Artist & Engineer

Yesterday, I visited an art exhibition, the culmination of my friend's fine art degree. The skill, the thoughtfulness and the narratives of several of the pieces were impressive. Some were evocative of a dream world, others were emotional and personal, and others were silly or outrageous. But each of them came across as being a purposeful creative outlet for the artist. Seeing how these artists' approached making things made me question how I approach design.

In product design, I am driven by function. My goal is usually to solve a problem that people face as efficiently as possible in order to make their lives a little easier. When making things, I rarely set out with my main intention being evoking an emotion, telling a story or expressing myself. The process is usually intentional and the outcome direct.

This isn't the case for all product designers. Some of the most thoughtful, intuitive designers I have worked with have had a formal design education and brought this creative method to their work as a product designer. Some of the designers whose work I follow most eagerly today are those pushing the boundaries of digital product design, making silly things, or bridging the gap between art and the web.

To learn what I might be missing out on, over the next few months, I'm going to approach my free time on side projects (and perhaps some day-to-day work) as an "artist" rather than an "engineer". I'll make more things that have no functional purpose. I'll spend more time exploring new ideas. I'll do more things that are just fun or silly. And, initially, I'll avoid pressure to share all my work with the world to make this new kind of exploration easier.

I may share more thoughts as I explore this path. Wish me luck!

Have a lovely day.
© 2023, Graham Macphee.