Some ideas are better left as ideas. Whatever your mom, dear friend, or significant other says, that bag you saw the other day on Etsy that looks like you’re carrying a knife is a terrible idea.
There’s an online group called Awful Taste But Great Execution dedicated entirely to the gaudy, tacky, tasteless, overdone, plain trashy side of product design. But there’s one but. The execution may be, in fact, pretty alright. “For everything that displays quality craftsmanship in the least elegant way possible,” states the subreddit’s description. And 1.4 million members seem to be totally up for it.
From painful-to-watch objects to questionable designs, these people should have put a break on their brainstorming or put their efforts into something else. At least we have something to cringe over! Psst! More daunting stuff awaits in part 1. (H/T)
01. Brazilian Ad For Condoms
02. Tree-Rex
03. Ashtray
To learn more about the Awful Taste But Great Execution subreddit, A&D reached out to the moderator team, who told us more about their community.
The representative of the subreddit told us that r/ATBGE was created as a spin-off of another subreddit called Shitty Car Mods. Since r/shitty_car_mods rejected the posts by Awful Taste But Great Execution, the moderator decided to create a whole new subreddit.
“In the beginning, /r/ATBGE focused heavily on automotive-related posts, but we knew doing this would potentially limit our user base. And this is the point where the community started to grow. To make /r/ATBGE more appealing to the masses, we opened up the subreddit to include things beyond autos (tattoos, fashion, décor, etc.).”
04. Embroidery Toast
05. Bath/Toilet Design
06. I Did A Double Take When I Saw This Rock In My Friend’s Yard. She Said It Came From The Tenants Before Her, But I Think It Is The Tenant
“As we grew, moderators were added, and subreddit rules were further refined,” the moderator explained. “Now we are here, and things are still looking good. We continue adding new subscribers daily, which is a good thing (considering we all do this for free).”
The creator of r/ATBGE said that their favorite post is this creepy-looking coin purse shared about a year ago. They added that the subreddit essentially documents things of all kinds that “display quality craftsmanship in the least elegant way possible.”
The staff is gaudy, tacky, overdone, and otherwise tasteless, but sometimes, when the work is done well, “you won’t know whether to love it or hate it,” the moderator team explained.
07. Razor Blade Advertisement
08. I Want This Now
09. The Pattern Gave Him A Booty, So We Gave Him A Thong
If coming up with good ideas was simple, we’d have many great solutions to existing problems and incredible products. But producing something efficient, functional, and aesthetically pleasing (often, it should tick even more boxes, e.g., be sustainable) is not a walk in the park.
Think of how many companies are investing their time, effort, and resources yet coming up with generic, repetitive, and plain bad ideas. It makes you wonder whether it’s the limit of the human mind that isn’t capable of producing something ground-breaking that often or whether there’s something else to blame.
Well, the tricky question becomes even more challenging when we try to determine what we call a “good idea” and a “bad” one. At that point, any inventor is dealing with the great inventor’s dilemma: when you’re doing something new, you can’t tell the good ideas from the bad ones beforehand.
10. Batstache
11. Bleeding Necklace
12. It’s Stupid, But Kinda Sick Ngl
In many cases, deciding on some ideas that initially seem great will make you miss truly good ones and opt for the bad ones.
On the other hand, we know now that a good idea should have some distinct features before turning it into a product. For example, it should solve a specific problem and work on a particular opportunity. Coming up with an idea for a reason is a good sign you’re on the right path, but you probably will need many more “ideas” before you can pick up the right ones to work on further.
13. 20 Foot Tall Graffiti Mural Of Kanye Kissing Himself
14. It Wouldn’t Be Complete Without It
15. Special Effect Artist Creates Mask Of Himself
16. Does This Mask Belong Here
17. I Was Told To Post My Tramp Stamp For Tuesday
18. “Get Away From Her, You B****!”
19. This Lamp In My Hotel Room
20. This Woodwork
21. A Cat With A Headpiece Made From Its Own Shed Hair
22. Low Rider Batmobile
23. My Best Mate Made A [crappy] Cake For My Birthday
![My Best Mate Made A [crappy] Cake For My Birthday](https://cdn.architecturendesign.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/AD-Awful-Taste-But-Great-Execution-23-scaled.jpg "My Best Mate Made A [crappy] Cake For My Birthday")
24. If 13-Year-Old Me Became An Interior Designer
25. I’m Curious As To How It Actually Tastes…
26. I Was Told To Post This Here
27. Hamburger Bed From 1972
28. This Mural On The Side Of A Restaurant In Lithuania Depicts Donald Trump Kissing Vladimir Putin
29. Does This Count?
30. Additional Hair
31. Painting I Found In A Shop. I Should Have Bought It
32. Onesie
33. How To Get Killed By Police 101
34. Yes, This Is A Spoon
35. Admiral Ackbunny
36. Someone Was Selling Dead Beetles Dressed Up As Jurassic Park Characters On Etsy
37. Chandelier Headlights
38. Blobfish Supra
39. I Guess They’d Rather Mop Than Vacuum
40. These Coffee Mugs
41. This Texan Sink
42. Why Buy Converses When You Can Paint Them On
43. A Sacred Candlestand
44. My Sister Made “Feet Loaf” For Halloween
45. This Hair Design
46. Unsure If Comically Great Or Horrendously Absurd, But They’re Mine Now
47. This Optical Illusion Haircut
48. Since Yall Enjoyed My Flea Bag, Here’s More Work By The Same Artist
49. Oh No, Nicholas, What Are You Doing??
50. This Curry Phone Case
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