Per què sóc així? — The importance of everyday design at the Centre del Carme

This thermodynamically efficient tea set design, located at the front entrance of the exhibition, took a series of iteration in order to design. It’s surprising how little attention we pay to designs that work so well.

Why am I like this?

This is the question that the design exhibition, Per què soc així?, showcased in the Centre del Carme de Cultura Contemporània, invites us to ask ourselves. Curated by Juli Capella, a Catalan architect who specializes in exhibitions in industrial design, the collection brought together a selection of objects that are integral to our everyday lives: a paper clip, a pair of flip flops, a coffee cup, inviting us to reflect on the importance of everyday design and question, “why am I like this?”

Each of the exhibitions had tables full of eclectic everyday objects on display, which visitors could and examine while looking at the paper prototypes that were used to design these objects.

The exhibition included an eclectic collection of industrial products that have been designed by humans for humans, with the intention of fulfilling some fundamental need to improve the user experience of accomplishing a task.

The collection included a range of products, such as products with poor UX (the classic spife, for example, which is composed of a spoon and a knife attached to the same utensil), to innovations that have become integral to the everyday lives of billions of humans.

Objects that are invisible in our everyday lives, from the pen to the lemon juicer to the cane-chair, are put on display alongside low fidelity sketches of the design process that the object underwent as it was being created.

Displayed one after another on long tables, the mundanity of the everyday objects juxtaposes with the industrial environment in the museum setting.

With that said, how does this exhibition relate to UX Design?

The goal of UX design in business is to “improve customer satisfaction and loyalty through the utility, ease of use, and pleasure provided in the interaction with a product.”

In other words, UX design is the process of designing (digital or physical) products that are useful, easy to use, and delightful to interact with. It’s about enhancing the experience that people have while interacting with your product, and making sure they find value in what you’re providing. Whether those products are an app or a new shoe design, it is easy to focus on the aesthetics of the design, which is important, but the end goal is to make the integration of the product as invisible as possible into the actions of everyday people.

The cane chair: a ludicrous idea to some, an indispensable tool for those with mobility issues.

In this exhibition, as we take the time to consider the innovation, iteration, and experimentation that took place to perfect these products, we give our intentional focus to the seemingly invisible time and iteration that went into making these everyday products.

When design is done well, objects often become invisible when it fulfills its function. We do not notice a well designed pen as we are writing, but the moment the pen runs out of ink or is uncomfortable in one’s hand, our attention is immediately drawn to our poor experience, and therefore the poor design.

The exhibition elevates different examples of these designs, in the first person, as well as why they are as they are and who made them so.

The final room of everyday objects that a visitor encounters before exiting the exhibition.

Good and bad design is everywhere, whether in a Valencian museum exhibition or inside one’s home. I personally loved this exhibition since it was able to bring the UX mindset to an accessible level to the general public, allowing people to think critically about the level of thought and ingenuity that went into the design of everyday products. While not every product may be made for everyone, it places people in the mindset that allows them to judge intuitively the utility of a number of products in their everyday lives.

Per què soc així? (Why am I like this?) has been produced by the Consorci de Museus de la Comunitat Valenciana together with World Design Capital València 2022.