Bored Panda reached out to Crappy Design’s community to learn a bit more about the subreddit. “The original motivation for the subreddit was to point out crappy designs. Nowadays, most subscribers probably come here for entertainment. However, it is common to have meaningful discussion here on why or why not something is crappy design,” the subreddit’s moderators explained.
They also added that “the subreddit was created 8 years ago. Currently, there are 1.7 million subscribers with over 2 million page views per month. It is very popular.”
While looking through the pictures, some of us are sure to be thinking that we could have done a far better job designing these things than the people who made them. The ‘Crappy Design’ subreddit's members most likely think the same.
According to researcher and author Don Norman, there are principles of good design which help people evaluate whether a product is a boon or a bust. For example, Norman believes all good designs are innovative and push the boundaries of what an object means to us. Naturally, well-designed objects also have to be useful, beautiful to look at, easy to understand and uncluttered in how they look.
Furthermore, Norman explains in his book ‘The Design of Everyday Things’ that good design means being honest and upfront about what the object does.
Also, objects should be long-lasting, environmentally friendly, and well-designed to the tiniest detail. Finally, products shouldn’t be over-designed.
The Interaction Design Foundation explains that bad designs are overloaded with information and force the user to do more work than is necessary. Akshayta Rao writes that we all intuitively notice badly designed items but find it difficult to explain why good designs are, well, good. According to her, a well-known example of bad design would be USB cables. She’s right because we’ve all tried plugging them in the wrong way more than once. Some of us maybe even hundreds of times.
What do you think about these principles of good and bad design? Do you agree with them? Which things in this list of crappy designs do you think are the worst offenders? Let us know!
#13 I Bought A Billboard To Promote My Business And They Screwed Up The Formatting
#17 Wow. I Laughed When I Saw This!
#18 Was Worried About Privacy, So I Asked If They Could Put A Door Up To The Men's Change Room. Problem Solved
