Art vs. Commerce is a tedious subject, and ultimately the time talking about them as mutually exclusive opposites is better spent doing either one of the two. 

Yet Adrian Shaughnessy recently wrote: "Digital may be about to become the new design orthodoxy, but it is ironic that, at the same time, digital groups are demonstrating that it is also possible to create art-based projects that make the answer to the question, 'Can art be design?', an unqualified 'yes'. Well, at least a maybe."

So is there a middle way, can you still think like an artist when by definition you create work to sell a product, for a client and to a budget? And while there are plenty of clients who see beyond their immediate sales targets and know how to build their brand with a more artistic approach, the question remains: Does it actually work?

Looking at their successes and failures from the past 8 years, Hi-ReS! Creative Director Florian Schmitt and Nanika Founder Andreas Müller try to find some answers to this question. Or at least some more questions worth asking.

Hi-ReS! was founded in 1999 by Alexandra Jugovic and Florian Schmitt, both graduates of Hochschule für Gestaltung in Offenbach/Germany, after they moved to London.

With their original work rooted in graphic design, fine art, product design, film and music, they eventually decided to combine all these separate disciplines in one medium and started to experiment with Flash. Their first self-initiated online project, soulbath.com, garnered worldwide attention, culminating in a prominent piece in the New York Times, and led to commercial work. Their global client-base today includes Diesel, Nokia, ABC, SONY, Channel4, Warner Brothers, Playstation, Bacardi, MTV as well as artists such as Beck, Massive Attack and Goldfrapp.

Their first monograph 'Amantes sunt Amentes' is released in October 2007 by renowned German publisher Die Gestalten.

Nanika (Japanese for 'something (else)') was founded in 2005 by Florian Schmitt and Andreas Müller, who had been Rich Media Director at Hi-ReS! since 2000. Apart from Andreas' contributions to various award winning projects while at Hi-ReS!, in 2005 he was awarded the Tokyo Type Directors Club Grand Prix for his piece “For All Seasons”, the first, and so far only interactive piece to receive the Grand Prix.

Nanika was formed with the aim of exploring projects that allow interaction beyond the browser and beyond traditional input and output. Nanika recently completed interactive installations for the Sony-style shop in Omotesando, Tokyo, the Herman Miller showroom in Chicago, Channel 4's headquarters and NOKIA’s first flagship store in Moscow, New York, Chicago, Hong Kong and Helsinki and they continue to develop interactive content for NOKIA flagship stores all over the globe.