Designers are hard to buy for because they can tell, almost instantly, whether something was actually designed or just assembled in five minutes. Hand one of them a bad pun on cheap fabric and you get a polite “thanks.” Hand them something someone clearly put real thought into, and you get an actual reaction.
That’s not a personality quirk. It’s the job. Noticing whether something works is what designers do all day, and that instinct doesn’t switch off when they’re opening a present.