Do you know what your favorite artistic style is? Is it abstract, contemporary, retro, art nouveau, expressionism, folk art, romanticism, realism, naive, cartoon, or surrealism? And this is only the beginning; the list of artistic styles seems to be endless. Which style do you prefer? Why is it important to know?

Everyone may know their favorite style of art on a subconscious level, but this may not be enough. It's good to know what your favorite artistic style is, because we are faced with design choices everyday. We make design decisions every time we style our hair or purchase clothing. Design decisions don't end there, from home décor to the cars we drive; we choose our favorite artistic styles.

Knowledge about art and design helps us make everyday design decisions. For instance, retro and folk art are not necessarily complementary to each other and should not be used together. The same holds true for contemporary designs vs. Victorian designs—they look great when they are displayed independently of each other; but again, they don’t work well together. How can we raise our awareness towards design styles? Art appreciation classes help; but for many, this is a bit dry and takes too long. An excellent way to learn more about artistic styles is to concentrate on learning one style at a time (which is easy to do on the Internet).

If you pause for a moment and look around the room you are sitting in, take a closer look at the wall hangings, furniture, and accent pieces. When watching a movie, look at the movie as a critic and see if the setting, clothing, cars, and storyline match as a unit. When looking at a painting, critically look at the frame, does it match the style of the painting? Does the painting match the room it is in? Try to breakdown the separate components and see if everything fits together as a unit. If you don't know, start with the Internet and key-in "artistic styles" or "surrealism" (or similar words) into a search engine and start exploring.

Another way to go about finding or identifying your favorite design style would be to tear out images in magazines and save them in a folder or binder. After awhile, you will see an artistic pattern emerge, and it should become clear as to what you prefer. Once you discover what you love the most, try to identify the style. While you are at it, look to see what colors appeal to you the most. It might not be a certain style that immerges, but a particular color may be the common thread. If your favorite color is more prevalent than your favorite artistic style, you are already narrowing down what appeals to you the most. Try the process again by collecting another set of favorite images with your new raised awareness for color. This process should make designing a bit easier and give you a better understanding for what you love the most. Getting acquainted with the different artistic styles is an interesting and rewarding journey. (revised 2/16/2006)