You open what looks like a bill, but it’s just junk mail. You click through a donation process too fast, and they turn your one-time donation into a monthly contribution. A snack’s packaging makes it look bigger; an opinion poll is obviously one-sided; when you copy-paste a line from an article, the site adds a “read more” link for your “convenience.” Don’t express your impotent rage alone. Take it to Reddit’s /r/assholedesign, a place to expose and discuss evil design tricks.




As Co.Design points out, this is more than ugly and careless design; there’s already a subreddit for that. This is intentionally painful design, meant to help its creator at your expense. The designer wants you to click on an ad or fall for a hoax or spend more money than you wanted.

Our favorites: half a Stanley Cup, a fake parking ticket, and (pictured above) the classic Christian tract that looks like money—a very bad way to convert your waitstaff to Jesus.


Asshole Design | Reddit (via Co.Design)