When a design doesn’t work, it often draws more attention to itself than when it works perfectly. A wobbly shopping cart, a flimsy potato peeler, a puzzling highway sign: These are common nuisances.

Design exists to solve problems—functional ones, aesthetic ones, or both. But sometimes, instead of improving things, it creates even more problems than it fixes. And if you need proof, just look at ...

We all make mistakes, even at work. At best, we manage to correct them, or they're harmless enough to not lose sleep over. At worst, they get printed, installed, built, or manufactured. Then end up on ...