20 Products Designed By People Who Apparently Don't Have To Use Them Ever

Ashley Hunte
A Fabuloso cleaner bottle. The liquid inside is opaque and yellow, resembling juice.
reddit | TheElegiast

Sometimes, it feels like the things you see or buy in a store were made as frustratingly bad as possible. Why? I have no idea. To keep us on our toes, I guess?

Well, the things in this list are definitely doing something. Can't really say that's a good thing, though. But hey, the people who designed this things probably don't care one bit.

"Currently on a bus drive, they use an environmentally friendly cup, but apparently it leaks so they just use a plastic Cup beneath."

A sustainable compostable cup held inside of a clear plastic cup.
reddit | WoooshIfSmallP****

Look, companies' hearts were in the right place when they started to shift to compostable cups and stuff. But, uh, they don't last long.

"This fuel gauge does a pretty bad job at telling how much fuel there is."

A fuel gage for a vehicle that has fractions rather than a full to empty meter.
reddit | NikadaLV

I'm not even sure what kind of vehicle this is for, but it basically doesn't matter. This is confusing and horrible. Good time to shift to electric, I guess?

"My wife bought our son new drawer pulls to match his space theme. I can't tell you how much this one annoys me."

A drawer knob with a moon design on it. There are stars visible behind the crescent moon where there shouldn't be any.
reddit | TinySpacecraft

I feel like the person who designed this knob has never seen the moon before. Or they just don't care that you can't see stars around the crescent like that. Crescent moon or not, it's still a sphere.

"Making your cigarette disposal boxes out of flammable material."

A cigarette disposal area that's melted from the heat of the cigarettes.
reddit | philman132

Look, I don't smoke either, so I probably also wouldn't think to make the disposal bin something other than plastic. Maybe it needed a smoker's opinion before being installed...

"My wife bought me a beard straightener. It has a setting that turns your face into an ice cube 0°F (-18°C)."

A handheld heating appliance with a setting for 0 degrees F.
reddit | tattoomoto

Um... 0 degrees is, like, middle of winter kind of cold. Why would anyone want to use that setting for their beard?

It almost feels like the person who made this has never has no idea what hair is.

"Facebook logo covers the age restriction on this honey bottle."

A bottle of honey that has a disclaimer not to feed to infants under a certain age. The age itself is obscured by the Facebook logo.
reddit | thomasyhall

I guess we'll never know how old you have to be before you can start eating honey. Maybe there is no minimum age, and no one's supposed to eat it.

"You guys remember when Superman Transformer was in Infinity War? That's probably my favourite character from that movie."

A toy that's somehow a combination of Superman, Transformers, and the Avengers.
reddit | Alexbro200

This is one confusing toy. It almost feels like somebody made it without never having seen a movie before.

"I had to ask for directions."

A confusing sign with arrows pointing in multiple directions, for an order pickup area.
reddit | hein_4412

Not a product, but somebody who doesn't have to actually follow these instructions printed this out. They probably aren't the one who has to deal with all the complaints and questions, either.

"Rug burn slide of death."

A kids' play slide that's fully carpeted.
reddit | DaRealPatrickStar

See, this is just plain evil. How could you make a slide for kids, and then cover it in carpet? Probably couldn't get a few inches down without being completely covered in rug burns. Just looking at it is making me sore.

"Crappy access to disabled space, but it has a nice flowers in front of it!"

A disabled parking space with an island directly in front of it, covering half of the space to enter the space.
reddit | Stevetrov

This is what happens when a non-disabled person designs something for disabled people. They completely drop the ball. At least the planter box is pretty?

"This stall lets out directly into whoever is using the urinal."

A urinal directly in front of a toilet stall in a public bathroom.
reddit | SpacelessWorm

I swear, it feels like people design bathrooms to have as much stuff in them as possible, but don't actually pay attention to the flow of the space. People need to be able to move to the stall to use it.

"A light fixture with hardwired lights you can't replace."

A light fixture with five lights. Three of them are burnt out.
reddit | /itsyourmomcalling

I have an LED light where you can't replace the bulb, and it's lasted years so far. But it's just one light. Not a group of five. This makes no sense.

"A decorative pillar next to the mirror of a dance studio, the architect boasts that 'the dance studio is in the shape of a grand piano and the pillar resembles the stand for the lid of the grand piano.' People have smacked into it."

A dance studio with a large, white pillar off to the side of the mirror. A cyan square is drawn onto the image to highlight the pillar.
reddit | alexandrite_XVII

Oh yeah, because having a giant pillar in the middle of a dance studio makes perfect sense.

"Invoice makes my eyes bleed."

A poorly formatted email with different fonts on every part, different font colours, and things spaced out in uneven boxes. Personally identifying information is blocked out with black bars.
reddit | wakbat

This has got to be the single worst email I've ever seen. It just screams, "I took a single design class and now I think I know everything." But of course, the sender probably doesn't care as much as the recipients.

"My classmate's exercise book."

A green notebook with information blocked out. The visible words read, "The shiny is the is."
reddit | Tdikristof_

I don't think there's an actual way to read that phrase. In fact, it's probably not even a phrase at all. It's just nonsense that the designer thought looked cool in that space. It's so bad it's making me angry.

"This bus in Hungary."

The leg of a person sitting in a bus seat. Their leg is directly next to the stop button.
reddit | Kloczka09

You can tell that this bus was designed by someone who never takes public transit. Or else they'd know that people don't like accidentally hitting a poorly-placed stop button. And I'm sure the driver likes it even less.

"This portable heater has started to melt its own handle."

A portable heater with a handle outstretched in front of where the air comes out of. The handle shows visible signs of melting.
reddit | devoneater1

I mean like, why would you put the handle there in the first place? It seems like it would've been a no-brainer to stick the handle on the top, like a normal portable heater.

"Cheesecake bandage looks like a gaping wound."

A bandage made to look like a slice of cheesecake with red sauce drizzled on it.
reddit | PhantaVal

Having a bandage shaped like a slice of cheesecake is one thing, but then they decided that adding strawberry sauce to the design was a good idea. It wasn't. In fact, that just looks gross.

"So I almost DIED at school today (not a water bottle)."

A bottle of hand sanitizer shaped exactly like a water bottle.
reddit | blackcovenant666

Hand sanitizer may not have the consistency of water, but it's still clear. And you won't smell the alcohol until after you open it. So why would anyone think making a sanitizer bottle shaped like a water bottle was a good idea?

"Design of the bottle and logo looks way too close to a Sunny D-like drink. If a kid couldn't read this would go bad."

A Fabuloso cleaner bottle. The liquid inside is bright yellow and resembles juice.
reddit | TheElegiast

Again, you probably shouldn't put liquids in an easily accessible bottle if they look like juice...