Bad Design Canvas: Understanding Public Perception of Poor Design Practices

Design and its complexity are understood differently by the public. It is everywhere in our everyday lives, people without a background in design education may also differentiate poor designs. Consequently, the term “bad design” emerges. “Bad design” is loosely used, extending from design-specific to non-design fields. However, there is yet to be a universally accepted academic definition of what constitutes bad design. Why do bad designs exist? How do bad designs become distributed and adopted by the public? Adopting netnography methodology, this study involves gathering samples of public opinions on bad designs from internet forums in Reddit. The first objective of the research is to untangle the concept of bad design that may stem from intentional or unintentional causes. Unintentional—due to the designers’ negligence—or intentional, to benefit certain parties. The study reveals that public posts often highlight design failures across various fields—ranging from industrial products to government systems—focusing on aesthetic flaws, poor functionality, and exploitative “dark patterns.” Regardless of the causes, bad designs have the potential to result in harm, whether to their users, the environment, or the business sector, disadvantaging certain groups or stakeholders. Considering these aspects, our second objective is to develop a tool to identify bad design elements. “Bad Design Canvas” is devised as a suggested tool to assess and rethink our current design practice, to be more mindful. This canvas holds the potential to be beneficial for designers and design students in identifying deficiencies and evaluating existing bad designs. The values of good design may be easier to be recognized by designers or professionals in the design field, whereas bad designs can be noticed by the public as users. While it may not be possible to eliminate bad design completely, it is the responsibility of design practitioners to recognize and minimize its occurrence in their practices.