Another perspective for you to consider coming from someone who works in product development in a completely different field. I don't have good skill in visual arts (I play a couple instruments though) but I personally consider good product design/engineering as a sort of art like thing. To me the distinction comes down to motive and passion. I recently saw someone contrast artists from performers where an artist is self motivated to create their art wheras a performer primarily seeks an audience adapting their "product" to maximize profit. A designer that's focused on making a product to solve people's problems is a good thing. People that make products solely for the purpose of extracting the most money out of customers are the problem. In my experience most people who have to work for a level living try to do good, even in demeaning clock punching type jobs.