50 Epic Children's Product Design Fails That Are So Bad, It's Hard To Believe They Actually Happened

Designers are often a tough crowd. It’s a competitive profession, and many professionals online are keen on picking apart each other’s work. The internet is full of communities sharing various design fails and poor choices for the world to see.

When it comes to children’s product design fails, however, there’s another group that like to get in on the critiques - parents. Children are a highly vulnerable segment of society, so a poorly designed product or package has the potential to drive a child to accidentally harm themselves.

Product and packaging design for children is practically an entire discipline unto itself. For one thing, a single product and package has to appeal to two very different people - a child and their parent. The package and product have to promise to be fun while also convincing the parent that the product in question is safe, high-quality, entertaining, and, if applicable, developmentally helpful.

Package design for kids also has its own set of trends and visual principles. Things like minimalism and eco-packaging may be trending for adults, but children want something else entirely. Bright colors, zig-zags, and big pictures continue to dominate children’s packaging – because they work.

Of course, as we can see from the crazy design fails in this list, another key concern is clarity of purpose. Too many of the products on this list fail in this key aspect. Inedible or even toxic materials scented as food shouldn’t be making it into children’s hands - moreso if the products are also food-shaped.

Even adults can make mistakes when product packaging and design are done wrong, so children can be even more vulnerable to issues like these.