35 Shamefully Bad Design Choices Spotted In The Wild This Week (March 29, 2026)
I’m no expert, but if your design is so bad that I can spot it, that’s a problem. And judging by this week’s roundup of design fails, there are a lot of problems out there.
Thankfully, the internet is full of good Samaritans who spot these design disasters in the wild and share them with the rest of us.
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1. “The thermostat in my hotel room”
Someone at this company looked at three buttons, decided the logical thing to do was label them On/Off, Mode, and Fan, and then drew arrows to the completely wrong buttons with such confidence that it made it into production. The yellow arrow circles the Mode button and points to “Cool.” The green arrow circles the Fan button and points to “Hi.” The red arrow circles the On/Off button and points to “ON.” So essentially every button does the job of a different button, which means this thermostat operates exactly like a toddler explaining how a thermostat works. Congratulations, you’ve purchased a puzzle disguised as climate control.
2. “At what point do you just go ‘Ya know what, it isn’t worth the open floor water feature'”
3. The Shower In My Dorm Freshman Year (I’m Only 5’7)
4. “When you want privacy, but also want to make new friends.”
The door is there. It’s a real door, made of real wood, with real hinges and a real latch. It does everything a door is supposed to do except the one thing a bathroom stall door exists to do, which is prevent eye contact with strangers while you handle your business. Whoever signed off on these dimensions looked at this gap — this generous, airy, full-toilet-visibility gap — and thought yeah, that tracks. The saloon called. They want their aesthetic back, but even they had the decency to cover the important parts.
5. Which direction opens it? The arrows go the same direction…
Both arrows point clockwise. One of them says “Twist to Close and Seal” and the other says “Twist to Open and Drink.” They go the same direction. Clockwise is apparently both the opening direction and the closing direction simultaneously, which is physically impossible but here we are. This bottle has essentially turned hydration into a philosophy problem. You don’t open it, you just commit to a direction and accept whatever happens next.
6. “Before you THINK. PARK!”
7. “This new ‘Boardwalk’ sign in Ocean City, MD”
8. “Marriott Hotel Night Stand LED Aimed at My Face”
9. Thanks, I Hate Foetus Lamp
10. “That’s one way to really drive the message home.”
11. “The timers on the remote for my lights”
12. “ATM in the wall AND window of a 1690 building”
13. “This oven’s temperature dial design is unintuitive to say the least”
14. This Was The “Sink” In A Restaurant
15. Why would you write Dry mouth relief on a hand sanitizer bottle?!
16. “Orange is the new milk”
17. “Have A Shart”
18. “Fig bars barred by easy-access opening to only middle of middle”
19. “Love Handles”
20. “Saw this in a hotel in St.Augustine”
21. “Don’t me touch please”
22. “Rosemary is on my kitchen mat twice. Guess they couldn’t think of another herb.”
23. “Brand promotion to… an eerie quote”
24. “The oven control is clockwise but the hot plates are counter-clockwise”
25. “The threads on this bottle are glazed too. The lid doesn’t go on”
26. “This toilet at the hotel I went to”
27. “Italian toilet signs are truly something else…”
28. “Local ComiCon has a huge Hulk who appears to be in an uncomfortable situation”
29. “Ticket barriers at the steps leading up to Novi Beograd railway station”
30. “Daylight? Then you don’t get to read your speedometer.”
31. This Was Not A Fun Experience
32. My Soul Just Fell Down These Stairs
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