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Bad Designs Examples

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Submitted By mrducvu
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A Gallery of Bad Designs

Water-resistant watch
This case is about a water-resistant watch that is designed for athletes including swimmers. It is waterproofed indeed, but only if you do not push any buttons under water. Though it is not convenient for swimmers at all. In water sports it is quite usual to use a watch in the water, for example when you need to stop your lap time. The point is if you purchase a water-resistant watch, you expect it be like that when using it all the time.
To avoid this problem there are two opportunities: They should be fair enough to mark it clearly on the boxing or on the watch itself that it is not always waterproofed. But that could put the brand in a worse position when the customer compares that watch with similar products from competing brands. Though the best solution would be to re-design and then test the watch in order to provide an absolute water-resistant product like many other producers do.

Smooth as glass The next case is about a modern designer hot water control knob on the bathroom sink in a fancy hotel. It is made out of chrome and very minimalistic i.e. the shape is very easy, round und unremarkable. But that is not the point at all. The problem is the material, which tend to get very sleek when it is wet. Though once you soaped your hands you hardly cannot turn it on or off anymore.
The solution is will be that the control knob has to be re-designed. By adding a ripples around you have more grip even with wet hands. This problem could have been avoiding by testing it under realistic circumstances. Probably the designer and his team only made a dry run. In this example you can see it is not always all about the design. Sure it can look good, but do not forget that it still should be easy to use.
Paper towel dispenser
A paper towel dispenser in a restroom plays the star role in the last case. The point is that in order to get a paper towel to dry your hands, you may get in touch with the already used ones from the waste bin that is just a few inches below the dispenser. Every time the tiny bin is full, it is unavoidable to reached into the used ones.
There are two recommendations to solve this problem. The producer of those paper towel dispensers either enlarges the bin or the increases the space between the bin and the dispenser. This problem would not have showed up if the producer had concentrated more on logical and practical aspects than on space or material factors.

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