# What are the most shockingly ugly designs in successful or mainstream products? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 23, 2008, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-shockingly-ugly-designs-in-successful-or-mainstream-products/442474 "2008-03-23T22:42:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![TLDRIDKJKLOLFTW](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/51bf81/32.png) [@TLDRIDKJKLOLFTW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TLDRIDKJKLOLFTW)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2008, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-shockingly-ugly-designs-in-successful-or-mainstream-products/442474/1 "2008-03-23T22:42:51Z")
I can’t get over how hideous and hateful the Amazon Kindle is - just one of the ugliest pieces of technology that I’ve ever seen in my life. It looks like something that you’d find in a cardboard box at a garage sale in 1986, like an old busted answering machine or a 1200 baud modem or something like that. It looks clunky, eighties, it’s that horrible beige fax machine color, and it’s all angles and squared edges. UGH. What else springs to mind? ---
**Author:** ![divemaster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/divemaster/32/78_2.png) [@divemaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/divemaster)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2008, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-shockingly-ugly-designs-in-successful-or-mainstream-products/442474/2 "2008-03-23T23:00:51Z")
Honda Element ! ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2008, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-shockingly-ugly-designs-in-successful-or-mainstream-products/442474/3 "2008-03-23T23:13:04Z")
“Product” is perhaps stretching it, a bit, but…the new style U.S. military Combat Uniforms, especially when wearing less than full gear. I mean, they’re probably very effective at comfort, camouflage, and overall utility…but goddamn, those are the [ugliest things I’ve seen in my life](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Army_Combat_Uniform). From a purely aesthetic standpoint—which is, I’m the first to admit, is not typically the best way to choose militray equipment—I’m just glad they don’t include a Mitznefet. And the new [Naval Work Uniforms](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uniforms_of_the_United_States_Navy#Naval_Work_Uniform_.28NWUs.29)? Ehhh… Well, they’re better than the [Zouaves](http://www.civilwar.si.edu/soldiering_zuoave.html). I think. ---
**Author:** ![Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hey_It_s_That_Guy)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2008, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-shockingly-ugly-designs-in-successful-or-mainstream-products/442474/4 "2008-03-23T23:48:25Z")
The Scion xB and Honda Element both come immediately to mind. They look like the feet of 1980s Japanese robot Voltron (the vehicle one, of course, not the lion one!) ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2008, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-shockingly-ugly-designs-in-successful-or-mainstream-products/442474/5 "2008-03-24T00:43:38Z")
[QUOTE=Ranchoth] " And the new [Naval Work Uniforms](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uniforms_of_the_United_States_Navy#Naval_Work_Uniform_.28NWUs.29)? [/QUOTE] They remind me somehow of German uniforms in _Hidden and Dangerous._ 😕 And the Honda Element is damned ugly. ---
**Author:** ![vison](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/e47774/32.png) [@vison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vison)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2008, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-shockingly-ugly-designs-in-successful-or-mainstream-products/442474/6 "2008-03-24T00:51:41Z")
[QUOTE=Big Bad Voodoo Lou] The Scion xB and Honda Element both come immediately to mind. They look like the feet of 1980s Japanese robot Voltron (the vehicle one, of course, not the lion one!) [/QUOTE] Absolutely exactly! And yet - people buy them. Or are they just salesmen forced to drive the things? ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2008, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-shockingly-ugly-designs-in-successful-or-mainstream-products/442474/7 "2008-03-24T01:20:30Z")
[QUOTE=vison] Absolutely exactly! And yet - people buy them. Or are they just salesmen forced to drive the things? [/QUOTE] I like the way they look. (I saw a silver one with a Brave Little Toaster theme gong on. License plate may have been TOASTER.) ---
**Author:** ![Don\_t\_Panic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/don_t_panic/32/398_2.png) [@Don\_t\_Panic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_t_Panic)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2008, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-shockingly-ugly-designs-in-successful-or-mainstream-products/442474/8 "2008-03-24T01:29:37Z")
[QUOTE=Ranchoth] “Product” is perhaps stretching it, a bit, but…the new style U.S. military Combat Uniforms, especially when wearing less than full gear. I mean, they’re probably very effective at comfort, camouflage, and overall utility…but goddamn, those are the [ugliest things I’ve seen in my life](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Army_Combat_Uniform). [/QUOTE] But… they blend in [everywhere](http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k85/kentbob/DSCF0001.jpg)! See? You won’t even have to look at them! Because you won’t \*see \*them! So there! ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2008, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-shockingly-ugly-designs-in-successful-or-mainstream-products/442474/9 "2008-03-24T01:35:12Z")
[QUOTE=Ranchoth] Well, they’re better than the [Zouaves](http://www.civilwar.si.edu/soldiering_zuoave.html). I think. [/QUOTE] Hey, the Zuoaves looked great. They were just impratical – too easy to see and target. ---
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2008, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-shockingly-ugly-designs-in-successful-or-mainstream-products/442474/10 "2008-03-24T01:40:47Z")
[QUOTE=Ranchoth] “Product” is perhaps stretching it, a bit, but…the new style U.S. military Combat Uniforms, especially when wearing less than full gear. I mean, they’re probably very effective at comfort, camouflage, and overall utility…but goddamn, those are the [ugliest things I’ve seen in my life](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Army_Combat_Uniform). From a purely aesthetic standpoint—which is, I’m the first to admit, is not typically the best way to choose militray equipment—I’m just glad they don’t include a Mitznefet. [/QUOTE] But they’ll come in so handy if you ever have occasion to hide in a dumpster full of cat vomit… ---
**Author:** ![Student\_Driver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3da27b/32.png) [@Student\_Driver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Student_Driver)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2008, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-shockingly-ugly-designs-in-successful-or-mainstream-products/442474/11 "2008-03-24T01:51:08Z")
Pontiac Aztek. I hate the Chevy HHR, and thought the (thankfully discontinued) SSR was incredibly dorky looking. (I get the feeling that this thread could be successful just listing vehicles.) Many modern athletic shoes are pretty ugly looking, IMO. I’ve seen a bunch over the last few years that appear to have pistons or something hydraulic instead of a heel, and there was a Nike Air a few years back that looked like a giant plant pod with a zipper had grown over one’s foot. ---
**Author:** ![elmwood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmwood/32/3060_2.png) [@elmwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elmwood)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2008, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-shockingly-ugly-designs-in-successful-or-mainstream-products/442474/12 "2008-03-24T02:04:37Z")
[QUOTE=TLDRIDKJKLOLFTW] It looks clunky, eighties, it’s that horrible beige fax machine color, and it’s all angles and squared edges. UGH. [/QUOTE] I’ll take angular, clean, functional 1980s design compared to the bloated X-TREEM! look of contemporary consumer electronics. Aftermarket car stereos … they looked clean and low-key through the 1980s and into the mid-1990s, but today … [http://www.crutchfield.com/App/Product/Item/Main.aspx?g=300&i=133RX100U&tp=5684](http://www.crutchfield.com/App/Product/Item/Main.aspx?g=300&i=133RX100U&tp=5684) [http://www.crutchfield.com/App/Product/Item/Main.aspx?g=300&i=070XDM6830&tp=5684](http://www.crutchfield.com/App/Product/Item/Main.aspx?g=300&i=070XDM6830&tp=5684) [http://www.crutchfield.com/App/Product/Item/Main.aspx?g=300&i=020DXZ475&tp=5684](http://www.crutchfield.com/App/Product/Item/Main.aspx?g=300&i=020DXZ475&tp=5684) Same thing with portable stereos. > **[Amazon.com: Emerson PD9814 Portable CD Player with Digital Display, AM/FM Stereo...](https://www.amazon.com/Emerson-PD9814-Portable-Cassette-Recorder/dp/B000PKVW8Y)** > > Product description Portable CD Player with Stereo Cassette Recorder Amazon.com Play your favorite CDs and cassettes, or listen to AM/FM radio with this slick and versatile Emerson portable stereo. Both... ---
**Author:** ![Brown\_Eyed\_Girl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/brown_eyed_girl/32/3574_2.png) [@Brown\_Eyed\_Girl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brown_Eyed_Girl)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2008, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-shockingly-ugly-designs-in-successful-or-mainstream-products/442474/13 "2008-03-24T02:14:38Z")
[QUOTE=Peak Banana] But… they blend in [everywhere](http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k85/kentbob/DSCF0001.jpg)! See? You won’t even have to look at them! Because you won’t \*see \*them! So there! [/QUOTE] Heh. Took both me and Mr. Brown (USN vet) a minute to see that guy. Well done. ---
**Author:** ![Wheeljack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/838e76/32.png) [@Wheeljack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wheeljack)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2008, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-shockingly-ugly-designs-in-successful-or-mainstream-products/442474/14 "2008-03-24T02:15:33Z")
Ugh. Have you tried to operate any of those modern car stereos? What species did they design the knob for, cause it’s waaaay to small for human hands. ---
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2008, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-shockingly-ugly-designs-in-successful-or-mainstream-products/442474/15 "2008-03-24T02:45:59Z")
[QUOTE=Wheeljack] Ugh. Have you tried to operate any of those modern car stereos? What species did they design the knob for, cause it’s waaaay to small for human hands. [/QUOTE] Amen! A couple of years ago, I was thinking about getting an aftermarket stereo for my car. I quickly discovered that aftermarket car radios, almost without exception, share two major drawbacks: 1. The buttons are too small for me to use comfortably. I’m a normal-sized guy, but my hands are fairly big. 2. They’re gaudy as hell, with lots of blue LED’s and fancy displays. This greatly increases the chances that the radio will be stolen, unless I’m willing to detach the radio face and carry it around with me everywhere I go, like I’m guarding the President’s nuclear “football” or something. ---
**Author:** ![koeeoaddi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/koeeoaddi/32/408_2.png) [@koeeoaddi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/koeeoaddi)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2008, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-shockingly-ugly-designs-in-successful-or-mainstream-products/442474/16 "2008-03-24T02:53:14Z")
[QUOTE=Big Bad Voodoo Lou] The Scion xB and Honda Element both come immediately to mind. They look like the feet of 1980s Japanese robot Voltron (the vehicle one, of course, not the lion one!) [/QUOTE] Everybody hates Honda Elements, but they crack me up. Every time I pass one [I expect to see a dog driving.](http://bp1.blogger.com/_QdHn8FT7SdY/Rwgp0or9CYI/AAAAAAAAAcE/TeLzKmYr6_0/s1600-h/GoofyCar_05.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2008, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-shockingly-ugly-designs-in-successful-or-mainstream-products/442474/17 "2008-03-24T03:19:32Z")
[QUOTE=elmwood] I’ll take angular, clean, functional 1980s design compared to the bloated X-TREEM! look of contemporary consumer electronics. Aftermarket car stereos … they looked clean and low-key through the 1980s and into the mid-1990s, but today … [http://www.crutchfield.com/App/Product/Item/Main.aspx?g=300&i=133RX100U&tp=5684](http://www.crutchfield.com/App/Product/Item/Main.aspx?g=300&i=133RX100U&tp=5684) [http://www.crutchfield.com/App/Product/Item/Main.aspx?g=300&i=070XDM6830&tp=5684](http://www.crutchfield.com/App/Product/Item/Main.aspx?g=300&i=070XDM6830&tp=5684) [http://www.crutchfield.com/App/Product/Item/Main.aspx?g=300&i=020DXZ475&tp=5684](http://www.crutchfield.com/App/Product/Item/Main.aspx?g=300&i=020DXZ475&tp=5684) Same thing with portable stereos. > **[Amazon.com: Emerson PD9814 Portable CD Player with Digital Display, AM/FM Stereo...](https://www.amazon.com/Emerson-PD9814-Portable-Cassette-Recorder/dp/B000PKVW8Y)** > > Product description Portable CD Player with Stereo Cassette Recorder Amazon.com Play your favorite CDs and cassettes, or listen to AM/FM radio with this slick and versatile Emerson portable stereo. Both... [/QUOTE] Actually, the car stereos you linked to aren’t that bad. Some time back I was idily looking at the el cheapo brands that Wallyworld was offering for sale and I found a couple that I really liked, a couple of days later, I was in a high end electronics store staring at theirs and noticed that the _really_ expensive models were either incredibly ugly or bland (a touchscreen and a couple of buttons). Mind you, there’s a certain aesthetic that I happen to have in mind for the next car stereo I want to buy (machine like), so I might be biased. PC cases, are, in general, very drab looking, which is surprising, since as stamped steel and plastic, they’re simple and cheap to make. Apple generally has good designs, and many PC makers offer one or two models that look okay, but in general “beige box” is an apt descriptor. I’d much rather have something that looked like [this](http://steampunkworkshop.com/daveveloz.shtml), than any of the current offerings by the PC makers. Can’t imagine that it’d be expensive for someone like Dell or Apple to offer them for sale. ---
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2008, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-shockingly-ugly-designs-in-successful-or-mainstream-products/442474/18 "2008-03-24T03:37:28Z")
Beige box? I haven’t seen a beige box in about five years. Most boxes now are black, as well as most monitors. I also hate the new military uniforms. I’m not in the military so I feel like I have no position to criticize them, but I hate seeing servicemen walking around in BDUs with no over-gear - it looks dumpy. I wish they were wearing their dress uniforms instead. But that’s just my civilian opinion. I hate pretty much all new car and truck design, as some of you may know. They all look like curvy jellybean blobs to me, especially the new Mustangs and Chargers. ---
**Author:** ![Don\_t\_Panic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/don_t_panic/32/398_2.png) [@Don\_t\_Panic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_t_Panic)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2008, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-shockingly-ugly-designs-in-successful-or-mainstream-products/442474/19 "2008-03-24T03:39:20Z")
[QUOTE=Wheeljack] Ugh. Have you tried to operate any of those modern car stereos? What species did they design the knob for, cause it’s waaaay to small for human hands. [/QUOTE] Know what’s even worse? Computer applications that for some Og-forsaken reason try to look like those things. _I can’t find the knobs on my Winamp! Why can’t it just use a normal Windows interface already?_ Cripes! _fetches magnifying glass_ EDIT: And, yeah, blue LEDs. You can’t get a toothpick without a blue LED on it these days. A while back I bought a CPU fan for my old computer. _It came with a blue LED!_ Yeah, that’s \*really \*useful. ---
**Author:** ![Raguleader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/258eb7/32.png) [@Raguleader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raguleader)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2008, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-shockingly-ugly-designs-in-successful-or-mainstream-products/442474/20 "2008-03-24T03:43:01Z")
[QUOTE=Ranchoth] “Product” is perhaps stretching it, a bit, but…the new style U.S. military Combat Uniforms, especially when wearing less than full gear. I mean, they’re probably very effective at comfort, camouflage, and overall utility…but goddamn, those are the [ugliest things I’ve seen in my life](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Army_Combat_Uniform). From a purely aesthetic standpoint—which is, I’m the first to admit, is not typically the best way to choose militray equipment—I’m just glad they don’t include a Mitznefet. And the new [Naval Work Uniforms](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uniforms_of_the_United_States_Navy#Naval_Work_Uniform_.28NWUs.29)? Ehhh… Well, they’re better than the [Zouaves](http://www.civilwar.si.edu/soldiering_zuoave.html). I think. [/QUOTE] You’d probably prefer the [Airman Battle Uniform](http://chairforce.com/news/stories/2006/mar/CHAFE-0301.htm), now being issued to airmen in the US Air Force. Basically, they’re a more advanced version of the BDUs with some extra pockets, a new camo pattern, and the infrared-masking stuff, along with the most important feature for airmen: It does not need to be ironed, and is worn only with suede boots (so no shining). :rolleyes: [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-shockingly-ugly-designs-in-successful-or-mainstream-products/442474.md?page=2)