By Claudia Sunday
A space for clay, ideas and curiosity... and FRIENDS. An ongoing exploration of what happens when the tactile world of ceramics meets the way I think as a UX designer. Making, experimenting, connecting dots — and having fun along the way.
"Seramics" is inspired by the Catalan expression "ser amics," that means "becoming friends," which resonates with the phonetics of ceramics.
A few glimpses behind the scenes, straight from Instagram.
Using the Design Thinking methodology, I will embark on a creative journey to explore how ceramics can embody the principles of user-centered design while fostering meaningful interactions.
I started by conducting research and observing my friends as users, through interviews, shadowing, and other methods. My objective is to uncover their needs, preferences, and emotional connections to both ceramics and digital experiences.
Attitudinal questions explore how participants perceive themselves — like defining their personality in a few words, or choosing an onomatopoeia that represents them. Behavioral questions focus on their actions and experiences — what's the first thing they notice when they touch a ceramic object, how they usually interact with an object in their space. Recognizing that attitudinal questions may carry subjective bias, I carefully analyzed the responses and compared them with behavioral observations to build a balanced understanding.
By synthesizing the data collected, I identified patterns and articulated key insights. These helped define the opportunity for designing a ceramic piece that reflects the principles of UX.
Armed with insights, I brainstormed creative ideas. This stage explored various ways ceramics can visually, tactually, and emotionally embody the user-centered aspects of UX.
From the ideas, I created initial sketches and prototypes of the ceramic piece. These prototypes may be rough, but they help explore different possibilities and design directions.
After finalizing the design, I crafted the ceramic piece — shaping the clay, adding thoughtful details, painting it with colors inspired by UX/UI design principles, and finally firing it in the kiln to bring the piece to life.
I gave the completed piece to the person it was designed for. Observing their interaction with the ceramic object and gathering feedback revealed how well the piece connects with them, both emotionally and functionally.
