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We've all heard about crappy design, something that turns a blind eye to user-friendliness, logic and common sense, aesthetics, and people in general. We’re talking billboards, TV ads, product packaging and product design, websites and apps, you name it.
The phenomenon of crappy design is that no matter how much our marketing strategies and advertising techniques have evolved in the past decades, it still finds its place in our daily lives. Check out some examples of crappy design in Bored Panda’s previous features here, here and here.
This time, we are taking a step further. Sometimes the design is so annoying, senseless and defunct that it seems like the brands are doing this deliberately or at least without shame. There’s even a whole corner of reddit dedicated to cases “when a*** design things.”
With a whopping 2.9 million members, the community pokes fun at the mentality that “nothing comes before profit, especially not the consumer.” Below, we wrapped up some of the evilest designs, so let us know what you think of them in the comments!
This post may include affiliate links.
#1
Ah Station Design
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#2
Taxes
#3
Appstore For You
Bad design can be found everywhere, from the products we use every day to the websites we visit. Poorly designed products can be difficult to use, causing us to waste time and energy. They can also be dangerous, as faulty product or packaging designs can lead to accidents.
Meanwhile, websites with bad design can be hard to navigate, preventing us from finding the information we need. They can also be visually unappealing, making us less likely to return. At the same time app can have a very bad user experience which means people will be reluctant to use it. From confusing navigation to cluttered layouts, anyone can spot a very poor design.
#4
Brand New Protein Powder, Not Even Filled Half Whey
#5
Felt Like This Sub Would Appreciate This Statement
#6
Screw You Pinterest
Your content fills up and pollutes the search engine results yet people can’t even view your bulls**t user-submitted content without signing up for a damn account. Going to add to you to my Personal Blocklist so you don’t appear in my searches and waste my time anymore.
Jrog 2 years ago
Pinterest is a cesspool. I found some of my facebook photos had been uploaded on pinterest. A girl (wannabe maker/influencer/scammer) reuploaded them with her watermark and used them as example of her creations. Had to subscribe to the website to report the images, and after weeks of waiting... nothing happened. Zero answers, support or even an automated mail. In the meanwhile those images were stolen by others and popped around for a while on other websites, mostly on ads of promoting scams. Stopped uploading my work anywhere.
Jerk designs seem to take a step further than simply bad designs and come across as downright unethical and immoral. They snuck their way into the products and services we consume, and sometimes we don’t even notice them.
According to Danny Sapio, the lead product designer at Method and cofounder of Confettihabits.com, shrinkflation is a classic case of less product and more profit. “Companies use this tactic to discreetly sell less of a product at the same price that it was before.”
Moreover, Sapio argues that “companies can do this through labeling by displaying “FAMILY SIZE” or “PARTY SIZE” despite it being the same amount as the regular item.” For us, the unsuspecting shoppers, it’s something that’s really easy to miss.
#7
Trashy Company
#8
Hellofresh. If I Don’t Need To Call To Make Orders, I Shouldn’t Need To Call To Unsubscribe
#9
Cashing In On That *cough*
Another great example of jer design practices is the use of lethal enforcers. They require the user to take the action that the company wants before they can do what they intend to do.
“Lethal enforcers are essentially a way that companies gatekeep the decision making for users. Instead of giving users a free choice, the company decides for the individual the decision that should be made then makes that their only choice,” Sapio explained.
An example of a lethal enforcer is when you want to write a review on Yelp but have to download the brand’s app first. “Or when a company suppresses relevant search results to display sponsored products or content.”
#10
I Want My Money Back
#11
I Chose The Bottle Because A Tube Wasn't Enough! This Trojan Trickery Is An Abuse Coming From A Brand With Recognition
Hippopotamuses 2 years ago
Well here’s a company that cares FA about both its customers and the environment.
#12
Bought These Sticky Notes Cause I Thought The Gold Border Was Nice
Sapio also urges to look out for one of the trick questions known as the loaded questions. They take an advantage of our good nature. “We assume that we don’t need to read the entire question because we’ve already collected the information we need to answer it.”
#13
Natural Is A Trademark
#14
So It Was A Lie
#15
Really?
Another very shady design practice is throttling. “Throttling is when a company intentionally downgrades the service or product with the hopes that the customer upgrade. This is different than forced obsolescence because the product still works; it’s just much slower and shittier than it used to be,” the product designer explained.
It turns out that even giant brands like Apple have been found guilty of this. Apple has settled a class-action lawsuit over its practice of slowing down older iPhones, agreeing to pay up to $500 million to impacted consumers.
“Another example is ‘unlimited’ data providers that sneakily slow down internet speeds once they pass a certain threshold of data usage,” Sapio concluded.
#16
Youtuber Gets Every Single Video On His Channel Copyright Claimed Despite Having The Rights To All The Music In His Videos
#17
This Mcdonalds Menu
Mohsie Supposie 2 years ago
Just hold up the queue on purpose till the ad finishes, so you can choose what you want!
#18
Both Weigh 500g But The Green One Is In A 30% "Bigger Bag More To Share"
Adam Chang 2 years ago
Customer: it's a bigger bag with more chips. Company: no no, it's just a bigger bag
Erin Fish 2 years ago
I can't wait to share that 30% Dorito air with my friends! Breath it in boys!
Brent Fisher 2 years ago
Kind of like when you wreck your car and the potato chip bags come out of the steering wheel. "Since safety is important, we asked the experts on air bags to design your car:"
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Sawdust 2 years ago
Yeah, "original salted" makes it sound like a plain dorito!
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Khara Mei 2 years ago
These are different products with different codes - the green one is thinner so most likely a travel pack. The "30% bigger bag" will state on it what it compares to - and it will not be that yellow one, it will be the standard travel pack.
Cliff Taylor 2 years ago
I appreciate you trying to give them the benefit of the doubt, but no. The bags are next to each other on the shelf, and similar widths. Also, 500g is over a pound of chips, and 30% less would not be a travel/snack pack.
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Down With Agent Hedgehog! 2 years ago
What a utterly ridiculous reason for more of plastic that would eventually end up in seas and stuff.
Holly Benedict 2 years ago (edited)
That's called shrinkflation. Instead of raising the prices they just put less in the same sized container. It's becoming increasingly important to not only look at the price but the weight and determine cost per gram (or ounce) because a smaller size might actually be a better value than the bigger emptier bag.
🌵 Drazil 2 years ago
But the quantity is the same! Typical corporate move. They've doing this for years. Sometimes it says "Now with Improved Flavor" No, it's the same product. The price will go up, then the size will be diminished. And, then the product will begin to change as they save money on using less flavoring and fewer ingredients. Doritos changed all of these in the last 5-10 years which is why I won't eat them anymore. Corporate tricks lose money!
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della by the sea 2 years ago
That’s so dirty. Wouldn’t be a big deal if they charged the same price but they never do
Anna Harding 2 years ago
“It appeared that there had even been demonstrations to thank Big Brother for raising the chocolate ration to twenty grams a week. And only yesterday […] it had been announced that the ration was to be reduced to twenty grams a week. Was it possible that they could swallow that, after only twenty-four hours? Yes, they swallowed it."
Susan Mercurio 2 years ago
Not false advertising because all they claimed was that the bag was bigger. If you think that "more to share" means more chips, that's on you.
Gladys Hayes Southerland 2 years ago (edited)
Technically, that is correct. The company never said there are more chips in this bag, just that the bad was bigger. It is still a lie of omission bc the intent is to deceive. What a shame. I was angry, now l begin to feel sick at the chicanery going on for the sake of profit/money.
Jeanne Mckinstry-Clark 2 years ago
Actually that means you're getting.less chips in the green bag. The bigger bag weighs more than the little bag. So to get the same weight once you add the chips they add less to the big bag to get the same weight.....
RedRoses99 2 years ago
Why are companies willing to spend lots of money on packaging and not the actual product
I'm Definitely Not A Robot. Nothing Shady Going On Here. 2 years ago
Are you serious? You do know that there's more oxygen in the big bag? And that sharing oxygen with your friends is like giving the gift of life? Why else would they make the bag bigger. To make more money?
Kimberly Howell Angles 2 years ago
Everyone should complain & while doing it happen to plaster all over FB etc how their greed is causing more waste in landfills, extra energy (not so minimal as to be completely dismissed) and just contributing to the global warming issue. Even if it’s not all that much corporate America doesn’t want to deal with that PR nightmare
Analee Frolic 2 years ago
Is it reasonable to expect a company that makes billions off America's deadly obesity epidemic, daily poisoning millions of children and adults, to care about honesty in its packaging? Concerning ourselves with the marketing of things that hurt is indicate of skewed priorities.
Amy Stone-Chandler 2 years ago
I see this with expensive vs cheap icecream. Cheaper ones say 1 Litres(4cups or 2Litres=8cups) and the icream is solid. Cheaper small ones say 500ml= 2 cups= 500 millilitres =2.113 us cups But when you buy Ben & Jerry's or the Tim hortons ice creams, they use different measurements because they are whipped. Your getting air rated floofy ice cream. Not a true measurement of weight. If that makes sense. Same with a large vs extra large coffee from Tim Hortons etc. The extra large cups are taller then the large but they don't contain more coffee as the cups are narrow in compasion.
Riley Quinn 2 years ago
I shop based on Unit Pricing to get the most out of my money, but that method relies on store staff updating those little markers with every sale each week.
Matthew Cook 2 years ago
That just seems like the Dorito people are wasting money on a bigger bag.
Michael Largey 2 years ago
The big bag can fit two people's hands at a time; the small only one. Hence the "sharing" feature.
Keerthi Vardhan 2 years ago
Ahh..so they cut it in the middle so each half is nice and big to share the little content.
#19
Cup Design That Makes The Drink Look Like It Has Actual Fruit
#20
Disney Leaves The Inside Of Their $6 Icecream Hollow
#21
The Sticker Was A Lie
#22
Amazon Prime Video Doesn't Tell You If A Show Is Unavailable In Your Country Until After You Subscribe To Amazon Prime
#23
This Design Pisses Me Off Every Single Day
#24
Unremovable Ads On My $2,500 Samsung Smart TV
#25
Spending $175 On A Textbook Only To Receive A 2 Inch Stack Of Unbound Papers. Binder Sold Separately!
#26
Dislikes Helped You Know If A Video Was A Scam, Misleading Or Had False Information
Hippopotamuses 2 years ago (edited)
Read: We intend to continue to host questionable content as long as it generates revenue for us, and no, we’re not going be transparent about it, because that will obviously also affect our revenue.
#27
Literal Hell For Budget Flyers - Standing Seats
#28
Hey This Hotel Room Is Only $99 A Night, Great Deal!!!
Mohsie Supposie 2 years ago
They should have just said the hotel is FREE, then charge the $99 as a booking fee or something. Who wouldn't like a FREE hotel, eh?
#29
They Replaced Half The Mirrors In My Local Shopping Mall's Bathroom With Advertising Boards!
#30
Heard We Are Having A Rigged Democracy Binge
#31
The Fact That You Can't Uninstall Facebook On Certain Phones
#32
They Decided To Completely Cover Their Tenants' Windows With Ads Because Who Needs Natural Light And Fresh Air?
#33
My Work Place’s ‘Low Plastic, Recyclable Eco-Pens’ Have A Secret At Their Core
#34
My Age Preferences Are There For A Reason, Tinder
#35
Keurig Sensor Blocks Your Brew Unless It's "K-Cup Compatible", Aka Has Scannable Foil. Slap On An Old Foil To A 3rd Party Cup And Suddenly No Issue
#36
Such A Great Deal!
#37
My Chinese "Smart TV" Plays A 15 Second Chevrolete Commercial Every Time I Turn It On
#38
Perfectly Fine Lighters With No Way To Refuel Them... Planned Obsolescence Is Asshole Design And Terrible For The Environment
#39
As**ole School System Charging Kids For Lunch And Then Blaming Parents
#40
My Printer Just Did A Firmware Update And No Longer Recognizes My Third-Party Ink
#41
Shrinkflation Used By Cadbury To Literally Cut Corners. The Bottom Chocolate Bar Is More Than 8 Percent Smaller
That other Panda 2 years ago
Mess with my sandwich, mess with my glue… BUT DO NOT MESS WITH MY CHOCOLATE
#42
5$ Pen Size vs. Ink
#43
Designed For Dissuading The Homeless. Literally Just Uncomfortable For Everyone Else
That other Panda 2 years ago
Why do people do this stuff? Like, if you dont want people to sleep on the streets, there are infinitely better things to do
#44
8% Alcohol Or
#45
Food Delivery Service That Tells You “Someone Is At The Door! Okay We Lied”
#46
I Wish My Professors Graded Like This
#47
Press Dismiss To Update This Printer
#48
Facebook, I'm Beyond Words
#49
Tenerife Airport Shows Ads On The Flight Information Screens Every Few Minutes (For At Least A Minute), So If You're Unlucky You Have To Wait Before Knowing Which Gate To Go To
Add New Image
What do you think ?
Nathaniel 2 years ago
Can we talk about the horrific design behind the downvoting system on this site? Down votes are not dislikes, downvotes get you suspended and then banned. And there are anonymous trolls who follow popular Pandas and downvote comments for no rhyme or reason.
Crouching hippo hidden panda 2 years ago
I got banned for a day last week, I backtracked my comments and I hadn’t written anything polarizing or remotely vulgar/offensive etc. i still for the life of me can’t figure out why I was banned and I tried to ask BP for clarification but zilch
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Elliot Fowler 2 years ago
Screw this. This fight against greedy capitalistic demons will never be won if our only hope is waiting for gov official to protect the people. We need to bring back the guillotine and go all french on these bastards.
Pirates of Zen Pants 2 years ago
Bad sirs, you sit on a throne of lies. Thirty percent more lies, to be exact.
Alan Green 2 years ago
Can we add Amazon delivery times to the list? (or did I miss it?) So many times I see "Buy within the next 3 hours to receive it TODAY" So i buy it as i really need it quick only to see. . "Estimated delivery time: TOMORROW". . . Why Amazon? WHY?
Madeleine 2 years ago
The main problem is that it isn’t sustainable to expect people who are poorly paid and poorly treated to bring you whatever you want on the same day you order it.
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Uber Mensch 2 years ago
1> It took a site 30 seconds to start sending spam to my email, but they want up to 10 days to make it STOP? 2> "... and other natural flavors" - wtf?
Gary Adams 2 years ago
One of my favorites was the label on a Mr Goodbar. It proudly proclaimed, "Now! More peanuts!" I suppose it wouldn't help sales if they advertised it as having less chocolate.
An Unpopular Opinion. 2 years ago
Dumb design: Disney Plus doesn't even have all the Disney / marvel movies and it makes me mad 'cause like??? Why does it cost that much then, if you're gonna make people pay to watch the movies that aren't there too- Signed, a girl who got bored and thought she'd watch Spider-Man, the old ones OR into the spider verse and none were there
Will Cable 2 years ago
Can we include Youtube thumbnails for videos that do not feature in any form whatsoever within the video.
Bouche Clay 2 years ago
I can see why you'd consider it humiliating, but all I thought was how impressed I was that you were willing to give the inside view. Super bad s**t can happen to anyone, and we only think we have control of our situations.
Model Fact 2 years ago
Stellar journalism as always: 1) Report on what someone said 2) Report on what a bunch of nobodies ("Twitter user Katy") said about it. 3) Publish it under the assumption that it qualifies as journalism.
Gavin Johnson 2 years ago
And yet with a quick scroll through you’ll easily find Japanese companies, U.K. companies, Chinese, American, and a few that have no clear country. If the agenda is attacking the U.S. then they are certainly mixing plenty of other nations in there. As for anti-capitalism that’s because these issues relate to being conned by companies, perhaps if they put customers first rather than profit they’d represent capitalism a bit better? It MAY be that capitalism isn’t as good as it could be? It MAY be that you are sucking a bit too much from the capitalism teat? Defending the big business who’ll strip all of your assets is a little hmmm sheepish ain’t it?
Load More Replies... Nathaniel 2 years ago
Can we talk about the horrific design behind the downvoting system on this site? Down votes are not dislikes, downvotes get you suspended and then banned. And there are anonymous trolls who follow popular Pandas and downvote comments for no rhyme or reason.
Crouching hippo hidden panda 2 years ago
I got banned for a day last week, I backtracked my comments and I hadn’t written anything polarizing or remotely vulgar/offensive etc. i still for the life of me can’t figure out why I was banned and I tried to ask BP for clarification but zilch
Load More Replies... Elliot Fowler 2 years ago
Screw this. This fight against greedy capitalistic demons will never be won if our only hope is waiting for gov official to protect the people. We need to bring back the guillotine and go all french on these bastards.
Pirates of Zen Pants 2 years ago
Bad sirs, you sit on a throne of lies. Thirty percent more lies, to be exact.
Alan Green 2 years ago
Can we add Amazon delivery times to the list? (or did I miss it?) So many times I see "Buy within the next 3 hours to receive it TODAY" So i buy it as i really need it quick only to see. . "Estimated delivery time: TOMORROW". . . Why Amazon? WHY?
Madeleine 2 years ago
The main problem is that it isn’t sustainable to expect people who are poorly paid and poorly treated to bring you whatever you want on the same day you order it.
Load More Replies... Uber Mensch 2 years ago
1> It took a site 30 seconds to start sending spam to my email, but they want up to 10 days to make it STOP? 2> "... and other natural flavors" - wtf?
Gary Adams 2 years ago
One of my favorites was the label on a Mr Goodbar. It proudly proclaimed, "Now! More peanuts!" I suppose it wouldn't help sales if they advertised it as having less chocolate.
An Unpopular Opinion. 2 years ago
Dumb design: Disney Plus doesn't even have all the Disney / marvel movies and it makes me mad 'cause like??? Why does it cost that much then, if you're gonna make people pay to watch the movies that aren't there too- Signed, a girl who got bored and thought she'd watch Spider-Man, the old ones OR into the spider verse and none were there
Will Cable 2 years ago
Can we include Youtube thumbnails for videos that do not feature in any form whatsoever within the video.
Bouche Clay 2 years ago
I can see why you'd consider it humiliating, but all I thought was how impressed I was that you were willing to give the inside view. Super bad s**t can happen to anyone, and we only think we have control of our situations.
Model Fact 2 years ago
Stellar journalism as always: 1) Report on what someone said 2) Report on what a bunch of nobodies ("Twitter user Katy") said about it. 3) Publish it under the assumption that it qualifies as journalism.
Gavin Johnson 2 years ago
And yet with a quick scroll through you’ll easily find Japanese companies, U.K. companies, Chinese, American, and a few that have no clear country. If the agenda is attacking the U.S. then they are certainly mixing plenty of other nations in there. As for anti-capitalism that’s because these issues relate to being conned by companies, perhaps if they put customers first rather than profit they’d represent capitalism a bit better? It MAY be that capitalism isn’t as good as it could be? It MAY be that you are sucking a bit too much from the capitalism teat? Defending the big business who’ll strip all of your assets is a little hmmm sheepish ain’t it?
Load More Replies... You May Like 50 Cringeworthy Design Fails That Are So Bad, They're Funny 155 Funniest Design Fails 30 Times Designers Created Something Without Realizing It Will Have To Be Cleaned (Best Of All Time)
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