Blog Review: DesignCollector “The next digital decade of inspiration”

Becky Chakkalo

http://designcollector.net/

Designcollector is a website that was created in 2003 by Arseny Vesnin, a blogger, speaker and curator. Its main goal is to act as a platform for new artists to showcase their talent and creativity in hopes to inspire other artists. Art is submitted by thousands of individuals onto this site. Designcollector is literally a collection of  contemporary art.  It can be found on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, and Soundcloud. Its main content is digital art- it consists of a “Visual Overdose Platform” which features photography, painting, gifs, psychedelic art and other types of visual art. There is also “Motioncollector” and “Musiccollector” which display new video and music creative motion.

I examined the “Visual Overdose Platform” because I am particularly interested in the visual arts. The website itself is extremely simplistic and plain- black words on a white background, each piece of art is shown in the same size rectangle with its title written underneath. Upon clicking on an artwork you will be directed to a small blurb explaining that piece of art and more art by that artist.  Everything is shown in the same exact way. I believe this is done to direct focus onto the art itself rather than the design of the website. Between the design of the site and the posts themselves, the blog has an extremely modern feel to it. This is done intentionally- the site claims to be “the next digital decade of inspiration,” its goal is to collect and curate new and modern art by young artists all over the world.

Anyone has the ability to submit their art and projects onto Designcollector, however, the artwork is curated by Vesnin, the creator of the site. This is done hourly, so there are constantly new things to look at and projects to see. The art is timestamped so the viewer really gets to see the flow of art on the site. I find it so fascinating to see how many different items are posted and how frequently posts are submitted to the site.

Designcollector has a huge audience. Its accounts on social networks have thousands of followers and each and every post has hundreds of likes. However what I find extremely interesting is that there are barely any comments on the posts. I believe this is the downfall of the site. Due to the simplicity of the site, there is no discussion. Photos are simply posted and left up to the viewer to like, dislike, or interpret. The explanations or blurbs on the images are only a few sentences long, written by the curator, and just don’t generate discussion. They describe the artist, where he or she is from, and a little bit about the art. I think that the artists should have the opportunity to elaborate on their art by submitting text that explains the piece or what it is supposed to convey. The site lacks the journalistic aspect that most blogs have, therefore there is less room for opinions and discussion! While the site puts the art in the context of new and contemporary work, there is a lack of context for the artworks as individuals. Designcollector definitely brings people together in a sense. There is such a wide variety of people on the site. However, the audience lacks the feeling of togetherness. I have no idea what opinions other viewers have of the art and if they differ or are similar to mine, and I believe that is the true beauty of a blog- collaborating with strangers and getting to know people. While Designcollector is a great blog for new artists and for those interested in viewing art outside of the museum setting, it could use more personalization so that viewers can better relate to the art, artist, and curator.