[achughes]

Thats the point. Design is all about unlimited perfectionism according to some imagined idea... and its also the reason that most artists and designers are broke. The pursuit has little to do with the rationality of time management and efficiency, rather, design is about pursuing an idea of perfection that cannot be achieved.

[malachismith]

You are confusing art with design (formerly known, perhaps more accurately, as commercial art). If you are creating "unlimited idealistic perfection" you are creating art. If you are selling soap it's design.

[achughes]

While soap may not bring about intense discussions about its design, and one might say that it is less designed than the UI of the app the article talked about, the ideals that art and design revolve around are wholly intertwined. Art and design talk about things that would seem ridiculous and esoteric from an engineering standpoint (thus the primary argument of the article that none of the changes made any difference to the usefulness of the app). These are things that hold little value outside of the face that they communicate the purpose and intent of the app or button better than a different size or proportion. There is a reason that design schools have such a close relationship with the art community, while designers don't always maker art, and a bar of soap may not seem to be art at all, disconnected from its purpose, the design of a simple bar of soap can be put in a gallery and be viewed as art. (see the toilet that started the Dada art movement).

Design is not art in and of itself, but you can't talk about one, without talking about the other.