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50 Truly Facepalm-Worthy Designs That Actually Got Presented To The Public (Best Of All Time)
Interview With Expert
Dieter Rams, the godfather of industrial design, defined ‘good design’ as making the product useful, understandable, innovative, aesthetic, unobtrusive, honest, and long-lasting. But that’s not even close to being all! It also has to be thorough to the last detail, environmentally friendly, and involve as little design as possible. Over time, these ten principles have become the blueprint for design, inspiring many creators worldwide.
However, not all stick to such guidelines, producing many various design failures, which this successful subreddit takes pride in collecting. We, at Bored Panda, have published quite a few articles reviewing them, and today we are treating you to a list of some of the best, or perhaps worst ones, that make people scratch their heads from confusion. To find them, all you have to do is scroll down.
While you're at it, don't forget to check out a conversation with lead industrial designer Elodie Delassus, who told us what good design means to her.
This post may include affiliate links.
#1
This Captain Of The Submarine In My English Book
RELATED:
#2
Spoiler
#4
This Amazing Pregnancy Test
#5
Being Gay Was A Sin They Said
#6
A Scene From An Indian TV Show
#7
These Pull Tabs That Never Come Off
#9
I Didn’t Qualify For This Paid Survey After Selecting “No”
#10
Tunashamed
Auntriarch 2 years ago
No need to be ashamed of tuna, but if you are, just bat it under the sofa
#11
When Your Security Gate Is A Ladder
#12
Unfortunate Dog Placement
#13
The Pockets On Women's Trousers
Anna Ekberg 2 years ago
I think it's pretty safe to say that we all know this and we hate it. /sincerely all women on earth
#14
This Clothing Display
#15
The Elders At My Brother-In-Law’s Church Got To Design The Church League Softball Shirts. The Thought “Cli” (Christian Life International) Alone Wouldn’t Signify A Church, So They Added The Cross. Magnificent
Hippopotamuses 2 years ago (edited)
I sense that Satan is laughing his a.r.s.e off over this one.
#16
I Think I Know Why
Jack Burton 2 years ago
Do you remember the early nineties when we start having some bipper for text messages but we had to call a special center and just dictate our message to a person whom send it as a text on the bipper. That was so weird ^^
#17
Sign At A Local Beach
#18
This Ad Placement
#19
Pretty Sure He's Using It Wrong
#20
Just Why
Jack Burton 2 years ago
Full energy blowjob on Superman while wearing some rollers skate on a psychedelic carpet is not something you can see every day
#22
Professor, I Can't Get These Audio Files In Our Textbook To Play
#23
Love Handles
Blue Bunny of Happiness 2 years ago
They absolutely knew what they were doing with this placement!
#24
Oh Boy, There's Platypus Period In My Tea!
Jack Burton 2 years ago
Platypus is a weird animal, part duck, part beaver, have eggs but a mammal and just bright under black light. Maybe platypus periods got some special effects ^^
#25
Noted
#26
We Are The Borg. Resistance Is Futile
#28
So, It's Fine Then?
#29
It's A Trap!
#30
My Company Wanted To Make Our Fountain Pink For Breast Cancer Awareness. Didn't.... Quite Get It Right
#31
We All Party Down Here
#32
Idk I'm European
#37
A Nail Or A Screw
#38
Ho Ho-No
#39
Nothing Like The Smell Of Coffee And A Good Eye-Stab In The Morning
Hippopotamuses 2 years ago
There are quite a few people I'd like to give one of these to. After sharpening the ears, that is.
#40
This Ad For Graduation Photography
#41
The Clock Hands Don’t Glow
Anna Ekberg 2 years ago
Will i be early, will i be late? Que sera sera, whatever will be will be....
#42
Toilets And Mirror Ceiling
#43
When Life Gives You Lemons
TotallyNOTAFox 2 years ago
When lives gives you lemons, just make orange juice to confuse everybody
#44
I Bought A Billboard To Promote My Business And They Screwed Up The Formatting
Fack Suckerberg 2 years ago
It's a win. Free billboard next time and this time everybody knows his face.
#45
Our Municiplaity Made Bike Lanes For Us Finally!
Anna Ekberg 2 years ago
I don't even have a bike now but somehow i would manage to trip over this.
#46
Proofreading This Book Couldn't Have Been That Hard
#47
Step 4: Just Go Sit In Some Other Chair
#48
Crystal Furniture Set That Looks Like Raw Meat
#49
This Unfortunately Designed Kid's Balloon
Jack Burton 2 years ago
i can totally figure my wife coming back from work and finding me red faced with this inflatable robot c**k in my mouth with my daughter cheering of excitement.
#50
Diapers For Mutant Baby
MrLiesegang 2 years ago (edited)
Well it’s an ad from Japan… to soon for Fukushima jokes? … yeah I think so.
#51
This Catholic School Logo
#52
The Placement Of This Baby's Head Wasn't Quite Thought Through
OneWithRatsAndKefir 2 years ago
Can’t fool me, that’s a blobfish out of it’s rightful environment.
#53
Tell Your Wedding Guests To Die
#54
Winnie
#55
This Sign At The Akron Zoo That Looks Like A Man Peeing In His Own Face
#56
This Kid Friendly Hand Sanitizer Package. Looks Like One Of Those Apple Sauce Things, No?
#57
One Armed Mother And A Demon Child
#58
Pulling Tissues From This Box Feels... Uncomfortable
#60
A New Park Opened In My City, Pretty Lovely, And This. Buttcleaner3000
#61
Honey, You Really Shouldn't Have
#62
Best Cat Carrier To Contain Your Sexy Cat
#63
I'm Just Gonna Let The Fire Consume Me
Linus Nilsson 2 years ago
This must be the twelfth time I see this one, and everytime there's one person commenting the same thing. Let me be the one this time; it only locks TO the hand, she is still free to move away. It's not attached to the box.
#64
This Flower Print Dress
#65
This Elevator
Two_rolling_black_eyes 2 years ago
Someone explained this one before. This is a private elevator for one company in a skyscraper. Floors 2-4 are apartments/hotel and have their own elevator. Floors 7-27 are offices for the plebes/cubicles. 5 is security and cafeteria. 6 is conference rooms. 28-40 is management, finance, and executives.
#67
People Wearing Face Masks Looking Like Monsters
#68
This Bath Bomb's Final Color
#69
Vicious Incest?!
#70
For When You Want A Near Death Experience Every Time You Use The Stairs
Rahul Pawa 2 years ago
If the layout and lack of rails weren't enough, this guy also added an obstacle on the third step. That little statue looks like it has a few pointy bits pointing straight up.
#71
Closer Than You Think
#72
Unfortunate Hole Placement
#73
I Don't Know If This Fits Here, But Do Not Leave Children Unattended At Whole Foods
Raymond Core 2 years ago
Somebody finally taking Jonathan Swift's 'A Modest Proposal' seriously.
#74
Forever 21 Does Not Know How To Use Photoshop Or What Women Actually Look Like
#75
That's Not How It Works
#76
I Needed Red. Guess Which One I Grabbed At First
#77
My High School Commissioned A Bulldog Statue! This Is The Result
#78
Architect: So How Many Windows We Thinking? Client: Yes
#79
How Much Do You Trust Your "Multilingual" Ad Designer?
#80
Parking Fee Just Gotten Real
#81
Put Barbed Wire Across The Top Of The Gate. We Don't Want Anyone Climbing Over It
#82
They Stopped Construction On The New Burger King In My Hometown Because The Building Is Backwards. They Put A Whole Building Up Backwards!
#83
Dial 999 For...oh
#84
Was Worried About Privacy, So I Asked If They Could Put A Door Up To The Men's Change Room. Problem Solved
#85
A Bag Of Apples With A Character On It That Got Poisoned By An Apple
#86
Hey High School Bulldog, Meet My High School Wildcat
#87
This Isn't Even My Final Form
#88
Stay Home!
#89
My Son Just Asked Me Why This Lady Is Reading Poop Magazine. I'm So Proud
#90
I’m Pretty Sure That’s Not How You’re Supposed To Hold A Scythe
#91
Striped Carpet On Hotel Stairs. Hard To Use Even After Two Weeks And Completly Sober
#92
Correct Punctuation Is A Must!
#93
I Think They Forgot To Photoshop The Other B**b
Two_rolling_black_eyes 2 years ago
She's an Amazon. In ancient Greek, amazon means without breast (a- meaning "without" and mazos meaning "breast"), According to the myth, they removed their right breasts so it would not be in the way when using a bow or spear. The left was kept to breastfeed future amazons.
#94
Don’t Wake Anybody Up If You’re Exiting The Motel During A Fire!
#95
Sub-Par ATM Placement. Way Sub-Par
#96
Gas Station In Nebraska. The Station's Color Scheme Was Red. They Tried To Get Artsy
#97
Why Is Clear A Green Button While Enter Is Yellow? I Kept Accidentally Clearing My Pin
#98
My Arms Are About 7 Feet Long, So This Wasn't An Issue For Me
#99
Probably It's More Convenient
Blue Bunny of Happiness 2 years ago
It took my way too long to work out that he wasn’t holding it by the stick. I was distracted by the hand on the right with the floating one!
#100
Be Positive?
#101
Natural Beauty - Four Pairs Of Legs For Three Enourmous Torsos
#102
Attention
#103
The 'Bathroom' In My Airbnb Will 100% Result In Shi**y Encounters With The Host
#104
Perfect Design
#105
That's Gonna Be An Easy Ride
Jack Burton 2 years ago
Looks like and old video game from the 80's, you have to die and retry !
#106
We Cut Kids
#107
They Just Don't Go Together
#108
Very Long Message Warning (While Driving) Not To Take Your Eyes Off The Road For Too Long
#109
Urban Planning
Doctor Strange 2 years ago
Once again, this is Not a sign of poor design, but of age. Drainage inlets don't just sit on the ground. There is a concrete structure beneath them. Over time, the ground erodes or gets compressed, but concrete does not. You can see in the picture how the bricks are seperating due to the fact that the ground away from the structure has lowered over age. That is what causes this. And no, it isn't possible to design a way to prevent this. Soil is always going to change faster than concrete. The only option is to periodically regrade.
#110
This Clock Store In Benghazi, Libya
#111
Wow! What A Bargain!
#112
Because I Can See Through Stainless Steel
and_a_touch_of_the_’tism 2 years ago
Obviously, doesn’t everyone have Superman x-ray vision? /s
#113
I Was Having A Good Day Until I Went To The Supermarket
#114
Where’s The 0?
Blue Bunny of Happiness 2 years ago
The O exists only In your head, when you think oh, there’s no 0…
#115
The Circle Of Life
#116
Almost Broke My Leg
#117
This Graph
Blue Bunny of Happiness 2 years ago
If only there had been colours that corresponded to them….
#118
Plant Dyed Underwear On Etsy
#119
Lex? Sex? Derp? Lox? Nope, It's Supposed To Say Jax For Jacksonville, Florida For $18 Million Dollars
#120
A-Maza-Ing - Design
#121
"We Need To Decorate The Toilet For The Disabled." "Say No More"
#122
Put Barbecue Sauce Inside For Extra Confusion
#123
Black One Is Salt, White One Pepper
Fack Suckerberg 2 years ago (edited)
Well. Depends. My salt from Hawaii is black and I prefer the white pepper.
#124
It Almost Seems Intentional
#125
What Animal Is That?
#126
The New School In My Community Has A Wheel Chair Access Button For The Door, But No Way For A Person In A Wheel Chair To Reach It
#127
Sometimes It's Okay To Judge A Book By Its Cover
#128
I See Your "Use Before: Made In China" And Raise You "Warning - Made In China"
#129
I've Been Conditioned To Recognize This As "Do Not"
#130
These New Public Trash Cans In The Us City I Live In (Binghamton, NY) That Definitely Won't Confuse Older Folks Trying To Send Mail
#131
This Bench. Where I Live It Is Very Hot And It Is Impossible To Sit In This Park
#132
Mate, I Don't Think That's A Seagull
ThisIsTheRealBruno 2 years ago
The sign was installed by an ibis who didn't want you to "waste" your food on those damned seagulls, but save it for the ibises.
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What do you think ?
Robin Roper 2 years ago
Some of these product designers knew what they were doing; no one is that dense.
Ginger Winters 2 years ago
I mean have you seen the people who have been elected lately?
Load More Replies... Robin Roper 2 years ago
Some of these product designers knew what they were doing; no one is that dense.
Ginger Winters 2 years ago
I mean have you seen the people who have been elected lately?
Load More Replies...
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