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The failed design that I encountered in the world
Jubilant, yet chaotic.
Not necessarily bad, but brutal.
Hard to imagine that this actually exists in Paris, the city of art and romance. The billboard covers the complete façade of this two-story building. It adopts the high-contrast color theme of European flag and even the stars. It indeed catches the attention of whoever passes by but in a brutal, obtruding way.
Good design doesn't annoy people.
Guess what the sign indicates?
This keep-mask-on spray sign may looks good on the asphalt, but the designer may not have expected it to be sprayed on the tiled road, and the pattern of the road seems to be too distractive for the sign reading. Now it looks like an Alien alarm. Well then, the alarm works anyhow, right?
Good design considers all situations.
How do you read this 'aachenerdomschatzkammer'?
The marker was supposed to be scannable with instagram but recently the app has altered the function with QR-code scanning. Now the only way to find the account owner is to type in the complete name and search. Seriously, not everyone reads germany and especially such long word.
Good design updates.
Seven lines of text with seven different font sizes and letterspacing values, which were delibrately designed and well-aligned though, but lose the essential sense of control, especially regarding the seriousness of official notification.
Good design manages control.
From June 2020, all plastic cups in European market should be printed with the above marker to warn people of the hazard of the plastic.
However, there are two issues with this design.
First, the color. The red part on the left warns people not to throw the cup on the ground. And the blue part? Does it mean that I can however throw it into the sea? Of course not.
Second, the shape design. In the original design, the turtle's eye is a cross, indicating a dead animal. But in the picture above, the actual print is so small and the dye was so vague so that the cross is barely recognised, which makes the meaning of the sign more confusing. Who knows if the turtle is just relaxing?
The color adds unnecessary contrast and the smudged dye makes the turtle not dead enough. In the regulation document, there are three designs and the other two are desaturated, which make the right part less ambiguous. However, the small corss may still remain as an ineffective design.
Good design eliminates ambiguity.
Why the calculators don't have "+" button?
Because they are elevator panels.
They are bad design because you have to figure out if you need to press more than one button to get to the floor you wish. Luckily both elevators have an instruction sheet aside for your reference.
Design like this might be a good idea to save customisation cost, but it is indeed waste for three-story buildings like the ones in the image. Even if the building has more than 10 floors and the all buttons can fulfill their function, what if there are two people press "1" and "12" following one another? How does the elevator interpret the command?
And what do that "star" sign and "•"mean to take an elevator?
Good design respects convention.
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