Articles

These Crappy Designs Will Make You Feel Good About Your Visuals

by . March 10th, 2015

What is the purpose of design?

A good design incorporates both function and aesthetics. A well-designed object does not differentiate between form and function, but rather incorporates them into one single, coherent concept. This is the primary aim of designers—to communicate an idea without making the aesthetic component suffer.

A concept the following designs failed miserably at.

2eXN5IV

Subreddit /r/CrappyDesign is one of the subreddits that we highly recommend you to visit. And for a good reason. There are a lot of blog posts and articles in the internet that collates good designs and what makes the design effective. This subreddit is the opposite.

This subreddit was created by Daniel Allen, a UX interaction designer from Chicago. He was also the creator of Karmajobs, a a reddit jobs search engine, and did design work on print and in the web including Discovery Communications and Reddit Enhancement Suite.

In an interview from NewCity, Dan Allen said “It was more for my own consumption than anything. I feel an obligation to call out bad design because the people perpetuating it at the professional level should know better.”

The Crappy Design subreddit’s own interface pays homage to its namesake with its Comic Sans font and crazy use of color gradients and WordArt reminiscent of 90s-era websites.

As a designer, there is something addictive about looking at these godawful designs. Whether it is simply happiness with others’ misdesign or something else, let this be a reminder of what not to do when designing.

Admit it though, you have at least one crappy design hidden within the recesses of your design portfolio.

In any case, check out some of the crappiest designs featured in the subreddit:

GEbLHfT

I think there is a kerning problem

gD6ysdV

I hope the pizza was great.

P5v3oJH

R U?

And you thought it couldn’t get any worse.

h0Cm1oc

But is it art?

BOJrAHY

More Comic Sans!

RZtVYU8

POECE be with you

YOTZend

There’s something about that last ‘g’ that feels off.

jKD0SG6

We need photo size diversity too.

WGDg5KB

This is what we call irony’, Alanis.

28k5YmS

I think you forgot to Photoshop something, Greg.

ALFfE2O

Are we seeing another blue and black/white and gold phenomenon?

VpisBbc

ESAYCI AVPNYR AVPNYR

L3tRjiv

Well said.

yFazwWA

Tasteless sugar?

9GPNxt5

It’s all about the visuals.

ZaNEXPk

Sandwiches for my car.

Bc4J2LF

Who comes decides who country who comes this to?

 bbw_tim_cook_092214

Tim Cook’s Apple

Let me click it, darn it!

For more crappy design inspiration, visit /r/CrappyDesign. Because it’s your patriotic duty to do so.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Kevin is a reader first, a writer second, and a gamer somewhere in between. When not rooting for Tyrion Lannister for the Iron Throne, he's probably writing some morbid short story. He enjoys some surreal art, clever advertising campaigns, and a warm cup of coffee while reading Murakami.