“Awful Taste And Awful Execution”: 35 Hilarious Pics From This Online Thread

Ariane Sherine, the editor at These Three Rooms, was kind enough to answer Bored Panda's questions about taste, interior design, and aesthetics.

"Interior design is much harder than it looks. It's actually more difficult to find combinations that do work well together! Generally speaking, pair like with like, so: brights with other brights, neutrals with neutrals, pastels with pastels, neon with neon, muted colors with other muted colors, etc." she listed what homeowners should keep in mind if they want to leave a positive impression and avoid jarring visuals.

"The same is often true for materials, so if you like natural materials like rattan and bamboo then go for a natural scheme. If you prefer synthetic materials, ditto," she said.

We were interested to get the interior design expert's opinion on first impressions, specifically what guests would notice first when entering the kitchen or bathroom.

"First off, they notice how clean and tidy and fragrant the room is. You can have a wonderfully stylish kitchen or bathroom, but if it's dirty and smells terrible that'll be your guests' overall impression of it," Ariane, from These Three Rooms, said that no matter how aesthetic and stylish everything looks, it doesn't count for much if you haven't gotten the basics right.

"Secondly, they'll notice how it functions and what their experience of it is: is there enough loo paper or kitchen towel? Does the hand wash smell nice? Does the loo flush? Do the appliances work? And lastly, they'll notice the décor. Décor is subjective but an empty loo roll definitely isn't!"

Finally, Ariane shared her thoughts about embracing what we love, no matter what others might think about our design decisions. At the end of the day, what matters is that you're happy. She noted that you could apply this to all of your life choices, not just design and taste.

"It's all about being confident in yourself and knowing that it doesn't matter what others think of your style. As long as you're happy, who cares whether Aunty Pat thinks your sofa's garish?!"

The ‘Awful Taste And Awful Execution’ subreddit has been around since 2017. In the 5+ years since, the members of the ATAAE community have scoured the internet for some of the biggest insults to good taste to ever exist in our timeline. It’s truly puzzling how some people completely lack any and all aesthetic awareness.

Our tastes might play a large role in whether or not we find a design, product, or work of art appealing, but it’s important to remember that there are such things as objectively good or bad designs. Good design means putting the user first. Designs ought to be functional, pleasing, and ergonomic.

Tim Antoniuk, an expert in Design Studies at the University of Alberta, previously spoke to Bored Panda about good and bad design. He noted that good designs ought to constantly adapt to a changing, modern world.

“Given the speed of change that we encounter today in our lives in the digital environment that we live in, I believe that some great design is not necessarily timeless. One example is seen in Interface Design, Ux Design, and in-service design. As new layers get added into our lives, things naturally have an evolutionary cycle,” the design expert told Bored Panda earlier.

“This is different from furniture which naturally can be more ubiquitous and designed to fit the human body. There is a great deal of fuzziness in this discussion but I do believe that the essence of this idea is true," the professor said that certain product designs have far more longevity than others, depending on the area.

"The gray area comes in when people start to talk about taste and about degrees of aesthetic. I may love the design of Bauhaus furniture, for example, while somebody may feel that it is too cold and void of personality,” the expert accounted for people’s differing tastes.

“Not unlike great art, I believe that much of what came from this era is ‘great design,’ in part because it represents an era and a philosophy. When we start to mix in discussions of taste and preference, that is where the gray areas of good and bad design get blurred,” he said.

According to Antoniuk, from the University of Alberta, people can generally intuitively feel what designs are good and which ones aren’t.

"Quite often, this relates to ergonomics and the usability or functionality of the products and services and systems. Having said that, I think far too many people expect poor design that doesn’t really work well," he told us.

"For me, great design is what Dieter [Rams] talks about—it is also intuitive, it is deeply sympathetic and empathetic to the user at all levels, and at some level, it is emotional. It is a catalyst for giving us feelings."

Which of these pics did you find the most painful to look at, dear Pandas? Why do you think some people have such a hard time realizing that their sense of what does and does not work totally doesn't match what's actually aesthetic? How would you break the news to someone to tell that they might just lack taste and may need to develop it more? Let us know in the comments!