The Awful Taste But Great Execution subreddit has been a staple on the platform for nearly a decade now. It has amassed an impressive 2.3 million members, and it has become a treasure trove for some of the strangest designs the world has ever seen.
The community describes itself as “for everything that displays quality craftsmanship in the least elegant way possible. All things gaudy, tacky, overdone, and otherwise tasteless. Work done so well, you won't know whether to love it or hate it.” What makes this place so special is that it simultaneously roasts and appreciates all of these bizarre pieces. So we hope you’ll get a kick out of them too!
While some people may argue that design is purely subjective, a “beauty is in the eye of the beholder” situation, experts believe that there certainly is such a thing as good (and bad) design. According to the Interaction Design Foundation, German industrial designer Dieter Rams came up with ten principles for good design that have influenced countless designers across the globe.
Rams believed that good design must be innovative, make a product useful, be aesthetic, make a product understandable, be unobtrusive, honest, long-lasting, thorough down to the last detail, environmentally friendly and involve as little design as possible.
#8 Saw These On Our Local Marketplace, I Kind Of Hate And Love These Mystery Machine Crocs
On the other hand, there are several factors that can immediately make a design “bad,” according to the Interaction Design Foundation. The first issue that may arise is a lack of clarity and usability. They cited the example of the infamous Clippy, Microsoft’s Office Assistant. If you’re old enough to remember trying to use this little guy, you’ll know that he was infuriating, as he couldn’t ever actually answer questions or offer any help. But he always appeared in the corner, seemingly mocking users, pretending he was eager to assist them.
Poor accessibility is another factor that can ruin a design. For example, have you ever tried to use one of those CAPTCHAs that is supposed to “prove that you’re a human” but found it impossible to decipher what you were supposed to type in? Bad design. And if the creators ignore user needs and feedback, it becomes impossible for their design to be considered successful.
Now, aesthetics are certainly an important aspect of design. But compromising functionality just to make something look pretty is a huge mistake. Lucky for the people whose creations are featured on this list, none of them made that mistake! But Interaction Design Foundation notes that there’s no point in making something beautiful if it doesn’t serve its intended purpose. It will just be frustrating.
Inconsistency can also become a major issue in design. On a website or in marketing, it can be jarring to see various color schemes and fonts splattered across a platform. It can seem chaotic, unintentional and negatively impact the user experience. But that doesn’t mean that designs shouldn’t ever change. In fact, they should definitely keep up with the times, so they don’t become outdated!
