When designs fail, we have no one to blame but ourselves. After all, we’re the ones who got ourselves into this situation. We created houses for ourselves to live in, products for us to consume, and signs to tell us where we’re going and what’s going to be there. So when something goes wrong with …
Seguir leyendo 27 Baffling Design Choices Found in the Wild (November 24, 2024)

We’re all allowed to fail, it’s what makes us human. If we didn’t fail, we wouldn’t know when we succeeded. If I spent my whole life only pushing doors that said «push» and pulling doors that said «pull,» I wouldn’t be able to congratulate myself when I finally remembered to read the sign. If I …
Seguir leyendo 25+ Baffling Design Choices Found in the Wild (November 17, 2024)

Sometimes designs fail us. They try to solve a problem and then just end up creating more problems. I’ve definitely done this. I’ve tried to put up a shelf in my room just to end up with a couple of holes in the wall that weren’t there before. Then I tried to fill in the holes …
Seguir leyendo 27 Baffling Design Choices Found in the Wild (November 10, 2024)

Design fails are all around us, we just may not notice them. All around, there are doors that look like «pull» but are really «push.» There are unclickable pens and pencils with faulty erasers. There are tables with crooked legs and shoes that pinch your toes. And then there’s whatever the heck is going on with …
Seguir leyendo 27 Baffling Design Choices Found in the Wild (November 3, 2024)

Sometimes things happen that you can’t explain. Some might call these paranormal experiences. You see something move in the middle of the night that’s not supposed to move. You see a shadowy figure slink across the room that you can’t identify. You see a light in the sky that doesn’t quite seem like an airplane. …
Seguir leyendo 35 Baffling Design Choices Found in the Wild (October 27, 2024)

Sometimes a design is so baffling that it defies human logic. «How, on this green Earth, did you decide to do that, take a step back, look at it, and decide it was okay to put it in front of humans?» You think. «Surely there is some governing force of order that commands us, surely there is …
Seguir leyendo 27 Baffling Design Choices Found in the Wild (October 20, 2024)

It can be so funny when things go wrong. There’s a whole subsection of this website that’s devoted to it (cough cough Fail Blog). There’s a whole TV show dedicated to showing people’s screw-ups (cough cough America’s Funniest Home Videos). There’s even a whole weekly series here at Memebase that brings you the best design …
Seguir leyendo 27 Baffling Design Choices Found in the Wild (October 13, 2024)

It has become clear to me that the world is ruled by chaos. We can try to make sense of it the best that we can, and create plans and rules and systems, but randomness pervades. How else do you explain some of the kooky stuff that happens in our world? Why else do I …
Seguir leyendo 27 Baffling Design Choices Found in the Wild (October 6, 2024)

We don’t give enough credit to things that are designed well. We take them for granted. Like, for example, a Doc Marten boot. It’s a classic shape that’s so universally recognizable that you immediately know what it is. Or perhaps the toaster. What a simple, elegant design that we haven’t really improved on (besides adding optional …
Seguir leyendo 26 Baffling Design Choices Found in the Wild (September 29, 2024)

As Yves Saint Laurent once said, «Fashions fade, style is eternal.» Trends come and go, that’s for sure (though somehow mid 2010s fashion already coming back, and it’s scaring the heck out of me). But there are a few things that will alwaysremain in vogue. And you can tell when someone is just following trends …
Seguir leyendo 27 Baffling Design Choices Found in the Wild (September 22, 2024)