Paul Rand, or when I realized that Design≠Art necessarily.

"Conversations with Paul Rand" was very frank.  a few days of a reporter and a camera following around the world-renowned designer who was black and white in his descriptions of the design process and what distinguishes quality design.
 

"things are either right or they're wrong."

"like children: honest; did what they thought rather than try to impress anyone with their skill."
 

perhaps it is a modern convention which encourages us to think only in shades of gray; i.e., as long as someone is "sincere" or "tried their darnedest" or is "original," suddenly their work is immune to further critique. for a designer whose ubiquitous logos anyone in the US (perhaps most of the globe) would recognize, there was no doubt that things can be wrong, or bad.

my experience with "art" is limited.  i experienced my grandfather who provided a good life for his wife and their kids as a commercial fine artist.  i used to chalk up his black and white world-view, not unlike Rand's, to his modernist conditioning.  then i met my painting apprentice.  a graduate from OSU's Product Design program, my age, grew up in the midwest as i did, and had similar social experiences growing up.  he too has a very black and white perspective on the arts, on music, and definitely Design.

it doesn't feel altogether polite to say, "that is poorly designed."  yet if we began discussing our phones and why i have the one which i do, i would not hesitate to let you hold it and feel the crisp edges, smooth screen and solid switches.  i would let you interact with the touchscreen and see how the user interface is the best on the market.  (i suspect you'd do the same if you're proud of what you have).  certain products evoke a stronger response from us and it is when our true feelings rise up above the ambiguity and politeness we would otherwise employ, that we get down to the (hopefully well-designed) brass tacks.

again, my experience with art as a discipline is minimal, but i've seen things presented as art which don't convey a message clearly and are not utilitarian in a way that is plain to me.  Rand said that "a work of art is when form and content fuse."  it's not my place nor my ability (yet) to critique what art is or is not, but i am seeing more clearly how Design must command content and form.

as i continue learning to see per this new concentration, i am appreciating when the function of a device is impeccable and it is packaged in as clean and terrific a body as could be conceived for something of its kind.