Recently, in a seemingly recurring article (Brownlee, 2015), well-known designers gave advice to young graduates. In the midst of the well-intended but a little less than practical suggestions, graphic designer Stefan Sagmeister provided an interesting discord:

“A young design graduate should be able to do what most designers claim to not be important: to know how to make things look good. We can find lots of people with decent ideas, and lots of people who are proficient in digital crafts and very few who really know form.”

Like Sagmeister points out, emphasizing aesthetics is somewhat at odds with the official opinion in the field of design. The reason for this is undoubtedly designers’ endless pursuit of convincing people that design is not just about making things look nice. It’s understandable that the significance of aesthetics is downplayed when efforts are made to elevate design from workshops to boardrooms. However, it’s unfortunate if design students adopt this attitude when they should be learning the fundamentals of their profession. This leads to them being stripped of the skills they are most likely to be successful with, especially early in their careers.

At times aesthetics seems almost taboo in design. It’s either not discussed or cloaked in subjectivity, the end result being the same. Sure, you may hear designs praised for their appearance, but almost never are any real arguments offered in support. It seems that these days designers can go through their whole education, if not career, believing that balance, proportion, contrast, harmony etc. are just words used to persuade unwitting clients. Either that, or designers reinforce the notion that aesthetics is subjective on purpose to protect themselves from criticism or hide their lack of confidence in their ability.

Figure 1. For those interested, Il Conico by Aldo Rossi is a master lesson in composition. (“Aldo Rossi 2-qt. Il Conico Water Tea Kettle,” 2015)

Maybe designers shouldn’t discuss aesthetics the same way that, for example, engineers discuss mechanics, but the discussion shouldn’t be philosophical either. Not that the philosophy of aesthetics isn’t a worthwhile subject of study, but designers should be more concerned with practical matters. At least in design education, if not anywhere else, aesthetics should be presented as a competence that can be acquired. Universities could contribute to the advancement of aesthetics also by recognizing it as a valuable field of research. For example, cognitive semiotics could be studied in relation to aesthetics to get more insight into product appraisal. Still, just letting go of the idea that there is no mastery of aesthetics would go a long way towards elevating the level of design produced.

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References

Brownlee, J. (2015, May 21). 9 Top Designers On What Every New Grad Should Know. Retrieved from: http://www.fastcodesign.com/3046364/10-designers-on-what-every-new-grad-should-know

Aldo Rossi 2-qt. Il Conico Water Tea Kettle. (2015, September 5). Retrieved from: http://www.amazon.com/Rossi-2-qt-Conico-Water-Kettle/dp/B00029RAUM