Since a lot of us here had been complaining how bad the SWAMP is…
I thought I will start this new thread for everyone to pay tribute to all the “bad designs” that make you laugh, cringe, or both.
Feel free to drop any “bad design”, be it software, hardware, user interface, graphic, etc, etc.
… if great designs deserve compliments, crappy designs are also worthy of attention to. >
My all time favorite:
Flag design
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pnv5iKB2hl4
Old Pocatello flag used from 2001 to 2017
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[quote=“mike miller” post_id=1996 time=1617030145 user_id=118]
:o :oops:
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[/quote]
[sarc]When did I send you one of my sketches?[/sarc]
And a list of non-CAD stuff.
Ah USB… something that i always like to call it as:
Symmetry design without symmetry use
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I came across a “new” shampoo bottle design today and thought it deserve a spot here…
Unlike most shampoo bottle that i normally use, this design is Push to open, instead of the more common flip to open design
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When looking at the top view, it do not give any indication on how to open. The arrow label did not give any clear indication on how should i open it.
After numerous try of flipping, pressing, pulling, turning, i finally get it open by pushing it as the arrow indicated…
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It do have a non-obvious push label which i only notice when i am taking the picture. Without my glasses, i can barely see the wording though.
It also feel rather awkward to push the lid because of the small cutout/opening
The push-lid design also sort of “push” back the excess shampoo to the edge when closed, which make it a mess.
Sometimes it really make me wonder why do we have so many poorly designed item in our daily life 
I will never own another HP printer unless it’s a large format printer, which they actually do a good job on again. I’ve owned at least a half a dozen and pretty much everyone was replaced fairly quickly because it was a piece of junk.
OTOH I got an HP large format plotter and it ran forever without issue. Had to replace the belt a couple times but that was it. I ran thousands of “D” and “E” size prints on that thing.
I’ve actually offended more than a couple people by saying this. I always bring up the spinal cord as am absolutely horrific design aspect of the human body. Even small children figure out at a pretty young age that stacking singular blocks one on top of each other is not a great idea. 
The human body is a perfect example of many things that you should NOT due and also a perfect example of why some times it’s just better to start over than to try and make the current revision of a design adapt to a new design.
For some reason three cars came to mind.
One of the old Ford cougars, can’t remember which year, with a certain size motor, you had to remove the motor mount and lift the engine a couple inches…to remove one of the spark plugs.
I think it was an oldsmobile/Buick/whatever where they incorporated the oil filter into the oil drain. Instead of a small plug you pulled out to let the oil drain and THEN pull the filter, you had this HUGE hole in the bottom of the oil pan. Almost no matter what you did as soon as you cracked it loose, which was a feat in itself because you where prying open a 4" diameter rubber gasket, the oil went spraying everywhere. This was particularly exiting on a 100 degree day when the owner decided an oil change would be a GREAT idea after running errands all day long.
One of the vettes was designed with the starter under the fuel manifold…really?! I have to pull the entire fuel system, manifold etc to change the starter?
For at least one year New Holland skid-loaders had the battery located beside the boom. There was just one problem: it wasn’t accessible if the boom was down. When is the last time you saw a skid-loader battery die while the boom was up? I mean, you’re technically not even supposed to leave the seat with the boom up… 
I have a co-worker whose mother-in-law had a PT Cruiser. She called him one day saying her battery needed to be replaced, and could he do that. He said “Sure, no problem.” He was wrong. He finally contacted the dealership and asked them how to access the battery. It turns out you had to remove a front tire to get it out.
I am not proud of this, but lighting manufacturers never seem to provide adequate physical drawings, and yet my work is unhindered. This one was taken from an instruction manual image which showed the inside back mounting view, at an angle. I have an angle study sketch in this part, to derive its top and front planes. Sure, I could have reconstructed that profile to a proper orientation, but did not find reason to. I use only the primary planes to position this upon an exterior wall, so I renamed the initial planes / Z-Axis and made my own at the bottom.
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If this troubles you, rest assured that I do not care about the considerations that you care about, because I do not do what you do.
I am not making this. I will not be changing this. I will not be developing its internal circuitry and wiring terminals or led cells or anything. I am showing it on a building filled with stuff. I mentioned an exterior wall, which happens to be extensively more developed than this bright piece of garbage is. My priorities are usefulness, efficiency, and applicable accuracy. The building’s overall shipping width (at this one extremity) will be accurate.
Edit to add, after opening my email this morning. 2 business days (excluding the federal holiday) later, I received very good flat and cross section dimensional views from the manufacturer, pursuant to a contact form email request. I could now make it right, and even well. I will store these nice images in my sources folder, thereby ignore it, and move on with useful things like making my assemblers’ and welders’ lives easier without frustration.
I have, over the years, had my fair share of “Bad designs”. To make matters worse I spent a good portion of my life being a “One man band” so when you design something there’s no one else to look at it, discuss it, check it etc. You concept it, you design it, you detail it, you check it, you release it. The next person who lays eyes on it is the person dropping it on your desk because it won’t work 
The absolute worst most humiliating thing I ever did was design a wire bender that had absolutely no chance of ever working. Instead of bending the wires it just rotated them around in a circle.
It was one of those things you looked at a dozen times and in your head it was doing one thing. The second it became reality and you looked at it you said “WTF! that will never work!” The guys in the shop never let me live that one down.
… can you… share it?
I don’t even know if I have it anymore. I probably did that back in the late 90’s early 00’s. I probably have a back up of it somewhere though.
I have no idea what problem this gas can spout is designed to solve. What I can tell you is it takes 3 hands to operate, and I now spill several tablespoons of fuel every time I fill the lawn mower.
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I’ve had the same gas can for several years now. It’s aweful. It’s designed to click the catch on the spot, then rest the catch on the edges of the gas tank opening. The spout had the breather built in. Problem is the gas coming out blocks the breathing action.
My best gas can is simply an angled spout with a breathing plug on the opposite side. Simple and works perfectly and it is a much older design. Some engineers felt the need to reinvent the wheel, or rather marketing got involved
I cut off the safety catch, and cut down the spring. That solved half of the problem but it still vaporlocks.
In my first year in a real engineering job, I designed a fixture that had the mounting bolts under another plate, so you could use the mounting bolts or the plate but not both. A set of through holes on the plate allowed you access the bolts. Never made that mistake again.
Nah, this has the stench of government regulation interference. Marketing is one level of silly, but government takes it much farther.
I’ve got a gas can with a completely different but equally useless valve on it. I’d have to guess that the actual purpose is to prevent vapor from escaping from the can, but unfortunately it also prevents gas from being poured.
And inevitably, the valve stops working. In the closed position.
You may be right…sometimes common sense goes out the window.
I watched the video and I have that exact gas can and it already has a locking mechanism that sucks. Over time the plastic mechanism no longer works correctly and you have to keep fiddling with it. I also have the one SPerman has and it’s worse. My favorite can is this one. Vent on the back allows it to breath when pouring, and cap for the vent and nozzle is a living hinge made from a plastic that does get brittle over time, polypropylene I think.
I sympathize and feel terrible for the families and kids getting injured or killed but you can’t make everything foolproof. And parents should be educating their children to the dangers of using gasoline to start any kind of fire. Gasoline is explosively combustible and should not be used this way. Diesel or lighter fluid is much safer fuel for burning stuff.