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Whether you're a freelancer or in-house designer, chances are, you've experienced quite the amount of annoying situations on the job. After all, working in a fast-paced environment, dealing with unreasonable clients and ridiculous demands can be challenging. But even when these struggles seem overwhelming, it's always good to lift our spirits by poking fun at them and letting out a few genuine laughs.

Enter the Really Bad Design Memes Instagram account, dedicated to sharing hilarious pics about what being a User Experience (UX) designer is all about. Self-naming themselves as "The Cleveland Browns of meme pages," the creators ask you not to take your job too seriously and offer you a variety of jokes to ease everyday stress.

So get ready to dive into the best and most hilarious posts we have collected from the account. Upvote the ones that cracked you up, and let us know what you think about them in the comments below!

#1

Look We’re Not Going To Give You Insurance But You Also Better Go To The Doctor We Don’t Pay You Enough To Afford For A Note To Give You Permission To Be Sick. What A Great System! #healthcare #healthinsuranceagent #minimumwage #doctor #doctorsvisit #officeculture #worklifebalance #qualityoflife

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Neo Spence
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

This has always bothered me because I'm already not getting paid when I'm sick, and now you want me to pay for a doctor's appointment, and not only that, but a last minute one? That means immediate care, which means an even bigger bill. You want a note? Pay for it.

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#2

Who Here Is Tired Of The Never Ending Apply, Interview, Get Rejected, Job Hunting Process? Oh Where Have I Been? I’ve Been Moving And Let Me Tell You… It Sucks! I Don’t Ever Want To Move Again. I For Sure Won’t Ever Move My Own Stuff Again If I Can Help It. Screw That! Anyway We Back!!

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Raven Sheridan
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

That actually sounds like a great premise twist on a reality TV show. A hidden cam show about how long someone can pose as an employee before getting caught.

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#3

This.

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CLG
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Cons: fewer spontaneous outings because every outing now requires the "effort" of going out.

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To find out more about the struggles of this profession and how bad design can lead to unfortunate results, we managed to get in touch with Jonathan Shariat, a designer with more than 10 years of experience in the field and co-author of Tragic Design: The Impact of Bad Product Design and How to Fix It.

He told us that when a design "harms people physically, angers them, excludes people, or causes injustice", it is regarded as terrible. "Design is the decisions made about how someone will use and experience the things we make, sometimes we fail to think through the implications of those decisions and it ends up causing harm to others," he added. 

We also reached out to Nick Babich, a product designer and a blogger, who also had a few thoughts to add. He mentioned that lack of communication and creativity are also the root causes of why some designs end up looking bad. "Lack of communication leads to bad product design decisions, while lack of creativity leads to poor aesthetics." While dozens of new products are released daily, he assured that "not all of them are created by experienced product teams."

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#6

Does This Meme Make Sense? I’m A Little Hungover And Need A Nappy Nap.

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ZAPanda
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

PLEASE can we stop with the f*****g subscribe dialog followed by another subscribe dialog?? I DO NOT want to subscribe to your website that I am visiting only once because my news aggregator brought me there.

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This explains why sometimes it can start to feel like poorly designed products are all around us. Shariat said that one reason behind it is that good design isn’t easy. If people want to create something that has a purpose and is delightful to interact with, it takes a lot of learning and experience in the field. "Good design requires us to think about and understand others," Shariat explained. "That doesn't come naturally for most of us but always makes things better." 

So when professionals fail to do that, certain choices they make can seriously affect other people. When a product has flaws, "the negative impact can be pretty severe," Babich told us. "Just imagine a medical device (i.e., heart rate monitor) that shows incorrect data about the user’s health (i.e., shows a status "Everything is okay" while the user experiences problems with his health)." The outcome can be rather dramatic. 

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#8

Spent Months In Purgatory Chatting It Up With Forrest Gumps Kid. Re: @grapejuiceboys

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Paul Davis
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

To be fair this was a fictional character so IMO doesn't really help to understand real-life lessons much

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Kat Patterson
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

For those of you who think it's a spoiler, just go watch it anyways. It's been out for years. Didn't even know what movie it was from till I searched in the comments. If you know which movie this is, you should have already known what happened.

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Keisha
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Bruce is one of the few men out there that is just as hot with hair than without

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Agnes Jekyll
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Bruce Willis with hair! That feels like one hundred years ago.

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tara
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Sometimes I think...hey what if I realized we were already dead? Then I think, that would be awesome! I could do some real dangerous s**t.....I'm going on an airplane!

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China Nolan
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

He's the fricking manager who thinks WFH isn't unproductive. #bumazzsuckbutt

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Savory
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

He didn't discover he was dead until the END of the movie. So, he was just still going to work like any other day. Not so dramatic.

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Sarah M
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I'm keeping this in my heart forever so I can remember it when I need a good laugh! 🤣

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-Mellohi-
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

"Bruce Willis is a ghost! He's been dead the entire time! *Gasp* oopsie!" "NOO"

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Kathy
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Maybe we all are... Maybe we were never alive... Maybe we are just someone else's illusion... Or maybe everyone else is just in your mind...just an illusion, not actually real at all... The list of possibilities is endless...

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Rebekah Krause
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

SPOILERS It’s a reference to a movie “the sixth sense” the character was working as a child psychologist with a young boy with emotional problems who claimed he could see dead people. It turned out at the end of the movie he was dead the whole time and one of the dead people the kid was seeing.

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#9

Can I Finally Start Baiting Trolls Into Yelling In My Comments Section With This Post? @iamthirtyaf

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Ryan Deschanel
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2 years ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The "would you have explained the same thing if she had been a man?" part is missing.

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Shariat also provided a few examples of how bad design can impact our lives. "A confusing control in your car could distract you and cause an accident. Hospital staff could accidentally enter into a pump 10x the medication for a patient. A confusing voting system can cause people's votes to be thrown out or worse, vote for the wrong person." 

"We rely on design every day for critical things, and sometimes they fail us and people get hurt, or it causes major financial damage," he said. But when it comes to design ethics, being concerned about them "isn't just about avoiding harming others," Shariat added. "Ethical design has also been shown to be much more effective and builds long-term, sustainable business growth!"

#12

Let’s Be Honest Here, If An Engineer Designed This It Would Probably Be Closer To Something Stupid Like Google Glass Than A Mouse, This Is All On Bad Id Designers Doing Bad Id Design Work. Also It’s Not Really That Bad Of A Design Since This Mouse Can Get A 2 Week Charge In 10 Mins. Content Including That Typo Stolen From Reddit.

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Samantha Lomb
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Not just an engineer. I imagine this went through a whole multi-step approval process.

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When it comes to the struggles of being a UI/UX designer, one of the biggest challenges is "seeing things from other people's perspectives. Different people can experience the same thing much differently," he added. "It's the job of a designer to understand their users and find what works best for all of them."

Meanwhile, Nick Babich believes constant learning is both a blessing and a curse of product design. "You have to process a lot of information on a daily basis to create a good design," he told Bored Panda. 

When we're dealing with such struggles, memes are a great way to find shelter from the burdens of our everyday lives. They help us unwind, connect with other people, and, of course, let out a laugh or two. Jonathan Shariat admitted that jokes absolutely help to get into a better mood. "For example, when I was stressed about how frustrating it can be to see your design fail as you watch people test it out and your assumptions become evident, it can feel [difficult]. When you see something that perfectly expresses how you are feeling, it's very therapeutic," he said. 

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#19

Alternative Text: “ When Your Boss Finds Out Plants Boost Productivity.” Where My Planty Parents At? @planty_hoes
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follow @worst.designer For More Design No No’s.
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#office #officelife #plants #plantmemes #officeplants #work #worklife #workmeme

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Bird
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I would like to have more plants but i can never remember to take care of them.

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#20

Mid-Level Designer Role Available Must Have Invented The Software You’ll Be Designing For.

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Chris Harr
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I just read a comment from a guy who said he was not qualified to apply for a job because they required 5 years experience with a software program that HE INVENTED 2 years ago. 😂

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And Babich also agrees with this line of thinking. He mentioned that he recently researched anxiety and depression in product design, and found that it’s a serious problem in the field. "I think humor is an integral part of our lives, and we need to smile more when we work," he added. "A positive mood gives us an energy boost, protects us from anxiety, and helps us create good UX." 

So it’s not surprising that category-specific meme accounts are becoming more and more popular. Such images and jokes are the perfect "bites" of content that always allow us to distract ourselves from our troubles. After all, there’s nothing like looking at a few hilarious pictures to improve our mood.

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#29

Open Your Eyes!!!

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M O'Connell
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The designer can design anything they want, but if it isn't technically feasible or is prohibitively expensive you have to do what you have to do.

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#30

Oh Look At The Rockefeller With The Desk In His Home Office! I Work From Bed And My Sketch Files Are Just Nonsense With A Text Field That Says “All Work And No Play Etc Etc Etc” Reposted From: @productmanagersgonewild

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Note: this post originally had 93 images. It’s been shortened to the top 30 images based on user votes.