The inverse value of UX and Art
A top-down perspective for art, also known as limited editions, and a bottom-up perspective for UX, also known as utility design
Congratulations, Refik Anadol!
You made it to the MoMA art acquisition, being immortalized in the hall of fame among many great artists and designers.
Being in MoMA is no easy feat.
It would have taken years to develop a reputation for yourself.
Following that, you must be included in a number of galleries, exhibitions, and private collections before a curator takes notice of your work.
And even that is a rare ordeal, as you are competing for attention against many other artists in similar fields.
Fortunately for you, the ChatGPT explosion came months after your MoMA piece went sensational.
Visiting MoMA is like a pilgrimage for many creatives.
Located in New York, it has housed one of the largest and most influential collections of many genres.
In the department of architecture and design alone, there are over 28,000 works, including architectural models, photographs, and drawings. Industrial design, appliances, automotives, furniture, and even graphic design.
Except there isn't any user experience (UX), visual, or product design.
You know, the kind of design that we often use for websites or smartphones.
One could rationalize that there are UX elements in the following manners:
Firstly, there are some digital collections. Out of the 102,000 accessible works in the entire 200,000 collection, only 87 of them are classified as software, with around 20 of them being video games.
Then, there are also personal computing devices, such as the iPod, the Compass portable computer, and the IBM ThinkPad.
Perhaps the best representation would be the sugar interface for the XO laptop, which suffered from a murky history even with the best designers in the team.
So, the lack of UX in a museum's collection is evident, and it's not just MoMA.
Other top design museums, such as the London Design Museum, Cooper Hewitt, and the Smithsonian Design Museum, do not feature UX in their collections.
Ironically, UX is present in these museums as an active digital tool for their websites and mobile apps. While a design gets its highest praise for its usage, it doesn't make it into museum collections.
Why is that the case?
Why aren't some designs celebrated as a key part of design history while others are simply ignored?
As it turns out, the idea of a museum comes from the cabinets of curiosity of collectors. They can either come from wealthy individuals who may hire explorers or are the explorers themselves, or from nations that showcase their spoils from conquest.
Sometimes, these individuals are celebrated and recognized for their inventions and achievements, such as Anadol.
Often, it is the pride of the museum to possess a rare item that is a one-off. This is why some paintings could fetch millions of dollars. There is a sense of prestige, rarity, and social status when a collection is on display.
Let's call this kind of design: limited editions.
Contrast this with utility design, such as ux or service design, and a mismatch in perception between the two designs becomes very apparent.
This is because no one in the right frame of mind will pay millions of dollars for a UX digital asset, let alone a flow.
Instead, they expect UX to be free, usable, and fulfill their needs. That is a rather utilitarian approach to design, yet befitting of its intended purpose.
In other words, design works with very different models.
- Limited editions, like Anadol, charge a high price in very low quantities. Utility design, like UX, uses an inverse strategy of affordable pricing but is sold in huge quantities.
- When played out on a value-time graph, the results are equally intriguing.
Let's assume that both forms of design are able to actualize the same value.
For utility design, their value comes immediately but dissipates drastically as time progresses. All it takes is a new version, a refresh, or a substitute to replace the current design.
Limited editions, however, may start with nothing. After all, they are obscure, hidden from plain sight. But as time progresses, value starts to creep up until it skyrockets. - Utility design is fast. New changes are made over fixed time cycles. Limited editions take time, sometimes even years.
- Sometimes, utility designs may even launch as a scrappy version of their final selves. Sometimes, a limited edition may require perfection. This means discarding and redoing until the designer delivers what they deem a masterpiece.
- Utility design originates from a market pull based on a user's problem that needs to be solved. Limited editions trigger a push, stimulating a demand that leads to desire.
As a designer, rather than take sides with one extreme, it will still be better to work with the tensions of two worlds.
Like waves, design ebbs and flows, and so too should the designer respond.
Can utility design become a limited edition? Can a limited edition be seen as utility?
Why not? Isn't that what NFTs do for art, and what does art do for NFTs? Consider how authenticity is made accessible between the buyer and the seller, revealing the blend of both worlds coming together.
Ask yourself why you design.
If you are seeking novelty, pursue limited editions. If you are seeking improvements in people's lives, pursue utility design.
And every once in a while, draw strength and conflict from the other side.
Unfortunately for us, the ChatGPT explosion will dull the designer's senses.
And that will be a common ordeal as you are competing for attention against AI and designers in similar fields.
Before AI, judging panels, or senior management take notice of your work, it would take years to develop a reputation to design for others.
Being a UX designer is no easy feat.
You will make it to the hands of many great people, and they will say,
“Congratulations, UX designer!”
For further reading:
- Desk, News. “MOMA ACQUIRES REFIK ANADOL’S AI-POWERED UNSUPERVISED.” Artforum, 11 Oct. 2023, www.artforum.com/news/moma-acquires-refik-anadols-unsupervised-517497/. Accessed 18 Oct. 2023.
- Glen, Stephanie. “NFTs Explained in Two Pictures: The Good, the Bad … And the Ugly — DataScienceCentral.com.” Data Science Central, 16 May 2021, www.datasciencecentral.com/nfts-explained-in-two-pictures/.
- Lubar, Steven. “Cabinets of Curiosity.” Medium, 9 Sept. 2019, lubar.medium.com/cabinets-of-curiosity-a134f65c115a.
- Sennheiser. “The Museum of Modern Art Uses Sennheiser MobileConnect to Deliver an Inclusive Listening Experience.” Sennheiser.com, 10 July 2023, en-us.sennheiser.com/newsroom/the-museum-of-modern-art-uses-sennheiser-mobileconnect-to-deliver-an-inclusive-listening-experience. Accessed 18 Oct. 2023.
