computing? (wish I had more examples on hand)

Apple iSight, still one of the best @Apple products ever.

@BigBrainMkting I remember that one. So good.

Coca-Cola commercials before the age of AI

@MarkKnd People use Apple Maps, because it is part of the eco system. In messages, in contacts etc

No one is gonna use Apple Maps anymore

@om_patel5 I want to see someone get the entire code an app from chatting with chipotle. 😀

stop spending money on Claude Code. Chipotle's support bot is free: