"Design Ah! Experience the Wonder of Everyday Design" at M+ sidesteps the format of a standard exhibition. Rather than presenting design as a finished product, it explores how design shapes daily life in a city formed as much by improvisation as by planning. Chopsticks, bus signs, flip-flops and traffic lights are brought into focus, removed from their usual context. The tone is inquisitive rather than reverent – closer to a playground than a gallery.
The exhibition's starting point is everyday experience. Toothbrushes, umbrellas, cup noodles, transport signs and traffic signals appear in various guises, prompting visitors to consider how much design underpins routine actions such as walking, sitting, eating or simply waiting at a junction. Spread across 21 stations organized around 10 everyday actions, some given a distinctly Hong Kong twist, "Design Ah!" treats the city's visual clutter and food culture as raw material rather than as background noise. It shows how the same principles that shape a bowl of noodles or a tram stop can also structure larger systems.
The show is smart and informative, yet designed to be entertaining. Children are encouraged to actively engage with lines, shapes and functions, seeing a familiar item as a simple structure before recognizing it again. Adults are nudged to notice how typography, color and material choices frame ideas about order, safety and authority. A toothbrush, chopsticks and a traffic light, seen side by side, become an unspoken lesson in how design quietly instructs as well as informs. What gives the show its edge is its refusal to treat design as something separate from daily life, instead drawing attention to how much of it usually goes unnoticed. Adapted from the award-winning Japanese exhibition "Design Ah! Exhibition neo" and NHK's children's program Design Ah!, the M+ edition is co-produced with NHK Education Corporation, NHK Promotions Inc and Tokyo Node, and is the project's first presentation outside of Japan.
The emphasis rests on systems and relationships: how familiar objects such as signage, transport cards, seating and packaging intersect in ordinary life. It's thoughtful but ultimately makes for a genuinely enjoyable and entertaining family day out. The exhibition runs until January 2027.
Bernard Charnwut Chan is the chairman of the West Kowloon Cultural District
