Dieter Rams, the godfather of industrial design, defined ‘good design’ as making the product useful, understandable, innovative, aesthetic, unobtrusive, honest, and long-lasting. But that’s not even close to being all! It also has to be thorough to the last detail, environmentally friendly, and involve as little design as possible. Over time, these ten principles have become the blueprint for design, inspiring many creators worldwide. 

However, not all stick to such guidelines, producing many various design failures, which this successful subreddit takes pride in collecting. We, at Bored Panda, have published quite a few articles reviewing them, and today we are treating you to a list of some of the best, or perhaps worst ones, that make people scratch their heads from confusion. To find them, all you have to do is scroll down.

#1

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#2 This Clothing Display

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#3 Just Why

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Dieter Rams, a German industrial designer known for his less but better approach to design, outlined the characteristics of good design so creators know what is expected of them. He had immense influence in this field and helped to shape how products in the 20th and early 21st centuries looked and worked. Alarm clocks, toothbrushes, and coffeemakers are just a few of his hallmarks. 

In the late 1970s, Rams tried to figure out the world around him, asking himself the important question, “Is my design good design?” The answer led him to his ten principles, which we’re going to discuss more below.

#4 Spoiler

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#5 Toilets And Mirror Ceiling

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#6 Oh Boy, There's Platypus Period In My Tea!

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First, a designer should always strive for innovation. The world is constantly progressing, and new technologies are offering plenty of opportunities for novel and inventive ideas. Therefore, design has to keep up by taking these creative ideas and turning them into useful solutions to modern problems. 

Innovation in design can take many forms. It can involve new materials or technologies, rethinking traditional ways of designing, or finding fresh solutions to impractical issues. By embracing innovation, creators can come up with products that aren’t only functional but also sustainable and cost-effective.

#7 Unfortunate Dog Placement

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#8 Professor, I Can't Get These Audio Files In Our Textbook To Play

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#9 I Think I Know Why

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Even in the 1970s, Rams was concerned with the environment, waste, and consumer culture. In his 1976 speech, he said, “I imagine our current situation will cause future generations to shudder at the thoughtlessness in the way in which we today fill our homes, our cities, and our landscape with a chaos of assorted junk.”

#10 This Amazing Pregnancy Test

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#11 This Unfortunately Designed Kid's Balloon

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#12 I'm Just Gonna Let The Fire Consume Me

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With fewer and fewer natural resources, he believes that both buyers and designers should take responsibility for the state our world is in. He calls for an end to wastefulness and continues to advocate sustainable and innovative creations. 

#13 Sign At A Local Beach

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#14 Idk I'm European

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#15 It's A Trap!

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It's self-explanatory that the main reason people buy a product is so they can use it. That’s why design shouldn’t detract from its usefulness either. However, an item that is considered useful to one may be entirely useless to others, so the specific criteria that determine this remain difficult to define.

#16 Nothing Like The Smell Of Coffee And A Good Eye-Stab In The Morning

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#17 Rose Uh ?

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#18 This Bath Bomb's Final Color

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Something that makes buyers use the item more is if it’s aesthetically pleasing. When we don’t enjoy the look of it, we are less likely to pick it up.

Without a doubt, it should also be easy to utilize without any details interfering with the user's experience. By saying that design should be unobtrusive, Rams is emphasizing the importance of simplicity and usability. Choosing a classic design that never looks outdated also prevents more products from ending up in landfills.

#19 This Kid Mannequin

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#20 This Flower Print Dress

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#21 Proofreading This Book Couldn't Have Been That Hard

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Finally, the product should be honest with its consumers, meaning that a person shouldn’t feel disappointed when an item doesn’t work as well as they hoped. So the design should be as innovative, powerful, or valuable as it claims to be. According to Rams, products should be reliable, durable and allow people to use them as they were intended to be used.

#22 When Your Security Gate Is A Ladder

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#23 I Didn’t Qualify For This Paid Survey After Selecting “No”

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#24 Crystal Furniture Set That Looks Like Raw Meat

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In a nutshell, the best design won’t require extra explaining to its users, who will very much appreciate how simple yet thoughtful creations understand the people they are designed for. Jared Spool, the American writer, researcher, and usability expert, put it best, “Good design, when it’s done well, becomes invisible. It’s only when it’s done poorly that we notice it.”

#25 Being Gay Was A Sin They Said

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#26 How Much Do You Trust Your "Multilingual" Ad Designer?

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#27 Winnie

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#28 This Elevator

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#29 For When You Want A Near Death Experience Every Time You Use The Stairs

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#30 My Company Wanted To Make Our Fountain Pink For Breast Cancer Awareness. Didn't.... Quite Get It Right

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#31 Pulling Tissues From This Box Feels... Uncomfortable

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#32 When Life Gives You Lemons

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#33 This Catholic School Logo

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#34 Smh

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#35 Perfect Design

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#36 The Elders At My Brother-In-Law’s Church Got To Design The Church League Softball Shirts. The Thought “Cli” (Christian Life International) Alone Wouldn’t Signify A Church, So They Added The Cross. Magnificent

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#37 Put Barbecue Sauce Inside For Extra Confusion

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#38 I Bought A Billboard To Promote My Business And They Screwed Up The Formatting

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#39 A Scene From An Indian TV Show

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#40 Tell Your Wedding Guests To Die

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#41 Dial 999 For...oh

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#42 A Nail Or A Screw

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#43 The Pockets On Women's Trousers

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#44 Our Municiplaity Made Bike Lanes For Us Finally!

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#45 Gas Station In Nebraska. The Station's Color Scheme Was Red. They Tried To Get Artsy

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#46 Striped Carpet On Hotel Stairs. Hard To Use Even After Two Weeks And Completly Sober

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#47 The Placement Of This Baby's Head Wasn't Quite Thought Through

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#48 This Sign At The Akron Zoo That Looks Like A Man Peeing In His Own Face

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#49 Natural Beauty - Four Pairs Of Legs For Three Enourmous Torsos

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#50 Attention

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#51 Probably It's More Convenient

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#52 The 'Bathroom' In My Airbnb Will 100% Result In Shi**y Encounters With The Host

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#53 Closer Than You Think

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#54 Commas People

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#55 A New Park Opened In My City, Pretty Lovely, And This. Buttcleaner3000

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#56 This Captain Of The Submarine In My English Book

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#57 That's Not How It Works

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#58 To Motivate

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#59 Diapers For Mutant Baby

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#60 This Bus

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#61 Love Handles

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#62 We Are The Borg. Resistance Is Futile

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#63 So, It's Fine Then?

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#64 Urban Planning

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#65 Put Barbed Wire Across The Top Of The Gate. We Don't Want Anyone Climbing Over It

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#66 Pretty Sure He's Using It Wrong

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#67 A-Maza-Ing - Design

#68 Tunashamed

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#69 This Clock Store In Benghazi, Libya

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#70 This Ad Placement

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#71 Noted

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#72 The Clock Hands Don’t Glow

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#73 "We Need To Decorate The Toilet For The Disabled." "Say No More"

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#74 I Think They Forgot To Photoshop The Other B**b

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#75 Was Worried About Privacy, So I Asked If They Could Put A Door Up To The Men's Change Room. Problem Solved

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#76 Don’t Wake Anybody Up If You’re Exiting The Motel During A Fire!

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#77 Black One Is Salt, White One Pepper

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#78 We Cut Kids

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#79 Wow! What A Bargain!

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#80 Honey, You Really Shouldn't Have

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#81 Hey High School Bulldog, Meet My High School Wildcat

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#82 Be Positive?

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#83 The New School In My Community Has A Wheel Chair Access Button For The Door, But No Way For A Person In A Wheel Chair To Reach It

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#84 They Just Don't Go Together

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#85 Sometimes It's Okay To Judge A Book By Its Cover

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#86 I Don't Know If This Fits Here, But Do Not Leave Children Unattended At Whole Foods

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#87 Architect: So How Many Windows We Thinking? Client: Yes

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#88 I Needed Red. Guess Which One I Grabbed At First

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#89 My Arms Are About 7 Feet Long, So This Wasn't An Issue For Me

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#90 Parking Fee Just Gotten Real

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#91 Ho Ho-No

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#92 We All Party Down Here

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#93 Forever 21 Does Not Know How To Use Photoshop Or What Women Actually Look Like

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#94 It Almost Seems Intentional

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#95 Unfortunate Hole Placement

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#96 That's Gonna Be An Easy Ride

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#97 What Animal Is That?

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#98 Take My Honey

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#99 The Circle Of Life

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#100 Almost Broke My Leg

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#101 People Wearing Face Masks Looking Like Monsters

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#102 They Stopped Construction On The New Burger King In My Hometown Because The Building Is Backwards. They Put A Whole Building Up Backwards!

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#103 This Isn't Even My Final Form

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#104 Stay Home!

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#105 I Can't Even

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#106 My Son Just Asked Me Why This Lady Is Reading Poop Magazine. I'm So Proud

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#107 Because I Can See Through Stainless Steel

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#108 Sub-Par ATM Placement. Way Sub-Par

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#109 This Kid Friendly Hand Sanitizer Package. Looks Like One Of Those Apple Sauce Things, No?

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#110 I Was Having A Good Day Until I Went To The Supermarket

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#111 A Bag Of Apples With A Character On It That Got Poisoned By An Apple

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#112 One Armed Mother And A Demon Child

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#113 Step 4: Just Go Sit In Some Other Chair

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#114 My High School Commissioned A Bulldog Statue! This Is The Result

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#115 These Pull Tabs That Never Come Off

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#116 Plant Dyed Underwear On Etsy

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#117 Lex? Sex? Derp? Lox? Nope, It's Supposed To Say Jax For Jacksonville, Florida For $18 Million Dollars

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#118 Best Cat Carrier To Contain Your Sexy Cat

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#119 This Bench. Where I Live It Is Very Hot And It Is Impossible To Sit In This Park

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#120 Why Is Clear A Green Button While Enter Is Yellow? I Kept Accidentally Clearing My Pin

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#121 Vicious Incest?!

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#122 Correct Punctuation Is A Must!

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#123 I've Been Conditioned To Recognize This As "Do Not"

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#124 These New Public Trash Cans In The Us City I Live In (Binghamton, NY) That Definitely Won't Confuse Older Folks Trying To Send Mail

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#125 Very Long Message Warning (While Driving) Not To Take Your Eyes Off The Road For Too Long

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#126 My Four-Legged Duck

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#127 I See Your "Use Before: Made In China" And Raise You "Warning - Made In China"

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#128 This Ad For Graduation Photography

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#129 Where’s The 0?

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#130 This Graph

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#131 I’m Pretty Sure That’s Not How You’re Supposed To Hold A Scythe

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#132 Mate, I Don't Think That's A Seagull

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