[Closed] Nominations for the worst bit of design ever.

The isis bottom bracket

26" wheels or is 29", I forget.

Heathrow?!

White-goods that beep until you attend to them.

Alfa Romeo 156/147 suspension wishbones. Upper and Lower :-/

Alfa Romeo 156/147 suspension wishbones. Upper and Lower :-/

Feel your pain. Powerflex bushes can last a bit longer than standards.

At least they're a fairly easy job though - just wait until you've got to do the ARB bushes, they're a bitch.

Eggbeater pedals. They need to bloody well work!

Smoke detectors you need three arms to get off the ceiling. "Insert a screwdriver into the slot while sliding the case off." OK, but i'm on top of a chair on a table and i'd like to steady myself on the wall please.

The Philippe Stark plastic sofa ,i have to sit on one in my dentists waiting room as if being there wasn't pain enough.
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I'm sure it rides like angels carrying you across the trails but that is one goddam ugly bike.
Yes, I have seen some in the flesh and they are even worse than the photos.

F connectors on co-ax cable. Shit. Just shit.
Annoyingly over complicated and fiddly. Very prone to short out.

Paving Slab lifter

The whole GU10 light, TBH. WHen they break, they either take out the lighting circuit trip or explode into a thousand sharp pieces. Sometimes both...

Lumie alarm clock things. And Slough.

The kettle in our works canteen. It dribbles water all over the work surface when you make a brew. How the hell did they screw up the design of a kettle.?

The Alfa Guilia coupe and saloon rear suspension bump stop. A rubber section bonded (allegedly) to a steel base, then they use a spacer in raw aluminium with no barrier of any kind. When the rubber falls off, the steel bolts have had galvanitic corrosion with the aluminium spacer, which means that it takes forever with a hacksaw to cut through as there isn't really space to get an angle grinder in.

Or, on the same vehicle, putting the brake master cylinder in a very poorly sealed box under the footwell floor, right in the firing line of any spray etc. From the offside front wheel. This means that within a very short space of time the master cylinder gets crap in it and fails. Then, because the brake system has two remote servos, both quite a lot higher than the master cylinder, you have to use a pressure bleed system to get a firm pedal, and even then it is a right pain.

I loved the three GT juniors I had, right up till the time they had brake failure.

Low battery warnings

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So your battery is getting critically low. What can we do? I know, let's make it beep really often, flash too and I know, maybe vibrate also!
What a great idea!

👿

The mild steel metal coolant pipe attached to my T4 engine.
The coolant is no longer in the pipes as its rusted through.
£70 replacement for a steel pipe too. Why would you use a metal that corrodes so easily.

I am not looking forward to this day that is coming already because of:

The plastic ties and shrink wrap that nearly makes it impossible to remove a young child's toy from its packaging!

Shoulder joint.

Shoulder joint.

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Any appliance (hifi, video, DVD player etc) that uses a separate physical thing to hold the media that also has an eject button on the remote control. You have to go to the front of the machine anyway to change the cd/tape/video/DVD, so what's the point of the unnecessary eject button on the remote?

Any bulb on a modern car. Replacing them requires a contortionist midget with arms longer than a giraffe's neck.

Weetabix packaging. I have never, ever, managed to successfully peel the packaging apart as I am assuming, it is designed to do. Not once. Not even the new paper version.

Weetabix packaging. I have never, ever, managed to successfully peel the packaging apart as I am assuming, it is designed to do. Not once. Not even the new paper version.

Scissors on the little foldy over bits, then cut round. It's the only f-ing way.

Any bulb on a modern car. Replacing them requires a contortionist midget with arms longer than a giraffe's neck.

Reminds me of this:

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Those stupid threaded post bits that secure toilet seats and lids onto the pan. Surely there must be a better way by now......

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The Voice Recorders we use at work where you can eject the DVD using the remote interrogation software when you are miles from site BUT the tray then grinds itself into the cabinet door that houses the voice recorder, class.

A very critical piece of electronic equipment that routes data from multiple sources to other pieces of kit across a large chunk of the country which has two PSU's to power it, one main, the other standby. Should you replace a duff supply with another of a different mark then there is a large unplanned thermal event on the chassis backplane killing the entire kit. The manufacturer only revealed that different version PSU's shouldn't be used together after the fact.

The brand new PSU's that power our new radio system HMI's. Should the power fail to the PSU and then be reapplied, because the components are so cheap and have effectively cooked themselves, the loss of power and reapplication causes them to fail, leading to the loss of the HMI and a safety critical failure. At a site where there was a power outage we lost 8 out of 9 HMI's for most of a day whilst spares were couriered to site.

The AE35 antenna control unit.

Stainless tea pots in cafes - obviously designed to spill the tea everywhere, because that is what they always do!

Chiller cabinets without doors. Honestly, even before the green agenda really got going you'd have shops spending money on leccy to run the chillers whilst cranking the heating up so the staff didn't walk out. Barmy.

[url= http://singletrackmag.com/forum/topic/chrysler-pt-cruser-real-life-experience ]PT Cruiser![/url]

Comic Sans font.

The 'nob trying to be a bit wacky' font.

The Forthside Pedestrian Bridge in Stirling.

It's a pedestrian bridge in that only pedestrians can use it - those in wheel chairs, with prams or bicycles are barred because the lifts never work. It takes you from a traffic island sort-of-outside Stirling railway station to a large expanse of tarmac where you then have to wander across a muddy field next to a half-finished set of shops. The path is too narrow and wanders like a meandering river - when you just want to go somewhere.

Chuffin' useless.

And it was going to be called the Millennium bridge but opened late because nobody had built a bridge that worked before.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/tayside_and_central/8029524.stm

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Chiller cabinets without doors.

I am always amazed at the chest freezers in supermarkets. Aldi/Lidl's all have the slidey tops, whereas all the big supermarkets still use the open top versions. Madness for so many reasons.

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What to open it with.....

Any hand dryer apart from air blades. Who signed of the design?
'Does it work?'
'Oh yes'
'but my hands aren't dry'
'erm'

The hard plastic security bubble packaging that is impossible to open, except with a razor sharp knife. Plus, when its open, it leaves wound inflicting jaggy edges..

Those crappy little coffee cups with a handle only big enough for one finger if you are lucky.

LTV-1000 PEEP valve - has a ratchet in it that's released by pushing in the yellow button on the end, but no-one knows this as it's not obvious. And you have to keep cycling the display to see what PEEP you've actually set.

Strangely enough the 1200 series has a control for PEEP on the front panel like every other modern vent.

Domwells..
What is the packaging for that fantastic product ...

I am always amazed at the chest freezers in supermarkets. Aldi/Lidl's all have the slidey tops, whereas all the big supermarkets still use the open top versions. Madness for so many reasons.

The big toilet roll dispensers that put so much resistance on the paper that you only ever get one sheet.

Those crappy metal tea pots you get in cafes which just pour tea all over the table. And the matching milk jugs that dump milk everywhere.

The Aprillia RST Futura has a sidestand down cut out switch which cuts the engine if you try to ride the bike with the sidestand down. Useful? Not when the ****ing thing decides the sidestands down when you're doing 60 on a bend.
Audi A4 juction box including air bag warning light is under drivers seat. Move the seat back, connector can come out and you need to take the seat out to plug it back in again.

Any bulb on a modern car.

Having a system that allows you to put the wrong bulb in the sockets - single filament, and duel filament. 5w, 10w and 21w bulbs can be fitted interchangeably in the same bulb holders.

I had a weird electrical gremlin recently where if I had the headlights on and my foot on the brake the car would carry on running if I switched off the ignition and even if took the keys out. It would keep on running until either the light were turned off I released the brake. Turns out I'd put the wrong bulb in during a dark, rainy roadside fix, but it shouldn't be physically possible to put the wrong bulb in.

I've done loads of energy stuff in supermarkets. The retail team trump every other dept. they are VERY protective of open chilled cases, I've seen someone ejected from a meeting for suggesting it.
Legend has it that govt asked them to do it and they all refused. It's a huuuge waste. We have put night blinds on and they save a massive amount of energy, but the night stocking staff CBA to sue them most of the time.
We've spent hundreds of thousands doing LED lighting retrofits and they save a lot, but it's a drop in the ocean compared to the reductions which could be made in putting a few glass doors on.

This makes me surprisingly angry. Sadly, I imagine there is studies that show sales drop by x%, if lazy ****ers have to slide a lid to get at their oven chips?

Wall sockets, those stupid screws and the back boxes they screw into. Can't believe a better design hasn't been done for that!

all of the above esp. small car headlight bulb changes. the designer should be stood by the side of a busy road in the dark ,in the rain and made to change them one after the other for the rest of time. motorway road markings at M62 tingley junction just sort of abandon you in the wrong lane. M62 /M606 junction same,plus badly phased lights.I could go on but its the season of goodwill oh yes christmas...

Futon company sofa beds - such hideously weak poorly designed joints render the item combustable if you move it without lifting it completely (a two person job!).

Those daft toilet doors on trains that, unless you know which magic combination actually closes and locks the door, actually open to reveal the user on the pot.

This makes me surprisingly angry. Sadly, I imagine there is studies that show sales drop by x%, if lazy ****ers have to slide a lid to get at their oven chips?

Triangular head bolts. The only reason is to make people either buy specialist tools or take it to a dealer.

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Those daft toilet doors on trains that, unless you know which magic combination actually closes and locks the door, actually open to reveal the user on the pot.

In the hands of a woman:

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In the hands of a man:

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Hellmans mayo plastic bottles..
[url= https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7567/16059057615_8a31fd03f1.jp g" target="_blank">https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7567/16059057615_8a31fd03f1.jp g"/> [/img][/url][url= https://flic.kr/p/qt5SkH ]Hell[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/people/7904024@N08/ ]jimmyg352[/url], on Flickr

Absolute crock of shite. The Nob who designed it should be forced to extract every last blob of product from every bottle sold then shagged up the arse with a knotty pit prop. I had to cut the bastard in half to get the last 4 dessert spoonfuls out & I have ORDERED my Mrs not to buy anymore Hellmans products till I get a response from my sarcastic complaint to them!

the designer should be stood by the side of a busy road in the dark

I'm an advocate of architects being encouraged / compelled / condemned to spend a week living or working in the buildings they design.

I did some work recently in the marvellous new Glasgow School of Art Reid Building, with its splendid views of the burnt husk of the Macintosh Building.

The building is quite long and orientated on an East-West axis. The pedestrian entrance is at the west end of the building. The goods entrance is at the east end of the building. The goods lift is at the west end of the building. The pedestrian lift is at the east end of the building.

We have brand new roll in milk chillers in work with glass doors and belive it or not I've never heard so many complaints, all old people all the same complaint. They walk straight into the doors.

High-intensity LED front lights on cars - why don't they switch off at night?

*supports essel's Hellmans' boycott*

Not so much a design as a specification... Alloy wheels.

Fine as optional extras for people who think a necessary drudge like driving can be 'cool'. Yay make a wheel out of a metal thats too soft and leaky for purpose and let people pay extra for them - lets charge a fashion premium for different shaped tyres too. Especially if its a tyre profile that leaves the soft alloy susceptible to damage - win win.

Totally retarded as standard equipment. They don't hold air and the don't hold their shape.

Most things these days are 'designed' unbelievably well. If you feel differently about an item, chances are it wasn't designed with you in mind.

Most things these days are 'designed' unbelievably well. If you feel differently about an item, chances are it wasn't designed with you in mind.

Like an iPad...

...but with the greatest of respect, I do think you're wrong.

Great Pandas

Useless

Why Jamie?

All this packaging that people moan about is designed perfectly for shipping a load of plastic tat from china to the shop shelf cheaply without the goods being damaged and still looking good when they get put out - even to the extent that the skating frozen characters dress is pinned out to the right angle - the fact that you or I spends 30 minutes with bleeding fingers won't a)Have entered the desgners head or b) make a blind bit of difference to me buying it as I don't really have a choice

Same goes for so much other stuff - its designed for someone along the chain but not the end user. Do you hear anyone say "oh I was going to buy a Nissan Juke but the bulbs are too difficult to change and all fit each others sockets" No of course not, but those issues probably kept the designer to budget and therefore his job.

Same with an IPhone/ipad etc - look great don't they - Jonathan bloody Ive and his slippery metal icons sell by the million because of this and then whats the first thing everybody does? Yes put a case around it because they are fragile slippery little suckers. Not really designed for carrying around in a back pocket actually..but then they never were.

There are of course equally many examples of tragically bad design but quite often the design fulfilled the brief that was set perfectly.

Why Jamie?

All this packaging that people moan about is designed perfectly for shipping a load of plastic tat from china to the shop shelf cheaply without the goods being damaged and still looking good when they get put out - even to the extent that the skating frozen characters dress is pinned out to the right angle - the fact that you or I spends 30 minutes with bleeding fingers won't a)Have entered the desgners head or b) make a blind bit of difference to me buying it as I don't really have a choice

Same goes for so much other stuff - its designed for someone along the chain but not the end user. Do you hear anyone say "oh I was going to buy a Nissan Juke but the bulbs are too difficult to change and all fit each others sockets" No of course not, but those issues probably kept the designer to budget and therefore his job.

Same with an IPhone/ipad etc - look great don't they - Jonathan bloody Ive and his slippery metal icons sell by the million because of this and then whats the first thing everybody does? Yes put a case around it because they are fragile slippery little suckers. Not really designed for carrying around in a back pocket actually..but then they never were.

I can see what you're saying up to a point - someone can be frustrated by a design solution because the solution wasn't focused on them ^ like the triangular bolt heads up there ^ they probably improve ease of assembly on the production line over something more DIY friendly like a phillips head- they may shave small amounts of time of each assembly that add up to thousands or millions of pounds of savings a year for the manufacturer. The designer has done good designing if that was the objective. The problem is designing is bigger than the designer - no matter how good a designer you are, in practice you can only be as good as your client. The designer is being paid by the client, but the client is being paid by their customer so no matter how happy the client is - design solutions are poor if the customer is poorly served.

and, by design, you fulfilled the contrarian brief for this thread.

+1 Weetabix and on Alfas - the Arna. Designed by Toyota (Datsun) and built by Italians...

and, by design, you fulfilled the contrarian brief for this thread.

Your saying I was designed? You haven't gone all religious on us have you? Or is this a test designed to provoke an emotional response?

Those crappy metal tea pots you get in cafes which just pour tea all over the table. And the matching milk jugs that dump milk everywhere.

Revolving doors, those ones typically fitted to Morrisson's shops these days (other retail emporiae also attract my hate). You know the ones - 2 chambers with a T section at the end so you all squeeze in to one chamber, shuffle forward and then find that the T makes everyone stop moving to dart for the gap. Which means the people at the back are backed into the following door - which then stops the whole frigging thing.

Hateful hateful design.

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Resealable rice / pasta packets... which can't be resealed because the bastard packet is made of some 'super-tear' plastic which a) tears halfway down the packet and b) deposits half the contents on the floor!

Why Jamie?

First off, apologies for being so blunt.

In relation to the sealed plastic packaging, it may meet the remit of being easily packaged/shipped. But when the likes of Amazon are making an option to buy the same products, but in 'frustration free packaging'. Then surely the design has failed one of it's objectives, if an alternative solution has to be offered to meet the demand for non-sealed packaging.

I guess it's probably 50/50 user error vs bad design. But that figure is so approximate, that this sentence is designed to fail 8)

Same goes for so much other stuff - its designed for someone along the chain but not the end user. Do you hear anyone say "oh I was going to buy a Nissan Juke but the bulbs are too difficult to change and all fit each others sockets" No of course not, but those issues probably kept the designer to budget and therefore his job.

Funny you should say this - I plan on doing exactly this when I buy my next car. The plan is to agree a price with the dealer but then put a clause on the deal saying I'll only buy it he can change the bulb in less than 5 mins. I do appreciate that I might be visiting a lot of a dealers and end up with a very left field car choice but it winds the hell out of me that what should be a user serviceable part so often isn't.

[quote=winston ]Same goes for so much other stuff - its designed for someone along the chain but not the end user. Do you hear anyone say "oh I was going to buy a Nissan Juke but the bulbs are too difficult to change and all fit each others sockets" No of course not, but those issues probably kept the designer to budget and therefore his job.

Unlike convert it may not be something which makes or breaks it for me, but it's certainly something I consider as a factor when buying a car - my Mondeo is just about OK (you only have to remove the headlight, not dismantle the whole car, and the rear bulbs are simple), my old 406 was doable with no tools at all in under a minute for any bulb. If the designer isn't considering that, then he's not doing his job thoroughly.

Of course, to go completely OT, this issue should be solved by type approval legislation.

Or is this a test designed to provoke an emotional response?

Turns on Voight-Kampff machine.

Turns on Voight-Kampff machine.

if you can find the on switch - now theres a terrible bit of design

Most toasters. Dont actually fit bread in properly so the top of the bread remains untoasted. Oh and the plate drying rack i got off ebay which doesnt fit plates in it.

Tea pots that dribble - basic function is to pour
Starbucks coffee cups that do the same - but a good reminder not to buy such awful coffee
QWERTY keyboards - original reason long redundant, now it's simply stupid
Three seats on a commuter train - three??? Two fit if you are lucky (or in first class!)
Modern deodorants - stink worse than sweat
"You are a valuable customer" - that's why we make you wait for hours on the end of the phone

And the winner - the €

The bizarre pantagraphesque carbon contraption my mate takes to the bike shop every week for the weekly bearing change.

QWERTY keyboards - original reason long redundant, now it's simply stupid

What would you have as an alternative through. I've got a label printer where the keyboard is in alphabetical order presumably to make it marketable in all territories rather than have a qwerty for the uk and azerty for france and so on. Drives me fricking nuts.

The original reason for the layout is redundant but any other layout would just be arbitrary now wouldn't it?