# Stupidest product design you’ve experienced **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 25, 2023, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-product-design-you-ve-experienced/981621 "2023-03-25T02:57:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 71
**Author:** ![Stratocaster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stratocaster/32/16393_2.png) [@Stratocaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stratocaster)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2024, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-product-design-you-ve-experienced/981621/1401 "2024-08-19T21:42:19Z")
I’m confused, though. Doesn’t the second panel show the stick guy trying to open the door properly (see the bend) and failing? ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2024, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-product-design-you-ve-experienced/981621/1402 "2024-08-19T22:18:29Z")
Yeah, looked weird to me too. Isn’t it code that business/public building doors PUSH to exit? It’s a fire safety thing. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2024, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-product-design-you-ve-experienced/981621/1403 "2024-08-19T22:21:26Z")
It shows him trying to open the door and failing, which implies that that’s not the proper way. If it is in fact the proper way, then the sign is misleading. ---
**Author:** ![Stratocaster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stratocaster/32/16393_2.png) [@Stratocaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stratocaster)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2024, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-product-design-you-ve-experienced/981621/1404 "2024-08-19T22:31:51Z")
Yes, that’s my point. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2024, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-product-design-you-ve-experienced/981621/1405 "2024-08-19T22:33:55Z")
> [@enipla](#): > > Isn’t it code that business/public building doors PUSH to exit? It’s a fire safety thing. I think so, yes. In particular, if there’s a crowd crush, you want the door to open out, so people can escape. I think there were some building fires early in the last century in which people died because they piled up against a door that needed to be pulled open. ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2024, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-product-design-you-ve-experienced/981621/1406 "2024-08-19T22:58:06Z")
I think that was a problem at a Who concert as well. No fire I don’t think. ---
**Author:** ![mnemosyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c4cdca/32.png) [@mnemosyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mnemosyne)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2024, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-product-design-you-ve-experienced/981621/1407 "2024-08-19T23:06:10Z")
The red circle is typically associated with a cautionary message, and the open hand is, in my mind, more strongly associated with Halt or Stop, like in a street crossing light. I think they are clear when read together, but not sure how well they’d be interpreted on their own. I’ve seen plenty with stick figures, but I find them to be a little silly looking (think on a door in a business jet, rather than public building; something less comic-book-like would be preferred). I don’t need an answer any time soon; this is just one of my little recurring concepts to toy with. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2024, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-product-design-you-ve-experienced/981621/1408 "2024-08-19T23:14:57Z")
The Iroquois Theater fire of 1903, with 602 fatalities (mostly children) started the regulations that exit doors push out. All safety regulations are written in blood. ---
**Author:** ![dougrb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/76d3ee/32.png) [@dougrb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougrb)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2024, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-product-design-you-ve-experienced/981621/1409 "2024-08-19T23:39:09Z")
They changed the way apollo capsule doors opened 3 times. First opening outward, then inward, then back to outward. It’s not necessarily obvious. ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2024, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-product-design-you-ve-experienced/981621/1410 "2024-08-19T23:58:27Z")
[The Who concert disaster](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Who_concert_disaster) in 1979 was not related to the direction the doors opened. The crowd was trying to get into the venue, not out of it. The setup made the crowd unsure which doors would be opened, so crowds formed in front of all the doors. Eventually only two doors were opened, and the people in front of the other doors tried to move toward the open doors, resulting in a crush. It was basically a horrendous failure of crowd management. ---
**Author:** ![Patx2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/73ab20/32.png) [@Patx2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patx2)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2024, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-product-design-you-ve-experienced/981621/1411 "2024-08-21T19:59:25Z")
So here’s another one that I don’t find as annoying as the OTC packaging, but the opening on some coffee creamers doesn’t make sense to me. Why is it not right at the top like a gallon or carton of milk? ---
**Author:** ![dougrb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/76d3ee/32.png) [@dougrb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougrb)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2024, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-product-design-you-ve-experienced/981621/1412 "2024-09-15T01:17:05Z")
> [@JohnGalt](#): > > Dan Norman’s wonderful **The Design of Everyday Things** I finally got that (Don not Dan) and now I know WHY shit pisses me off. I used to just say “piece of shit”. No I can make it sound fancy. The Affordance has a Signifier that has no Constraints. ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2024, 8:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-product-design-you-ve-experienced/981621/1413 "2024-09-20T08:34:28Z")
> [@Slithy\_Tove](#): > > The Iroquois Theater fire of 1903, with 602 fatalities (mostly children) started the regulations that exit doors push out. Some folks didn’t get the message. The [Cocoanut Grove fire](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cocoanut_Grove_fire) was in 1942. > Many patrons attempted to exit through the main entrance, the same way they had entered. The building’s main entrance was a single [revolving door](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revolving_door), which was rendered useless as the crowd stampeded in panic. Bodies piled up behind both sides of the revolving door, jamming it until it broke. > > Other avenues of escape were similarly useless; side doors had been bolted shut to prevent people from leaving without paying. A plate glass window, which could have been smashed for escape, was boarded up and unusable as an emergency exit. Other unlocked doors, like the ones in the Broadway Lounge, opened inwards, rendering them useless against the [crush of people](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crowd_collapses_and_crushes) trying to escape. Fire officials would later testify that had the doors swung outwards, at least 300 lives could have been spared. ---
**Author:** ![dougrb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/76d3ee/32.png) [@dougrb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougrb)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2024, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-product-design-you-ve-experienced/981621/1414 "2024-11-09T01:07:43Z")
> [@pullin](#): > > My new truck also has an electronic release on the tailgate. I’ve noticed new trucks have “Multi-Function” tail gates. Fuck that. ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2024, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-product-design-you-ve-experienced/981621/1415 "2024-11-09T02:27:30Z")
The angled opening on coffee creamers makes it easier to pour a tiny amount. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2024, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-product-design-you-ve-experienced/981621/1416 "2024-11-09T02:42:29Z")
Just today, I was setting up a section for a class on AP Classroom. There was a form to fill out which included the start date of the class. When you click on that spot, it opens up a calendar… with just numbers, the month unlabeled. Eventually I was able to figure out how to type in a date manually, but what was that calendar even there for? ---
**Author:** ![RadioWave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/91b2a8/32.png) [@RadioWave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RadioWave)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2024, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-product-design-you-ve-experienced/981621/1417 "2024-11-09T03:28:46Z")
That brings to mind the task tracker we used at a previous employer which let you open a calendar to select the task end date. It did a good job showing months and dates but also had a button which switched between BCE and AD. Just in case your task ended during the Roman Empire. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2024, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-product-design-you-ve-experienced/981621/1418 "2024-11-09T12:36:18Z")
> [@dougrb](#): > > > [@pullin](#): > > > > My new truck also has an electronic release on the tailgate. > > I’ve noticed new trucks have “Multi-Function” tail gates. Fuck that. They’re a huge improvement in usability. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2024, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-product-design-you-ve-experienced/981621/1419 "2024-11-09T13:18:31Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > They’re a huge improvement in usability. Agree, but I’m curious as to the cost for the consumer. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2024, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-product-design-you-ve-experienced/981621/1420 "2024-11-09T13:33:14Z")
I used to have a 3/4 HP router for woodworking. These tools generate a lot of torque and require two hands to operate. But whomever designed the damn thing placed the power switch in a spot that required the user to take one hand off of the tool in order to turn it on or off. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-product-design-you-ve-experienced/981621.md?page=70) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-product-design-you-ve-experienced/981621.md?page=72)