Principles of Art, Design, and Decoration
Post from May 12, 2007 (ā» May 31, 2022), filed under Art and Design.
This post is outdated.
Much thinking on design lead me to the conclusion that defining the terms art, design, and decoration can be pretty simple. Outlining their principles, at least. Simpler than I thought in school (remember the āwhat is artā question?), and also simpler than I thought in recent years.
- Art:
- Art hides. Art has a meaning, and it hides it, on purpose. Art delivers a message, and that message is hidden, on purpose. It is an art to create art. Art is unusable, by definition.
- Design:
- Design reveals. Design reveals meaning, design reveals a message, design reveals function. Bad design does the opposite: It obscures, it hides. The reason why that almost never makes bad design art is that the subject is supposed to be revealed.
- Decoration:
- Anything else that doesnāt have meaning is just decoration, at most. Ask an artist what he wants to achieve with his art pieceāif he canāt (well, maybe he wonāt) tell, heās a decorator, not an artist. Ask a designer why her design worksāif she canāt tell, sheās probably a (lucky) decorator, not a designer. Decorationās sometimes appealing, but it doesnāt transport anything.
These definitions are simplified, sure, so theyāre rather principles or attributes of art, design, and decoration. They rely on other definitions, for example āmeaning.ā They also ignore certain factors like audience, context, and emotion. However, they seem to hold true often enough to be considered principles. I smell some confirmation bias, but thatās my observation.
What are your thoughts and experiences?
About Me

Iām Jens Oliver Meiert, and Iām an engineering lead and author. Iāve worked as a technical lead for Google, Iām close to the W3C and the WHATWG, and I write and review books for OāReilly. Other than that, I love trying things, sometimes including philosophy, art, and adventure. Here on meiert.com I share some of my views and experiences.
If you have questions or suggestions about what I write, please leave a comment (if available) or a message.
Comments (Closed)
-
On May 14, 2007, 17:06 CEST, Stephan Riess said:
Design aims to provide a solution to a problem.
Decorating aims to cover up the problem. -
On May 14, 2007, 17:09 CEST, Jens Oliver Meiert said:
Have you been inspired by Daniel Schutzsmith? š
-
On June 27, 2007, 18:23 CEST, Jens Oliver Meiert said:
Guys, donāt hesitate to comment directly⦠I may quote very interesting feedback from a reader from Washington:
But I would point out that what sheās describing isnāt so much the principles of three separate ādisciplinesā, but rather that there is a kind of triangular structure. On the vertical axis, you have āmeaningā; horizontally, you have āreveal-occludeā. Thus, decoration is at the bottom, art is meaning+occlusion, and design is meaning+revelation.
The entire postās worth reading, and I might reply in more detail later.
(Ah, Iām male, by the way.)
-
On December 27, 2007, 17:39 CET, passerby said:
āArt hides. Art has a meaning, and it hides it, on purpose. Art delivers a message, and that message is hidden, on purpose. It is an art to create art. Art is unusable, by definition.ā
Really?
I wouldnāt be so sure about it. What we call art today was simply what you defined as design.
Many artists didnāt want to hide anything at all, they wanted to convey messages on behalf of their patrons;
they were paid to do so.
By saying that art hides and is unusable, you are fostering a romantic view of art.
You are saying Gauguin is art, and Caravaggio is not. -
On December 28, 2007, 13:17 CET, Jens Oliver Meiert said:
passerby, thank you.
By saying that art hides and is unusable, you are fostering a romantic view of art.
That is not intended, but I really need to think about that again in terms of how art cannot use āhidingā as an āexcuseā
[ā¦].You are saying Gauguin is art, and Caravaggio is not.
To be honest, I do not know many pieces of Caravaggio. Anyway, I definitely claim that some masters are rather āmaster decoratorsā than āmaster artistsā.
I need to add that creating appealing, beautiful, high-quality decoration is a very, very remarkable discipline, one that must not be devalued by current understanding of ādecoration.ā Good decoration is as rare as good design and good art. As another side note, well, thereās a follow-up post: Qualities of Design: It Works and Itās Durable.
-
On January 18, 2009, 17:46 CET, Rose said:
Hello! This is not a very affective website, there is no color and it is supose to be for ART. Jens Meiert, I hope you get this and make some changes. I almost forgotā¦
I will be coming over for tea next weekend. (Yes I do know where you live.)
Thank You for leting people write comments. Again make changes or I will!
See ya!!
-? -
On January 18, 2009, 19:18 CET, Jens Oliver Meiert said:
�
-
On January 18, 2011, 18:13 CET, Jens Oliver Meiert said:
More of an internal note Iām not sure to be of broader interest: āDesign is defined as āthe use of higher thought and systematic process to achieve objectives.ā It has nothing to do with graphics or frills. It has everything to do with being more effective and successful.ā Per Mr Knemeyer.
Read More
Have a look at the most popular posts, possibly including:
Looking for a way to comment? Comments have been disabled, unfortunately.

Perhaps my most comprehensive book: The Web Development Glossary (2020). With explanations and definitions for literally thousands of terms from Web Development and related fields, building on Wikipedia as well as the MDN Web Docs. Available at Apple Books, Kobo, Google Play Books, and Leanpub.