40 Redesigns That Are So Bad, People Had To Shame Them On This Online Community

We managed to get in touch with the creator of the 'Crappy Redesign' subreddit, Patrick, who was kind enough to have a little chat about the community, its background, and the common redesign trends that get featured on the group. When asked what inspired the subreddit in the first place, he told us that one post on the multi-million-member strong subreddit named 'Crappy Design' is to blame.

"It all started when I saw a post in 'Crappy Design' about a redesigned Tucan. When I went into the comment section, I saw that a user had commented 'r/CrappyRedesigns', Patrick told Bored Panda. "I could not believe that such a subreddit didn't yet exist, so I created it.” And from the looks of it, he didn’t look back.

"The subreddit, to my huge surprise, blew up immediately and received thousands of members in under a day! I couldn't believe it," the creator added. "Currently, the subreddit has close to 8k members. I never expected it to grow that big!"

Ever since this online community was created over two years ago, it has served as the perfect outlet for design enthusiasts to vent their frustrations. With the tagline "Cal Arts Galore", Patrick and the whole moderator team invites its members to share and poke fun at the unfortunate examples they come across online, as well as participate in meaningful discussions.

"The year is 2050, Cal Arts has taken over all forms of creative expression. Can be referred to oversimplified logos/etc..." writes the moderators in the description. The cases featured on the forum include some of the worst redesigns that range from cartoons to objects to our beloved brands and services. This online community is very open to new members and posts, as long as they follow some basic guidelines.

The number one rule on the subreddit is in the name — the post needs to be an example of a crappy redesign. Although when the brand refresh is very minimal (the moderators provided Google’s redesign as an example), it "doesn't change anything because they're similar to the older design." But if the update is clear and very poorly executed, members need to put the before and after images on both sides in the right order. The last thing to consider before posting is that the redesign must be official and made by the company listed.

Bored Panda was also curious to learn more about the community and what the past two years have been like for the subreddit. Patrick opened up that a few things have changed since he created the group. "The activity in the subreddit has decreased a lot since then, but we do still receive posts every now and then."

"Volunteers have largely taken over with the moderation, so I don't really take care of it anymore," he continued. "It was pretty stressful to manage such a large group for the first time though." But even in the most challenging times, he’s grateful for the people who joined him on this journey. "I really want to thank all the people who joined the subreddit! You really made this an interesting experience for me."

The vast majority of the posts that end up shared on the group feature oversimplified logos. When asked about this modern trend in the design world, Patrick said he’s not sure where it came from. "Companies are trying to appear more trendy by redesigning logos, but unfortunately, it quite often results in an oversimplification of the logo," he added.

To the creator, however, 'Crappy Redesign' means more than only oversimplified logos. "Crappy Redesigns can be seen everywhere, whether it is a drop in quality of a product in order to reduce manufacturing costs or another way of making a device less repairable for consumers. I would hope to see different types of Crappy Redesigns in the subreddit in the future. Not just oversimplified logos all the time."

As you’re scrolling through this list, you may feel a sense of frustration when seeing these well-known products and brands fail so epically with their redesign. But the truth is that sometimes it’s not only the design flaws that make our blood boil. Turns out, there’s a deeper problem in the way our brains are wired — we humans simply don’t like change.

As growth marketer Kushaan Shah explained in a piece on Medium, two factors contribute to the consumer-fueled backlash when it comes to brand redesigns. The first one is the visual disruption: "How different is the logo from the old logo? Does it pass the internet maturity test?" The second one is identity integration: "How integrated is the brand to our own identity?"

Brands that got a positive first reception to a redesign "capitalize on something we know in psychology as the familiarity heuristic — a well-documented shortcut our brains take that makes us feel calm with the familiar, and apprehensive about novel experiences — regardless of their advantages," Shah said, explaining that brands who opt to visually disrupt usually receive all the outrage.

When it comes to identity integration, Shah mentioned a study conducted by Pennsylvania State University called "The Starbucks effect". After surveying 632 college students and asking them to respond to various redesigns, it was found that consumers who are strongly committed to a brand tend to react more negatively toward new logos, while more casual customers typically view the redesigns as a positive development. "When we see a brand that we’ve built an emotional relationship with modify its logo or design," Shah added, "we panic."