Human instinct drives us to build, create, and design. We can thank this natural motivation for some of the world’s most marvelous architectural constructions, ingenious inventions, and breathtaking works of art. However, it’s also responsible for some of human history’s most facepalm-worthy flops. Most bad ideas have been lost in the sands of time but, nowadays, we have cameras that can capture these absurd and unfortunate design fails. Luckily, we have these pics saved forever, so that we can chuckle, cringe, scratch our heads and — most importantly — learn from other people’s mistakes.
Some Roads Fork, Others Zig-Zag
Sure, the fastest way to get from point A to point B is a straight line, but life’s not all about speed. Whoever designed this sidewalk clearly knew the value in slowing down and living in the moment.
This city planner envisioned a pathway where pedestrians could take a moment to stop and smell the roses. The only problem? No room left in the budget for roses.
Easiest Three-Pointers Ever
The key to success is working smarter, not harder. So, why waste time training when you can just move the goal post closer? Or in this case, the basketball hoop.
This isn’t the portable kind of hoop that can move around on wheels. These sneaky star athletes must have repaved the court and painted new boundaries that worked to their advantage.
You Know What? I’ll Just Hold It
For the timid, overly-polite people who are afraid to impose, there’s nothing more mortifying than knocking on a bathroom door and hearing a meager, “Just a minute!” from behind the door.
Locks that quietly communicate to the outside whether a bathroom is occupied or not might be the best invention of the 20th century. However, this latch is sending wicked mixed signals.
This Would Be a Strange Choice Even if It Wasn’t Incredibly Slippery
It’s hard not to get wrapped up in “Keeping Up with the Joneses,” but there are some things that should maybe just be left standardized for the whole neighborhood.
This household decided to upgrade their sidewalk with some sleek slate-gray stones. Chic? Depends on your taste. However, no matter what your personal style, these tiles are so slippery that everyone’s bound to taste the pavement after it rains.
In Case Yours Isn’t So Fresh
Whether you wash your hair daily or just a few times a week, nothing can make you feel quite as unclean as a reminder that you can’t spell “shampoo” without “poo.”
The designers of this bottle were trying to go for a simple, minimalist design but made a major oversight. Let’s hope they lather, rinse, and never repeat this mistake.
What Goes Up Must Come Down?
This remote control is like the physical manifestation of rubbing your belly and patting your head at the same time. Opposite from the logical layout, the button to lower the volume is on the top and the button to raise the volume is one the bottom.
Sure, your brain might adapt to this counterintuitive clicker, but an unlucky houseguest unfamiliar with this remote is sure to have an awkward encounter if they’re trying to slyly watch something they would rather be kept on the down low.
Slippery When WHAT?!
Designing a bathroom with a raised bathtub is a risky decision that can look quite splashy if done correctly. However, if you pair it with a tile floor that creates an optical illusion, it’s a blueprint for disaster.
Even with bathroom floors that are one level and a solid color, it’s important to take care not to slip. Imagine trying to navigate this bathroom in the middle of the night.
Somebody’s Getting Fired
If some city employee took the time to carefully cut a piece of that yellow grate and attached it to one of the cable line covers, the LEAST that the cable provider could do is place them in the correct spot!
Even if you’re not a perfectionist, mistakes like these can be so infuriating because they’re easily avoidable. Hopefully these covers can be swapped easily, without special tools or needing to call the municipality.
Is This A Joke?
Plastic packaging has become so frustrating and impenetrable that even scissors sometimes don’t do the trick. It’s about time that someone invented a special tool for the job.
However, why in the world would they sell this device like this? It’s like selling a locked safety deposit box with the key inside. We can only assume that the inventor of the product had no say in the marketing decisions.
You Can’t Look Directly In This Mirror
Nobody has a perfectly symmetrical face, but this mirror unfortunately makes that glaringly clear. Designing a mirror like a sectioned window pane was a cute idea in theory, but not so much in practice.
When getting ready in this bathroom, you can’t get a good look at your overall appearance. Rather, you’ve got to take it one quadrant at a time. “Mirror, mirror, not on the wall, who’s the fairest… oh wait, can’t see at all.”
Handicapped Spot or Homicide?
This image raises more questions than answers. If this is a parking spot, why is it blocking the stairs? If it’s meant to direct people who use wheelchairs, why not lead them to an elevator?
There’s something so foreboding about this pic that makes it look more like a police chalk outline of a handicapped homicide than a parking spot.
Mixed Signals
Either this door is giving mixed signals or it swings both ways. Whatever the case may be, the best thing to do would be walk away and look for another entrance into the building.
When one door closes, another door opens. Let’s just hope that someone holds it open so you don’t have to stand there scratching your head about whether to push or pull.
Win-DOH!
This person probably spent a pretty penny on this ad on the side of a city bus. Unfortunately, they didn’t invest enough time thinking about the placement of the image and the position of the windows.
Buses get stuffy, and when passengers open up the windows to let in a little air, the man’s face gets all sorts of warped. It looks like one of those funny filters that changes the proportions of your face. Not exactly how you’d choose to promote your business, is it?
Deal or No Deal?
Over the years, those CAPTCHA tests have gotten trickier and trickier, to the point where we sometimes doubt ourselves whether or not we’re robots.
However, it’s even more confusing when the test to see whether or not you’re a robot happens in real life. This has us thinking: what would have happened if she failed the test?
Really Crappy Design
Mirrored ceilings are cliche staples in groovy 1970s love shacks or motels you rent by the hour…but they are rarely (if ever!) seen in public restrooms. As it turns out, there is a very good reason why you wouldn’t put this type of tile on a bathroom ceiling.
This person found that, even in the locked bathroom stall, there was not even a hint of privacy. Interior designers: take a moment to reflect before you put reflective surfaces in restrooms.
Are You Flushing Serious?
Every so often we see some “high-tech” restroom designs that switch from see-through to opaque as soon as the latch is locked. It’s the ultimate test of where to put your trust: is it more likely that the special stalls will malfunction, or that you won’t be able to hold it until you find another restroom?
Personally, not in a million years would we find any relief if we were forced to “relieve” ourselves in a bathroom such as this. We’re all for bold design choices and taking aesthetic risks…as long as it’s not in public restrooms!
Read Between the Lines
Pro Tip: If you’re embroidering a pillow, choose thread that isn’t the exact same color as the fabric. Especially if you’re creating text – most people read the words with their eyes, not feel them with their hands.
It’s amazing how this pillow made it to production with only every other word visible. Even if the alternating color was a few shades lighter or a few shades darker, it would have made all the difference.
Handle With Care
This restroom is far from gender neutral. In fact, it’s very in your face about this being the men’s restroom. The door’s “special feature” is so pronounced that it’s hard to imagine the design mishap was unintentional.
Some establishments get cheeky with their gendered restroom signs, but this doorknob is a bit too anatomically correct. You’ve got to wonder if the designer was in on the joke. Either way, you’re going to want to make sure you wash your hands.
Chew on THAT
One of the perils of puppy ownership is the terrible teething phase. Many pup parents have gone through the frustrating experience of coming home to find that man’s best friend is also furniture’s worst enemy.
Pet stores sell special sprays that supposedly keep those curious canine teeth away from wood surfaces, but that was a challenge this dog was willing to take. The pup chewed right through the bottle – hopefully they can get their money back on the spray.
Stop Stair-ing
It takes a lot of minds and a lot of hard work to develop an office building from the ground up. Seemingly, the person who designed the beams and the person who designed the banister had a difference of opinions.
Instead of reaching a compromise, it looks like they decided to keep the original blueprints, clashing structures in all. We can understand stubbornly sticking to your design, but how is this physically possible?
Arrrghhh-chitectual Indigestion
Even if there was a great discount on the rent, this is a home that no perfectionist would ever be able to live in comfortably. The corner where one hallway meets another is about an inch off.
Instead of lining up at perfectly harmonious right angles, every intersection is slightly askew. Unfortunately, this isn’t like an off-center picture frame that you can take off the wall and re-hang. This is a permanent imperfection.
Lady Macbathtub
Shakespeare’s iconic literary villain is famous for yelling “Out damned spot!” in her sleepwalking scene. Unfortunately, this differently-colored tile is a bad dream you can’t wake up from.
Likewise, the tile’s pigment is not something you can just wash away. The only options are to live with the infuriating imperfection or to gut the bathroom and remodel entirely.
Follow the Liter
You know when you’re at a restaurant, ordering a Coke, and they ask you, “Is Pepsi okay?” This is just like that except on an entirely different level.
Whether you’re Team Coke or Team Pepsi, everyone can agree that there is no comparison between the two. Even if the unlucky customer couldn’t spot the difference, they would probably taste it immediately.
Always Hedge Your Bets
The owner of this apartment building obviously spent a solid amount of money on their landscaping design and garden maintenance. So, was there no room in the budget for one more bush?
Every corner of the pathway’s intersection is flanked by two shrubs, with the exception of one. We can’t help but wonder if there’s some practical purpose for this foliage shortfall or if it’s simply an oversight that’s thrown off the garden’s symmetry.
How the Tables Have Turned!
Or, in this case, just the bench. Somehow, whether it was a manufacturer’s defect or an error in assembly, this seating arrangement has one bench facing the wrong direction.
While it’s visually very uncomfortable, maybe it’s not so noticeable once you’re seated. Besides, it looks like the best view is in the field behind the table, not the asphalt lot it’s pointed towards.
Off With Her Head!..and Torso?
Puzzles can be tricky. Still, even if they’re not your preferred pastime, how in the world could someone set these tiles so extraordinarily in the wrong place.
The poor woman’s entire upper half is detached from the rest of her person and, given that it looks like the grout has already dried, she’ll likely never be properly aligned.
Cut It Out!
If the baker went through all the trouble of marking perfectly portioned slices with powdered sugar, what reason could a person have for cutting this cheesecake so egregiously outside the lines?
The cake-cutter is certainly out of bounds for this blunder. Luckily, not too much damage has been done and we can get back on course with just a few big bites. Now, somebody please pass a fork.
When Your Security Gate Is A Ladder
Some people believe that if a thief really wants to break into a building, they’re going to find a way. Still, a “security” gate that’s basically a ladder is just giving trespassers an open invitation.
The gaps between the rungs are so big that it makes us wonder the purpose of the door in the first place. Based on the door’s design it probably can’t keep anything from finding its way inside.
Don’t Mess With Big Pharma
There is so much wrong with this image that we can’t even get to the snake drinking the martini. Would you trust this establishment that claims to be a pharmacy “for the whole family?”
The sign makes it look more like it’s pointing toward the gallows than the place where you can pick up your prescriptions. It’s amazing how the figurines weren’t removed immediately, or even glued above the red cross instead.
Left, Right, and Center
Look, we see why this person needed to label their light switches. Intuition would tell us that the switch for the center light would be, well, in the center.
However, in a shocking twist, the electrician decided to cross his wires. It’s not “lights out” on this electrician’s career, but it’s definitely not their brightest idea.
Ride at Your Own Risk
City planners should always make sure to incorporate pathways for pedestrians and cyclists into their blueprints. However, typically you would not want those paths to be one and the same.
This civil engineer seemingly missed the mark, making one lane on the side of the road for people both with and without wheels. Not only that, but they also build the bike lane with a massive tree right in the center of the path.
Full of Dispense
You never want to run out of paper towels in a public restroom, but there’s a balance between being prepared and being majorly overstocked. If you ask us, a ratio of one paper towel dispenser per sink is about the limit.
This bathroom’s designer, however, decided that some rules are made to be broken. They packed the potty with three sinks but five paper towel dispensers. Hopefully that means they have to restock half as often.
Don’t Sheet the Bed
In theory, satin sheets adorned with red roses set the scene for a romantic bedroom. In reality, it looks more like a crime scene.
The bedspread gets the heart racing and blood pumping, but not in the way that a guest at this hotel would hope. Regardless, you can’t see the spooky design when the lights are turned off.
Troubled Bridge Over Troubled Water
The netizen who posted the pic captioned the image “This is how I broke my leg.” Honestly, we get it. Bridges are supposed to offer safe passage, but the bridge is almost more treacherous than the water underneath.
After hearing about this person’s terrible experience, there ain’t no river wide enough to get us to walk across this bridge. We’ll choose to wade in the water any day of the week.
Cheek to Cheek
Everyone knows that, when it comes to design, “cozy” is just a code word for “small and cramped.” While cozy isn’t necessarily a bad thing, it’s certainly not the vibe you’re going for with a pair of public restroom urinals.
Practically shoulder-to-shoulder, and definitely hip-to-hip, this restroom doesn’t leave any room for personal space. If you’re comfortable putting your male camaraderie to the test, there isn’t a problem. However, introverts beware!
Designs That Break The Mold
We thought about making cheesy jokes about this horrible packaging, but all the puns were stinky. There’s nothing more off putting than moldy cheese, so the reason any cheesemonger would package their product this way is beyond us.
The secret to making good cheese is letting it age. Similarly, the trick to good marketing is not hiring a designer that was born yesterday. That’s the only way we imagine this could have made it past the drawing board.
A New Toothbrush Down the Drain
We don’t know why someone would connect a sink and a toilet. However, we now know exactly why not to do this. One wrong move and your toothbrush can slip off the side of the sink and slide directly into the toilet bowl.
The most ironic part about this bad idea is that it is seemingly a custom design. Someone thought that their unique bathroom would be a royal flush, but it ended up being money down the drain.
Locker Up!
Apparently, this school doesn’t have ‘spatial reasoning’ on the curriculum. Lockers are a necessity for any student to keep their many textbooks, belongings, and backpack safe and secure while they’re in class. Unfortunately, it’s only helpful if the things can actually fit inside.
Shelves are particularly important for making the best use of vertical space. However, these shelves are majorly misaligned, making it almost impossible to fit normal-shaped stuff inside.
World War WHAT?
No, you didn’t miss a chapter (or 9) of history, this is merely a highly unlucky design blunder. The Roman numeral I is not interchangeable with the number 1, as this ill-fated placard makes clear.
Instead of paying tribute to World War II, it looks like it’s a message from the future, paying tribute to World War Eleven! Let’s make sure we achieve peace on earth before things get that crazy, okay?
Whatever, Just Wash Your Hands
Hold it! The signs hanging above the door say one thing and the signs attached to the door say another. It’s like a risky game of restroom roulette and the stakes are high.
These mixed messages are sure to give anyone pause before they pick a potty. Hopefully, these are single-occupancy restrooms, and the signs are just a silly social experiment meant to give people a giggle.
Scrambled Signage
Context clues let us know that these painted bricks are supposed to signal the pavement’s bike path. Still, if we saw this design out of context, we’d have to assume they are letters from an alien language.
All sorts of scrambled, these bricks look more like unknown hieroglyphs or some satanic symbolism. Just in case not everyone can decipher the code, make sure to wear a helmet when you’re riding your bike here.
“Window” Seat Woes
Some people feel strongly about getting a window seat, others are attached to the aisle. and the people who have a particular preference with often shell out a few extra bucks to sit in their seat of choice.
When this kid’s sky-high expectations were unexpectedly grounded, his bewildered expression says it all. “Where’s the window?!” I guess “window seat” is more of a feeling and less of a guarantee. Hopefully he got some extra in-flight snacks to make up for it.
Stuck Without a Stick
There’s nothing like an ice cold popsicle on a summer day to beat the scorching heat. This unlucky sucker unwrapped his icy pop and what he found inside was not so sweet.
Rather than the stick sticking out, it was stuck inside. Without something to hold onto, a popsicle is more of a trick than a treat. Hopefully, this didn’t become TOO sticky of a situation.
The Doodle That Can’t Be Un-did
Erasers are supposed to help you out when you’ve made a grave graphite error, but this pencil has gone to the dark side. Instead of scrubbing away the slipup, it’s spreading and smudging it all around.
Instead of discretely deleting the misspelling, the evil eraser has made sure that there is no way the professor grading this test can avoid seeing the student’s stumble.
“I’m the world’s most dangerous predator, Bella.”
When you’re a superfan of the world’s most famous vampire franchise, it’s understandable to want to wear your emotions on your sleeve. Still, this silly snapshot shows why certain people should maybe stick to posters instead.
When flat, the t-shirt shows a perfectly proportional print of Twilight’s main protagonist. However, once the fan is wearing the shirt, it’s stretched out in a way that makes Bella more half-hamster than half-vampire.
You Don’t See The Problem Here?
One apartment building took the admirable initiative to be more inclusive by adding braille below their apartment address signs. The only problem is that they had the braille written on bumpy tile.
For those who don’t know, braille is a writing system developed for the blind or visually impaired that’s felt with raised dots rather than seen. If the dots are placed on a bumpy surface, it’s probably a lot like trying to read writing that’s been scribbled over.
If This Isn’t Yellow Plastic, Urine Trouble
These unusual five-gallon jugs show us exactly why they should always be made with blue plastic. Instead, these particular bottles were made with yellow material, and the result is, shall we say, piss poor.
These look like they would be placed below a urinal, not above a water cooler. Even if the water pours clear, there is something so upsetting about the visual that we’d have to be pretty thirsty to even drink it.
Oh Holy Night
Christmas decorations are meant to brighten up the home with cheer and joy. However, these angel candle holders look like they might be up to something not so angelic.
If we saw these on our Grandma’s mantle, we’d certainly have to do a double take. Instead of bringing the light of the lord, they look a bit like they’re putting the rub in cherub.
Pretty Good Advice
In case you needed a reminder, here is a street sign letting you know that twenty children is a bit too many. Personally, we’d set the limit far lower (probably before you get to double-digits) but definitely not approaching two-dozen!
Of course, this road sign is trying to let drivers know that there are children present, and they shouldn’t exceed 20 mph on this street. Still, both messages are good to keep in mind!
Jeepers Creepers
In most big cities, parking is so limited that building developers often have to get creative. To make use of underground space, some new buildings make use of these types of electronic parking garages.
They function much like elevators for cars. However, as this photo shows, they’re not without their flaws. When a jeep parked on top of the platform, his insurance premium wasn’t the only thing going up.