Academic art advocates would be the first to acknowledge that art extends beyond fad. This sense of transcendent intent seems to run through significant art from one time period to the other. The artistic impetus demonstrates an ability to reach beyond today, beyond today's values, beyond today's experience. Notions of ideal content come and go, but the drive and vision of the artist seem to be consistent. The process of creating art remains constant.
Technical considerations come and go.
The artistic intention of making a piece that lives on, powered by its own energy, seems to typify much of what we perceive as art. This is probably one of the reasons why art doesn't always make for good graphic design. Graphic design is intentionally temporal. There is a certain spiritual nature to any artistic effort that attempts to be transcendent, that attempts to realize ideas, feelings or experience that goes beyond our immediate understanding. This assertion doesn't infer some kind of new age cosmic consciousness.