Tools That Are Poorly Designe

The bad design of everyday things

Have you ever come across a badly designed product and thought to yourself "How on God's green earth would I use this? " You are not alone! I have often felt frustrated, irritated and even angry at times when I am unable to use a product or service when it is so poorly designed that I feel like banging my head against the wall. I often wonder:

"What was actually going through the designer's head when making this design decision?"

If the aim of these products or s e rvices is to support the user so they can actually use them, should they not be easily designed, instead of being a massive pain in the ass?

In this article, I will go through some examples of products with a bad design which create an overall bad UX (Disclaimer: sarcasm ahead!).

1. Whatsapp delete message feature

Informing the recipient that the sender has deleted a message somewhat defeats the purpose of deleting it in the first place.

Good on you Whatsapp! I thought I might keep this one to myself but alas!

Why is it bad design? Because the recipient should not know that a message has been deleted.

2. A (somewhat) crazy dropdown menu

I always thought that dropdown menus existed for people who exist :) Well, not for this benefit enrollment site that I came across. You can also sign up even if you are not born yet :) Isn't this just awesome? Or might I call it "Futuristic design".

3. Another (somewhat less) crazy dropdown menu

Here's another dropdown which has not been, lets say "carefully designed". It is an example of bad UX design mainly because of two reasons. First, it clutters the overall UX. Second, the whole purpose of a dropdown (which is to make it easy for the user to select an option and move on) is defeated as it makes it hard to search and select an option. Perhaps investing sometime into understanding design guidelines for dropdowns might help :)

Having repetitive text is a wonderful idea if your goal is to have bad design!

4. Forgot math when designing elevator buttons

Wonder what they were thinking when designing these sets of elevator buttons? See if you can spot the error!

People designing the elevator forgot elementary mathematics :(

5. Can you read between the lines?

Had a long day and want to do your laundry? Well, either you google how to do it or you are a laundry Ninja! In my case, I am stuck between a rock and a hard place and have no clue what those icons where the line on the knob is pointing at means unless I refer to the manual that came with the washing machine :( Can we have simple products, please?

What do these icons mean? A good UX should simplify things for a user and not complicate it.

6. Are you hungry- yes- stay hungry!

Good luck figuring out how to use this microwave when all you want after a hard day's work is warm food and a nice movie on Netflix!

A badly designed microwave where you have to figure out how to use it! — Source: badbad_UX

7. An empty shelf!

This is what happens when you design in a hurry without thinking what you are designing would be used for! Apparently, the builders ran out of shelves. End result- an outstanding design! Or is it?

People who designed this shelf were in a hurry!

8. Another shelf bites the dust!

An absolutely brilliant design for those who do not need a shelf in their toilet.

9. Who needs security when you can just walk right through!

I wonder what the designers were thinking when they designed these barriers! You can just walk past the rail- no security checks whatsoever! I hope that this excellent design work is implemented at DisneyLand so I do not have to pay an extortionate amount to get in. Just show up and walk past :)

10. A room with a view

Swiss alps! Nah, this view is even better. Side effect of such a view: Claustrophobia for life!

If you do not (yet) have claustrophobia, then living in one of these buildings will surely give you one!

11. A poorly designed fire exit

Just save yourself when there is a fire in the building! Don't tell anyone! Jokes apart- for sensitive installations such as this, words matter. Imagine there is a fire in the building and someone just followed those instructions and went out of the building.

A badly designed Fire Exit door! Classic example of complicating simple things.

It is high time that designers and human factors researchers get involved not just in digital projects (i.e. designing digital products and services) but also across spectrum of products and service offerings which are non-digital (in this case human factor researchers could have worked with the architects of the building to figure out what message can be placed on a fire exit door).

12. A confusing staircase?

How do you plan on coming down the stairs? I think I might break my leg if I use these!

Can you climb down safely using these stairs?

13. A not so accessible toilet

Well, this hurts! A disabled toilet and shower with a step :(

14. Mesmerizing streets of Belgium

I do not know if these are actually meant for sitting or for something else :) Guess, the designers either had a bad day or lack social skills.

Would you like to sit on these benches and have a nice time with your friends?

15. A not so well-designed toilet.

All that was missing from this list was a poorly designed toilet :) It is designed with the idea of "relieving yourself in peace" (pun intended).