Embracing the Ordinary Through Super Normal Design

What have you used hundreds of times without ever noticing it? The pen on your desk, the chair you’re sitting in, the handle on your kettle. They’re not designed to grab your attention—they’re designed to work. Flawlessly, invisibly. This is the ethos behind super normal design, a term coined by Jasper Morrison and Naoto Fukasawa in a 2006 exhibition of 204 ordinary objects. The pieces weren’t flashy or conceptual. They were things you’d find in your grandmother’s kitchen drawer or a convenience store shelf—chosen not for novelty, but for their enduring, near-perfect functionality. The point wasn’t to admire them, but to recognize them. To realize you already knew them intimately.

Super normal design values the unchanging. It respects the kinds of forms that evolve not from brainstorming sessions or moodboards, but from decades of use. Morrison and Fukasawa didn’t claim to create these objects—they curated them. And their shared thesis was quiet but radical: good design doesn’t scream. It harmonizes with human behavior so naturally it becomes invisible. In an industry obsessed with differentiation, super normal is a call to humility. To restraint. To studying the objects and interfaces that already work astonishingly well—and understanding why.

1. Super Normal UX Design

   In this insightful article on “Super Normal UX Design,” Thomas Schinabeck explores how true simplicity in design isn’t about minimalism but about creating experiences that feel familiar yet superior—designs that harmonize with users’ natural workflows and mental models. Using the example of the Mailbox app, he demonstrates how “super normal” digital products maintain comfortable familiarity while subtly enhancing functionality, creating interfaces that feel timeless and intuitive because they’re built on deep understanding of user behavior and context.

2. Why Some Designs Are Impossible to Improve: Quintessence

   Certain designs achieve “quintessential” status not just through quality, but through scale, simplified manufacturing processes, legal protections, and their ability to become culturally indispensable. The most enduring designs, from paperclips to smartphones, tap into an emotional resonance beyond mere functionality—an almost magical “fifth element” that transforms ordinary objects into classics we can’t imagine living without.

3. Jasper Morrison on Designing from Personal Experience

   Jasper Morrison walks through decades of his own work to make a simple argument: the best objects are often the least noticeable. He highlights how anonymous, utilitarian designs—those that exist to serve, not to seduce—offer the most lasting value. Rather than chasing novelty, Morrison urges designers to question their motives and find true functional beauty.

4. The Definition of Good Design by Naoto Fukasawa

   In this interview with Naoto, he discusses his design philosophy, emphasizing observation of human behavior and creating products that harmonize with natural interactions rather than drawing attention to themselves. Fukasawa explains that good design is about creating harmony between people and objects—designs that become so intuitive that people unconsciously choose them over other options, which represents the true definition of good design.

5. Super Normal: Sensations of the Ordinary

   Browse through images from the original Super Normal exhibition curated by Fukasawa and Morrison. Study the everyday objects that exemplify their philosophy—items that don’t announce their design credentials but simply do their jobs exceptionally well.

In a world obsessed with novelty and disruption, supernormal design asks us to slow down and appreciate what already works. It challenges us to design not for immediate impact, but for enduring usefulness—to create things that might never be consciously noticed but would be deeply missed if they disappeared.