Design is not Vision
Ultimately there are three fundamental components that go into making the art object. The first two often trip people up by becoming idols on the path to true art.
I speak of Craft, Inspiration and Vision.
The first two go hand-in-hand as misguided venerations, but inevitably one always is a supreme idol to the savage artist who falls for this.
Craft is all that has to do with Form, Representation: mimesis, practice, design. All that is sensory. Obviously, this cannot be dispensed with because to create an art object is to create a sensory domain. It is as absurd to demonize Craft as it is to make it, or one of its constituent parts, a supreme idol.
Inspiration is the other most common false idol. It is valorized all over the place by people who believe “first thought best thought” in creating art or that the purpose of art is mainly to convey emotions. The products of Inspiration are not inherently false, but when Inspiration is relied upon to create the product, the ideas are woefully premature and undifferentiated at best, often leaning toward caricature or cliche. The supreme trust our culture has placed in “the unconscious” for over a hundred years now is a cult of inspiration. However, it too cannot be demonized as many have wanted. Because it is the fuel and furnace of art. The problem is only in trusting it as the guide.
Vision is the true guide of art. To put it simply, Vision is the totality of life as filtered through the artist. “Vision” is not an individual component as such nor even a blueprint exactly (which is more the function of Design, which is a component of Craft) but rather Vision is what I am trying to do in this piece: to anatomize life by its parts and enfold those parts back into a Unity.
As I hinted at in passing above, Design should not be taken as Vision. But doing so is a temptation that comes to you at an advanced stage on the path of thinking philosophically about art. Trusting in Design is a sin that comes when you are aiming toward Vision but believe you have to overly trust in logic to reach it. It is all about intent. And venerating the Design component of the Craft Mindset leads to art that is either Didactic in some form or else puzzle-art. This can be very pleasing. Actually it often is. But it is not full, total, Visionary art.
Ultimately all components must be used and cherished. But they are all guided and shrouded in Vision.