5 Best Ways to Incorporate Art into Your Design Strategy

When you think of art, what comes to mind what? Some people might imagine a canvas filled with dark, bold strokes of paint. Others might imagine a modern-day Monet, Van Gogh, or Gauguin. They’re probably not thinking about how art can improve their lives and businesses. That’s because art is so much more than just paintings and sculptures. It’s a way of life, a philosophy, and even a business. For many people, art is an essential part of their lives. They collect art, attend exhibits and view art in books, movies, and on television. Some people even work in the art industry. If you want to incorporate art into your design strategy, read on for our top 5 ways to do it.

Go With What You Know

Before you start collecting rare books or thumbing through art history books, think about what kind of art speaks to you and your audience. Why do you like certain pieces? What makes you uncomfortable or makes you think?

If you’re designing a business card, do you like modern art that challenges conventional wisdom or surrealism that plays with images? If so, go with that. If not, what else might you incorporate to make your design stand out?

Tell a Story

What’s the best way to get your point across? With a painting that illustrates the story of your business? If you’re selling tickets to a concert, do you want to show an audience of excited fans or an empty arena? If you choose the latter, maybe you should consider telling a different story with your art.

If you’re designing a children’s book, do you want your characters to come alive or be as memorable as the toys they play with? If you choose the latter, consider using images to tell a story.

Use Color

Think about the colors that appeal to you the most. Do they make you think of summer? Do they call you? Do they excite you? Where do you feel those feelings most strongly?

When you use the colors you like, you’re trying to create an emotional response. You want your audience to feel something, either attraction, calmness, or a sense of nostalgia.

Think about the emotions you want your audience to feel and use color to create those feelings. Be careful not to overuse color, though. The overwhelming use of color could turn your audience off instead of making them feel something.

Find Inspiration in Everything

Why do some designs catch our eye and stay with us long after we look away? We don’t know why certain designs grab us, but we like them. We feel something when we see them. And we want to share those feelings with the world.

So how can you incorporate that inspiration into your designs? Start with your logo. It needs to be bold and attention-grabbing, but it also needs to be consistent with the feel of your brand. If your logo is full of color and character, try finding a way to incorporate that same boldness and character into your designs.

Show the Problem You’re Trying to solve

When you create a logo, don’t you try to figure out how to solve the problems your company or product is associated with? For example, you might make a logo that’s shaped like an S to show that your company is the solution to sales problems.

You can use this same concept when designing T-shirts, posters, or billboards. Instead of showing the products you make, show the problems your products solve.

Designs with this concept can be used in a variety of different ways, showing logos, slogans, words, or images.

Make it an Event

Have you ever attended a gallery opening or fair where lots of people were walking around with a piece of art hanging from a string around their neck? If so, you probably saw people stopping and looking at the work, attracted to the meaning and message behind the piece of art.

If you want to get more people exposed to your work, consider hanging your paintings in public places where people can see them and be drawn in by the art. You can even try painting giant public works of art that are easily visible from the street.

Bottom line

Art is an essential part of any design strategy, no matter what industry you’re in. If you want your designs to be memorable, creative, and effective, incorporate some form of art into them.

Even if you don’t want to become an artist yourself, learning how to incorporate art into your designs will help you stand out from the crowd.