"Though the power of design may not always be easily measure, there are many steps that practitioners can undertake to ensure that they are making informed communication choices, rather than producing artifacts rooted solely in aesthetics."
During my 'art career' I have mainly been focused on the looks of a piece - if it has the right color palette, if it is trendy, pleasing to the eye, etc., until I picked up ceramics. There are many different ways of approaching ceramics - the most common one within in the art world being beautiful, traditional, and a masterful craft that ends in an upstanding art piece. Although the ceramic process is all of that, I gravitated towards a more practical side of it: functionality. Yes, I want my pieces to be beautiful and breath-taking, but I also want them to feel good in the owner's hands and serve its purpose to the best of its ability.
I think the same goes for design. There is this new wave of design that is so fabricated and curated that, to me, only serves little purpose and is simply there to look good. Which is not a bad thing! It is how art is intended to be. But, there is a new understanding that has opened up in the world of graphic design, the understanding that it serves a purpose. Graphic Design is used in marketing, research, contracting, and so many other areas that do not rely on the beautification of a design.
There is a really beautiful compromise to these two, and I think graphic design still being an art is really important to the narrative of it. This excerpt is focusing on research; how research can uphold and sustain design. Without the art narrative, that design functions, but what purpose does it serve without the artist's touch? I'm sure many would disagree, but I'm an artist, so obviously I am pretty biased.
I would hope that someone would chose a mug that is hand crafted and designed in a way that considers the user, over a manufactured mug that resides in every other family's home, but who am I to say.