Art Design and Social Economy

-- Sunny Sky

Summary of contents This article uses Marxist philosophical viewpoints to analyze the relationship between art design and social economy from two perspectives: social development and the history of art design development. The article believes that the development of social economy has brought about the prosperity of art and design, and the art design has promoted the development of social economy, which leads to the conclusion that art and design must serve social and economic development and must be integrated into social and economic development. It is worth mentioning that the article boldly put forward a clear idea of ​​"art design is also a kind of productivity."

The art design mentioned in the article, including decoration design, environmental design, industrial design, and costume design, refers to a practical art form that is both artistic and economical. Art design as a category of art is mainly aimed at creating functional beauty, which reflects its artistry. On the other hand, its value must be invested in social and economic activities to achieve its full realization of its economy. The mission of such a practical art form is to improve the quality of the human living environment and satisfy people’s growing material and cultural needs. This determines that the art design itself has two levels of spirit and material.

Art design is a manifestation of social consciousness. Social economy is one of the manifestations of social existence. The relationship between art design and social economy is inextricably linked. The essence of the relationship between art design and social economy is the relationship between spirit and matter. That is to say, social economy is the foundation, and art and design should serve the development of social economy. The quality of social and economic conditions can constrain the development of art and design; the development of art and design can promote the social economy, but it cannot determine the status of economic development.

First, the socio-economic development has brought about the prosperity of art design

From the point of view of historical development, the period of highly developed social economy is also a period of prosperous art culture. For example, the United Kingdom became the birthplace of modern design because of the political, economic and cultural development during the Industrial Revolution.

In China, in 1997 Deng Xiaoping proposed a policy of reform and opening up and began to introduce a market economy. At the time, Guangdong was at the forefront of reform and opening up and the economy developed rapidly after long periods of repression. Due to the soaring demand for art design from the society, and the shortage of professionals in advertising design, product design, and environmental design, Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts has to adapt to this market demand and change the arts and crafts department into a design department. Judging from the situation of similar universities (departments) in the country, the art design profession has always been a hot specialty due to the long-term economic trends in recent years.

From the point of view of the development of the art design itself, the origin of modern design has two notable features. The first is the division of labor, and the second is the improvement of the production process that makes large-scale production and low consumption possible. Every leaps and advances in art and design are in a period of highly developed social economy caused by social division of labor. First of all, because of the advanced social and economic development, increasing social needs, and the improvement of human civilization and aesthetic interest, it has put forward higher requirements for art design and provided a solid material foundation. Secondly, the highly developed period of social economy is also a period of great changes in social concepts and a period of great liberation, which provides a broad space for thinking and thinking for the application and development of art design.

Second, artistic design promotes the development of social economy

Deng Xiaoping said: "Science and technology are primary productive forces." We believe that artistic design, a product of art and technology, is also a kind of productivity. It promotes socio-economic development like other productivity.

First of all, the driving force behind the development of art design lies in people's unremitting pursuit of beauty. This pursuit is spontaneous and inborn. It is this longing for and pursuit of good things that has become a powerful driving force for social and economic development. We say that science and technology are productive, it is because it can promote the development of social economy. In the history of human design, science and technology are always connected with human life through the combination of art. Art design can promote the development of social economy, mainly because it not only meets people's growing material needs, but also meets people's spiritual needs. Second, what artistic design brings is not only spiritual pleasure and enjoyment, but more importantly, it can change people’s way of life. Art design is a means of concretizing and materializing the intended purpose and concept, and is an early process of people's economic construction activities. Its essence is the people's imagination and planning for the artistic development of the economic construction activities to be carried out. On the whole, this vision and planning is progressive, developmental, and even advanced. In this sense, it also shows that art design is a driving force for social development.

The typical case of artistic design promoting social economic development is the Bauhaus movement often mentioned in design history. It originated from the development of Germany in the United States, which greatly promoted the rapid development of the U.S. economy.

Third, art and design must be integrated into socio-economic development

Through the above analysis, we can basically clarify the relationship between art design and socio-economic development. This has guiding significance for how to develop art design.

1. The relationship between artistic design and social economy is getting closer.
In his 1992 southern tour speech, Deng Xiaoping said: "...should we mainly look at whether it is conducive to the development of the productive forces of a socialist society, whether it is conducive to strengthening the overall national strength of the socialist countries, and whether it is conducive to improving people's living standards..." It also pointed out the direction of the development of art design. British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher said: "Design is the foundation of our industrial future. Good design is a sign of successful business." When Japan’s corporate giant Hideaki Matsushita returned from an American mission, he said: “In the future is the era of design!”, Lin Yantang, deputy director of the Department of Design of the Hong Kong Polytechnic University once said: “...a global trade development in the world, if there is a lack of industrial design in the product area The necessary role of China's economic losses is immeasurable." In Germany and the United States, from the very beginning, they paid great attention to the close integration of design and industry, and they once led the world in the rapid development of the electrical industry. From this perspective, the notion that "art design is also a kind of productivity" and "design is economical" is not excessive. We all know that our products have always been "first-rate quality," "second-rate packaging," and "third-rate prices." This is largely related to the lack of emphasis on product design and product packaging design by domestic companies. The continuous development of social economy has made people put forward higher requirements on the quality of life. This requires that art and design must keep up with the pace of social and economic development and develop with the development of the times.

2. The development direction of artistic design must conform to the direction of the development of the knowledge economy. The knowledge economy is another revolution after the industrial economy. The difference between the knowledge economy and the industrial economy is that: knowledge economy advocates knowledge and brain power, and duplication of labor no longer dominates. The knowledge economy provides the opportunity and the soil for the development of art design. Art design is not a simple reflection of the objective world. It emphasizes creativity and individuality, and has the power of decay and magic. Through artistic design, it is possible to increase the technological and artistic content of products and increase the aesthetic added value of products, thereby creating more economic benefits.
The direction of conforming to the development of knowledge economy is the only way for the development of art design. We must conscientiously and proactively grasp the characteristics of the knowledge-based economy and society, and make the design ideology, design concepts, design methods, design methods, design communication, and other aspects bear the brand of the information age.

3. Art design must be combined with advanced information technology. The development of art design is not isolated and one-sided. It must constantly absorb the latest achievements of other sciences to develop itself so as to better serve the purpose of serving the society. Each historic period has its own era technology. Examples include grinding techniques in the Stone Age, copper smelting techniques and steel smelting techniques in the Bronze Age, modern electrical technologies, modern electronic technologies, and biotechnology. Nikola Schiffer said: "There are too many artistic creations. In other words, we have to repeat the same form endlessly. Therefore, we must change the means and form at the same time." The rapid development of electronic information technology is art design. The change of means provides technical guarantees, which will inevitably lead to changes in design ideas and design concepts. Only by consciously using modern science and technology and artistic means to expand the spiritual space in the life culture can we complete the mission that the era has given to artistic design. On the one hand, with the development of economy, the change of people's living requirements and the shift of popular aesthetic tastes, the design must constantly evolve with new attitudes. Art design, on the other hand, affects the way people live. Nowadays, with the advent of the information age represented by computer networks, socio-economic activities have gradually shifted to forms such as information production, information processing, information processing, and information dissemination. This has provided a broader space for the development of art design.

Through analysis, we have clearly defined the status of art design and its relationship with social economy. The fundamental task of artistic design is to create a beautiful life. Therefore, artistic design must be based on life, higher than life, more widely applied to all aspects of life, and better serve the social economy.