As the saying goes, "American colleges and universities attach great importance to commercialization, while British colleges and universities like social topics". However, in fact, even students applying for American colleges and universities are not clear about the concept of commercialization, and few of them are actually applied to the creation of works. Does the commercialization of art works have a place in the art study market? How to create commercial works that are really valued by colleges and universities? In order to solve these two topics that have troubled many students, today we will analyze them in different dimensions!

Is the commercialization of art works a disadvantage or a trend?

　　 What are commercial works?

The reason why many students resist commercial works is that overseas art schools attach importance to self-expression and emphasize personal style, which seems to run counter to market-oriented business style.

harvest Parsons School of Design Students of Parsons offer, art collection project with the theme of Huili brand

But in fact, it is a very one-sided understanding, or even an incorrect understanding, to generalize the business style only with "popularization" and "sales as the purpose". Before elaborating on how to create, let's first understand specifically what is an excellent commercial work in the field of artistic creation?

Commercialization As the name implies, market value is an important basis to measure the success of a work, and to achieve market value, three basic elements are required: the feasibility, innovation and acceptance of the audience of the work.

These three points are not antagonistic to personal style or even social themes, but can coexist, such as functional clothing design, community transformation space projects, organic agricultural product design, etc. Many works with social and humanistic themes are also part of commercial projects, But advantages can exist at the same time.

Secondly, compared with the conceptual topics preferred by many students, they pursue unique creativity and artistic value, and the landing of works is not the focus of this type of theme.

Students of Parsons offer, art collection project with the theme of Huili brand

For a mature commercial work, in the process of landing, in order to achieve market acceptance and recognition, early research, appearance breakthrough, and function realization can all be integrated into our creativity.

Commercialization of art works collection is not boring and procedural. On the contrary, the market and the masses that commercial works collection attaches importance to include the designer's insight into the industry, mastery of professional ability, balance between art and commerce and other comprehensive factors, which are also the focus of the investigation of colleges and universities.

　　 Is there any advantage in the commercialization of art works?

The answer is yes: yes! And the more mature the commercial project, the more obvious the advantages.

In recent years, many overseas art schools have focused on the future. Whether in teaching methods or new majors, they have consciously cultivated students' professional skills for future development, with the purpose of narrowing the distance between schools and the market.

This trend has emerged not only in American art schools that have always attached importance to commercialization, but also in many schools in Britain, Japan, Europe and other countries.

Even Central Saint Martin, famous for its experimental style, has carried out a large number of business cooperation projects with enterprises and companies in its BA Graphic Communication Design/Graphic Design professional courses to help students directly face the real market and master the innovation, technology and employment skills needed to become graphic designers in the new era.

On the other hand, learning how to transform works of art into marketable works is the ability that future designers need to have. Therefore, in addition to the investigation of creativity and professional foundation, colleges and universities also focus on the assessment of knowledge participation and future planning in fields related to industry work in addition to the requirements of applicants.

It is not difficult to understand why such as the British Royal Art Chicago Academy of Arts SAIC, CMU and other top universities are increasingly welcoming applicants with industry experience.

Huangyi Product Design Application Requirements

In order to meet the requirements of colleges and universities and show our comprehensive strength, solid professional skills, forward-looking perspectives in the industry, and complete design processes can be collectively reflected in commercial works.

Therefore, whether from the perspective of the teaching trend of colleges and universities or improving the competitiveness of the portfolio, the portfolio project that conforms to the market is an advantage choice. But the premise of all this is: how can we make a qualified commercial project?

　　 How to do the commercialization project of art collection?

First of all, we should realize that compared with conceptual and artistic themes, commercial projects are not a "shortcut" creation method. On the contrary, the requirements for students will be more comprehensive, and it is more difficult to create works collection projects that are both artistic and commercial.

In the specific creation process, there are three key steps worthy of attention:

　　 1. Choice of inspiration

As we mentioned earlier, the theme of commercialization is often based on real market demand and sales. At this stage, designers in the industry need to bear many rules and regulations such as costs, profits, Party B's requirements, current trends, etc. when creating, which leads to the phenomenon of commodity homogenization in many fields.

Although there are many overlaps between the commercialization project of art works collection and the real commercial practice, there are still differences fundamentally. Students focus on the value of the project itself, and the design process is the top priority. Although the landing and market value of the works are one of the design elements, the presentation of the works does not need to be responsible for sales.

Therefore, students' creative inspiration and theme selection should not only come from the market but also take into account things outside the market, such as the focus of the major, the requirements of colleges and universities, the combination of new technologies, etc., and try to broaden the scope of their reference.

The purpose of our creation can be based on filling the gap in the market or improving the user experience. In short, the source of inspiration for commercial projects can be "popular" but must be valuable and breakthrough.

　　 2. Market research and analysis

No matter which theme you choose, the research on the creation of works of art is an essential key. However, compared with other theme types, the research phase of the commercialization project of works of art collection should focus on two key points. The first is landing, that is to say, before creating, we should fully consider any objective factors that may affect landing. For example, for the creation of functional clothing, we should consider the needs of target users; It is also necessary to investigate the current situation of the market, the positioning of real/virtual brands, the selection of materials and other detailed factors. In this process, it is necessary to constantly enrich the inspiration and materials for creation until the most accurate design style and positioning are derived. The second is forward-looking. For creative projects with other themes, only the current status and background need to be investigated and analyzed. But for commercial works of art, our creation is placed in the future market to test, so we should take the initiative to "predict the future" during the research process, and gain insight into the development prospects and trends of the industry.

This is particularly evident in industrial product design and architectural space design, Art study abroad Students can analyze and sort out the current market demand and industry pain points through detailed research on users and scenarios, and find out the focus and purpose of their own design.

　　 3. Integration of creative points

The most difficult thing for the commercialization of art works collection is "getting rid of vulgarity", that is, how to increase the artistic appeal of works. An excellent commercial project must not only have commercial value, but also include artistic value. How to improve the depth of the project requires us to consider how to integrate creative points into the creation process based on the research results.

For project themes of sales type, the choice of design perspective is also relatively limited, such as commercial graphic design, website revision, clothing design of a brand, etc. Our innovation focus on such projects can be the combination of appearance design and creation concept, and we can deeply explore the prediction of trends in the research results, While improving the aesthetic degree, it also gives the works a deeper design concept.

Secondly, for functional projects, such as community cultural transformation, functional clothing design, product design, etc., we can combine the choice of innovation points to be more extensive. The use of environmentally friendly materials, interdisciplinary attempts, form innovation, etc., we can explore and experiment in a variety of ways, and students can freely spread according to their own advantages.

Is the commercialization of art works a disadvantage or a trend? The creation of commercial collection of works requires every student to take into account the rules and personality. In addition to being good at finding problems, we need to find solutions and complete the design in different ways, so as to show multi-dimensional comprehensive strength to colleges and admissions officers. No matter which country's college or major students choose, commercial portfolio projects are the direction we can focus on. The essence of design is to serve the mass market. It is also a predictive learning method to test their creative ability with market standards.

Finally, we also need to remind you that commercial projects, although good, should not be the whole collection. We should consciously adjust the proportion of projects with different styles and themes according to the requirements of colleges and universities, show our abilities in all aspects as comprehensively as possible, and present a portfolio of works with perfect configuration!

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