Ugly on Purpose: How Bad Design Makes Us Better Builders

At Counterpart, exceptional design and seamless functionality are non-negotiables. But now and then, the best way to sharpen those skills is to explore the opposite end of the spectrum.

That’s why, during a recent team lunch, we hosted a Bad Design Contest, a challenge where our developers intentionally created the most chaotic, confusing, and aesthetically painful login portals imaginable. And yes, it was every bit as terrible as it sounds.

Why We Celebrated Bad Design (Just This Once)

To truly appreciate great design, you must also experience what happens when design fails.

Buttons that don’t respond. Layouts that shift unpredictably. Color palettes that physically hurt to look at. These exaggerated mistakes illuminate the subtle principles of design that make products intuitive, accessible, and delightful to use.

By intentionally breaking things, we break habits. We’re reminded to challenge assumptions, question patterns, and refine the instincts that guide every product we build.

Meet the Worst Login Screens Ever

Our developers took the challenge seriously, and the results were gloriously awful:

• Color combinations that made the text unreadable
• Fonts that clashed, overlapped, or scaled with no logic at all
• Buttons that triggered the wrong actions, or broke entirely
• Loading screens with painfully long wait times
• Interfaces where fixing one element caused another to collapse
• And the undisputed winner: A password keyboard that rearranges itself with every keystroke, making logging in nearly impossible

While we had a good laugh, these were functional demonstrations of what bad UX feels like.

The Serious Value Behind the Silly Exercise

Behind the laughter was an important reminder: Great design isn’t about decoration. It’s about reducing friction, respecting the user, and making every interaction predictable and intuitive.

Bad design, especially exaggerated bad design, highlights exactly where and how that friction creeps in:

• When color contrast destroys accessibility
• When spacing and hierarchy fail to communicate meaning
• When interactions behave inconsistently
• When performance disrupts flow
• When users have to work harder than the interface

These are pitfalls our team is trained to avoid. By spotlighting them in the most outrageous ways possible, we reinforce the principles that guide our work every day.

How Bad Design Makes Us Better

Exercises like this strengthen our commitment to:

• Thoughtful, user-centered design
• Functional clarity and intuitive behavior
• Accessible interfaces that work for everyone
• Performance that supports, not frustrates
• Cross-team collaboration that elevates quality at every step

Because at the end of the day, our job is to make software feel effortless, even when the functionality behind it is complex. Understanding what not to do helps us deliver products that are not only beautiful but reliable, predictable, and genuinely enjoyable to use.

Turning Design Disasters into Design Excellence

The Bad Design Contest was a messy, ridiculous, and incredibly entertaining event. But it also reminded us why we obsess over the details, test relentlessly, and thoughtfully craft every interaction.

Bad design sharpens our vision. Great design is what we deliver.

Ready to create software that works beautifully and never makes your keyboard dance while typing a password? Let’s talk about how thoughtful design and functional excellence can improve existing workflows and reduce frustration and errors, or elevate your next project.