BMW recently commissioned Joshua Davis to portray his impression of the Z4 Coupe.  It turns out that Joshua Davis, a renowned commercial and fine artist, is working in algorithmic graphic design, which is a program that uses mathematical algorithms to reconstruct an image. The above image is what he came up with for his impression of the Z4 Coupe.  Many have commented that they just cannot see the relationship between this piece of work and the car.

But if you look closely you can see how the mathematical precision does give you the impression of what a car is like. It really depends on each person and whether he can see the resemblance, but the truth is that the new use of such algorithms are interesting, and the way an image can be reconstructed and turned into a piece of expensive art work is also interesting.

Art is in the eyes of the maker and the eyes of the beholder. It really depends on the artist, what he wants to portray and what you see as the viewer. One thing is for sure, anyone who is into computer graphics will understand the difficulty in creating an image with 120, 000 layers and 50,000 vectors.

Many people believe that designers are artists and artists are designers and in many instances they are, but design has a more commercial connotation to it. It is more calculated and defined process, much the way an engineer plans a project, but instead of using building plans, the designer focuses on color and style, but must pay close attention to function as well.

Art on the other hand is freer. An artist can convey a message or an emotion but does not have to follow any set rules to do it. He may use a combination of rules, or certain art elements, but he conveys it however he wishes to. The artist can express himself using any color combination he wants, or any medium he wants.

An artist does not need to explain why he chose certain colors or why he chose a certain method to convey a certain emotion.

Of course there are graphic designer who are artists, and artists who are designers and both rules and aspects begin to intermingle, but this is what makes up art.

Photo: Guilherme Marconi

One does not have to go far, as the designer’s mind is the greatest tool in graphic designing. The ability of the designer to create a visual impact and put it on a base is the creative ability of the designer to draw the viewer’s attention to the product. Even if the designer is provided with the basic concept of what is required, he converts it into his own form of depiction and presents it to the viewer.

Sometimes sketches and scripts are provided to the graphic designer to give him a picture of what the client has in mind. But here again it is up to the designer to choose the most suitable one’s to complete the final graphic design.

Computer graphic designing gave the designer the option to view the effects of the layout immediately without putting it down on the final material. However, traditional tools like pencils, markers and sketch pens are still used to give the basic ideas to the designer before he finally puts it down on the computer.

Certain software applications are indispensable to the graphic designer and this brings the computer back into the priority tool for the graphic designer.

The Graphic Design Artist is a technically qualified designer who has a flair for innovative presentations. No matter what the subject is he derives his inspiration from the material that is presented to him to work on. He can visualise his client’s requirement with the basic platform that is provided to him and expand on it to create a visual endorsement of the product. Technically a graphic design is a visual communication that conveys a combination of words and pictures to the viewer.

Several different categories of work go into the creation to form a complete final visual effect. The graphic artist has to put together photos, illustrations, words and bring together all this in a harmony of eye catching presentation. This is a specialised category of work that comes under the information technology umbrella and needs specialised training.