Design Fails So Bad We Have To Show Them Off
Designing products isn't as easy as it might seem. After all, it's no easy task to make something intuitive, functional, and cost-effective.
That said, good design is all around us, so it isn't impossible. When we see terrible design, it tends to stick out like a sore thumb. Here are some of the most abysmal designs we've been able to find.
"I don't know the difference"
Elevator button panels are notoriously confusing, with every individual elevator seemingly having its own quirks.
The question here is this: do you want to go to the P4 that's next to P5, or the P4 that's under P5? Choose wisely.
"They may not be required...but are they allowed?"
Here's a weird twist. We're used to seeing establishments that requires shoes and a shirt, or ones that don't allow pets.
It's nice to know that this place bucks the trend and goes against the grain, but what even prompted this sign in the first place?
"Only one toilet with a door in woman’s restroom"
It's easy to look at this negatively. I mean, there's a toilet fully out in the open in a public restroom.
Then again, taking a more optimistic view, two toilets is better than one - even if one is weirdly unguarded.
"This local bank's logo looks like it reads "'in debt'"
Banks and debt go together like peanut butter and jelly, but this is hardly a thing that most financial institutions would want to advertise.
In fact, it's hard to know how to pronounce this bank's name without basically saying, "in debt."
"Crappy illegible welcome mat"
This welcome mat ambitiously implies that it welcomes all the people of the world, a friendly message indeed.
It also has a message written on the bottom, but thanks to the terrible color choice, we'll never know what that message is.
"A magnet that covers oven LED panel that is made of glass"
To give this place credit, they recognized the blindingly bright LED panel and tried to do something about it.
But on the other hand, they made up a magnet to attach to glass. If they'd been following along, they'd realize that glass isn't magnetic.
"Cream of the ...?"
There's a bit of a double fail on display here. First off, the "of the" text is far too small to read at a distance.
Of course, the bigger elephant in the room is that it doesn't exactly look like the last word here is "crop."
"Keurig made coffee machines impossible to clean properly"
Keurig machines are incredibly convenient little gadgets, but their build quality and overall design often leaves a lot to be desired.
Here's a look inside one such machine. It's almost like it was designed to be fully replaced rather than serviced.
"This spoon holder conversion chart says one quart equals 45 liters, and most of the smaller measurements are wrong too"
The person who posted this freely acknowledges that they didn't double-check to see if the conversions are correct, but can you really blame them?
These are such well-established and known numbers that it boggles the mind that this chart would be so wrong.
"Schrodinger's stovetop light looks both OFF and ON"
Is this stove on or off? Thanks to terrible design of its display panel, you'll never really know for sure.
It would certainly be nice to know, because ovens and stoves are things that you really want some certainty about.
"Upside down elevator legend"
Imagine ordering a bunch of wayfinding signs for a building as critical as a hospital, only to find that they're fully upside-down.
To give credit to this hospital, they did make a few annotations, but things are still very confusing.
"My new Zenbook 14 gets discolored each time you touch it even if your hands are clean"
Modern tech features all sorts of weird materials and finishes, all of it seemingly designed to extract your fingerprints.
It's nice to have a new laptop and all, but it's a bit frustrating when it acts as a showcase for your oily fingertips.
"An arrow pointing exactly to where you cannot go"
This sign is a great example of clear messaging. There's a straightforward message along with a clear arrow that nobody can miss.
Of course, it begs the question of why a sign directing people toward a non-entrance is necessary in the first place.
"They could have made it so simple"
Here we go with another confounding elevator panel. There are only four floors here, so things should be straightforward - but they're really not.
Why are the 100-level suites on floor two? Why does floor four have the 300-level suites? Only the designer knows.
"Accessibility room up a stair"
Stairs and steps are unavoidable to an extent, so it stands to reason that accessible spaces need to replace them with ramps.
Here's a perfectly normal doorway - normal, except for the fact that it's explicitly supposed to be an accessible entrance.
"I think we could have arranged these words a bit better"
When you're setting up a sign with multiple, separate letters and words, it can be tough to get the message across.
Sure, "Sweeter you with" is a bit weird, but at least it doesn't spell out a swear word or something.
"Welcome to LSNIGNETO"
Again, sometimes putting letters in the right order is harder than it seems.
Unlike the last sign, though, it's almost impossible to figure out what this sign is even trying to communicate.
"Both arrows are pointing away from viewer"
It's helpful when a sign includes a visual aid or pictogram to add to its meaning, and that's what we can see here.
Of course, said visual aid needs to actually be useful, not just a flipped version of the opposite meaning.
"This looks unappetizing"
Everyone has their favorite hole-in-the-wall pizza joint, the place with dirty floors but delicious 'za.
That's what this place appears to be, but the visual of a mouth seemingly vomiting up a slice of pizza is a little bit off-putting.
"Only adults under 18 can enter this zone"
For a multitude of reasons, a lot of public spaces are age-restricted in one way or another - keeping kids out of adult spaces, and vice versa.
This sign seems to communicating something along those lines, but it shows more contradictions than clear instructions.
"Found the carpeted sauna again"
There's a good reason saunas are made of steam-resistant cedar wood - and to be fair, this sauna is mostly composed of this.
However, the carpeted floor is downright horrifying. Just imagine the squish-squish-squish sound of walking on that soggy carpet.
"Perfectly camouflaged door stopper to stub your toes"
Door stoppers are elegant in their simplicity - just a basic piece of metal designed to keep doors from damaging walls.
Of course, there's a wrong way to do just about everything, and this stopper is placed in the worst possible spot.
"Lettering on Matthew McConaughey's Walk of Fame star is so awkward"
Hollywood's Walk of Fame conjures of images of glitz and glamor, but a closer look shows some decidedly janky-looking stars.
This star gets the point across decently, but the lettering is weirdly bold (and also weirdly not-bold) with strange alignment.
"No smoking alcohol"
A lot of areas don't allow smoking or alcohol, this is well understood - and there are plenty of basic signs to indicate this.
This place seemingly allows both smoking and alcohol, but smoking alcohol - whatever that entails - is strictly prohibited.
"We need to decorate this toilet for the disabled"
Public washrooms, accessible or not, don't really need decorations in the first place - but a little visual flair is always fun.
Of course, this accessible washroom has a theme that feels more than a little bit insensitive.
"Good luck blind people!"
Those lines on the pavement are a helpful aid to people with visual impairments, as it provides a tactile path for them to follow.
That tactile path, though, would be a lot more helpful if it wasn't interrupted by a shin-busting concrete bench.
"Toyota Proace does not have its drivers seat centered to the steering wheel and dashboard."
Symmetry is important when it comes to design, and cars tend to be aggressively symmetrical.
It's hard to know if this is a mistake or intentional, but this Toyota is juuuust asymmetrical enough to be visually infuriating.
"Braille on a metal sheet in the burning hot Greek sun"
People with visual impairments read through touch, and this sign does helpfully provide a Braille version.
Maybe the designers should have made it with a less heat-conductive surface, or put it in the shade, because this looks like a finger-burner.
"Well, my night was almost ruined"
Vitamin and supplement companies often theme their various products using a consistent visual identity, which makes sense.
But when some products are benign and others are...aggressive...it might be a good idea to add something to differentiate them.
"A nightstand overlapping with the bed to break your face while sleeping"
It looks like space is tight here, so it was probably a challenge to fit everything in - and maybe the nightstand was just a little too big.
Restless sleepers might want to wrap the nightstand in bubble wrap or something, lest they wake up in the morning with a facial injury.
"Great to know that both genders can use this elevator"
We've seen plenty of restrooms that are all-gender, and this is often communicated with a sign similar to this one.
However, this is the first example we've seen of an elevator that makes this distinction.
"What did the icon mean? Itself, duh!"
This little guide looks like it'll be helpful, and the pictogram means that people who speak any language can follow along.
On the other hand, a closer look shows that this explains exactly nothing.
"A sign that looks like it says 'follow someone home'"
If you squint, you can see that this sign reads "Follow traffic rules, someone is waiting at home for you."
But thanks to the small lettering on certain words, the overriding message - particularly when driving past at speed - is an endorsement of stalking.
"Slow mind, that child"
It's a good idea for ice cream trucks to be mindful - and remind others to be mindful - of kids in the area.
We think that's all that's going on here, but it also kind of seems like this truck has some harsh judgment of one particular child.
"Reading this may trigger a headache"
Graphic designers understand that text needs to be legible, and placing text against a wavy, intricate background makes it illegible.
With this in mind, it's pretty clear that a graphic designer had nothing to do with the design of this label.
"Make one wrong turn, designed to rupture"
Sometimes gas mains need to occupy an inconvenient position, and there's no real possibility of re-routing them.
Of course, these situations are easily remedied with some sturdy bollards to prevent accidental collisions - except for this instance.
"Pop & Corn Movies"
Sometimes a sign is just trying a little too hard. Communicating that a movie will be playing, and popcorn will be available, is not especially complicated.
Someone went a little too hard with the graphic design here, and the end result is a truly baffling sign.
"Bicycle stairway ruined by a bridge overhang"
Bike infrastructure is always a good thing in urbanized areas, but this often collides head-on with vehicular infrastructure.
Here's a perfect example. Cyclists can use this handy stairway/ramp combo to walk their bikes uphill - until the bridge ruins everything.
"to Our Home elcWme in our AirBnB this summer"
The 2010s trend of "live, laugh, love"-type home decor is mercifully mostly over at this point, but remnants still remain.
Maybe a big part of the reason this stuff fell out of favor is because the end result of these signs often became a cryptic visual mess.
"Someone should probably have a whisper in StenLock's marketing department's ear"
We cast no aspersions on the quality of Stenlock's products, which seem like they work just fine.
Then again, is the brand name really Stenlock? It kinda-sorta looks like it might say something different.
"The size and background of these instructions - Thanks Tefal"
Pots and pans can have wildly different requirements when it comes to washing, so it's always worth checking the instructions after purchasing.
This pot or pan clearly has quite a few specific instructions, but they're practically illegible.
"Nothing left? So Goon!"
When signs are jumbled up to mess up the message, it's usually possible to understand what they were trying to say.
Here, though, it's impossible to say. It's hard not to be highly skeptical of this sign's supposed instructions.
"NOT a single-occupant bathroom"
Space is often at a premium in public restrooms, and urinals often sit uncomfortably close to sinks and other fixtures.
That said, could they have not put up some kind of a divider here?
"Flimsy clear lid goes inside to stop markers falling out of fip-open lid"
This gigantic box of markers looks like it would be a pain to clean up if it was turned upside-down and all the contents fell out.
With this in mind, it's going to need a sturdy lid - which it doesn't have, naturally.
"Toilet with a view"
The best part of this image isn't the fact that onlookers can see directly into the washroom.
No, the best part is that this is just one floor of a high-rise, meaning every single window on this side features a toilet with a view.
"Centinela Feed and LIES"
Centinela Feed and Supplies wants you to know that they've been family owned for 40 years. Fair enough, right?
Perhaps they should have added that family-owned amendment in a different way, based on the finished product of this logo.
"Argentina's color is the same as In Contest"
This little circular graph aims to show percentages. Argentina's possessed the ball 57 percent of the time, Cape Verde's had it 36 percent of the time, and seven percent of the time, the ball has been contested.
It would be very helpful if the graphics department didn't make two of these sections the exact same color.
"They advertise as being specifically designed for children; Somehow, I have my doubts."
If you want to make a design kid-friendly, it shouldn't be too hard - just make it look approachable and safe.
Putting what appears to be a killer clown with a Glasgow smile over a red and yellow danger graphic is certainly a choice.
"Highly accessible sink I found in a Japanese restroom"
This washroom can proudly boast that it possesses two sinks (why would a washroom boast? Stick with us here...).
One of the sinks is borderline impossible to use, but two is better than one.
"Perforation fail! Never seen one of these that actually works."
We close with an iconic example of terrible design: those perforated corners on boxes of pasta and rice, which never ever work.
After all of these years, with no progress in this area, we can only conclude that science will never fix this issue.
Dan Gray
