30 Great Design Ideas That Represent Ingenuity At Its Finest

It's honestly not hard to find really good design ideas out there. Sure, it may not be as easy as finding really bad design ideas, but still.

These design ideas are easy breezy, and show just how much potential the human mind has. After all, somebody came up with all of these, and then sent them out in the world to be used.

"The inside of this watermelon bubblegum."

Who would've thought that a design could be so simple, yet so genius? It's literally just a watermelon-flavored bubblegum piece that looks like a watermelon, and yet I can't get enough of it.

"I made this table out of Lego bricks!"

I have to admit, this is a pretty cool table. In fact, it would be awesome if Lego started making furniture out of its blocks (or furniture made to look like it's made out of Lego blocks).

"This packet of pasta has a drawing to gauge the quantity of pasta without a scale."

I'm sure I'm not the only one out there with a tendency to sort of eyeball how much pasta I put in a pot, and then always end up making either too much or too little. All pasta packages need something like this to save us from ourselves.

"A cold pack for your finger."

I've definitely never seen an icepack like this before, which is strange because they should be commonplace. They're handy for whenever you accidentally shut an oven door on your finger (or anything else that you'd end up doing to just one finger).

"This oat milk lets you mark down the day you opened it so you don’t drink it when expired."

I once drank expired oat milk. It didn't make me sick, but it didn't... taste right. So, uh, little markers like this are definitely great reminders that they don't last forever.

"This old school shower that tells you the water temperature."

Uh, excuse me? Did old shower fixtures really used to tell you exact temperatures? Because if so, we should bring that back. And if not, we should start it. This is literally the coolest thing ever.

"This bus stop next to a football field."

You know, the other kind of football (soccer). In any case, this is a pretty genius design. Soccer goals and bus shelters do have pretty similar shapes, so why not? If anything, it'll get people into a sporty mood (whatever that means).

"The ingredient list on this shampoo bottle also states what each ingredient is used for."

Raise your hand if you don't actually know what the ingredients in a shampoo bottle do. I bet you raised your hand just now, and even if you didn't you probably still don't know. But this label at least shows us what's what.

The Hurricone. 'Nuff said.

So apparently, the Hurricone is a wet floor sign that also uses fans to actively dry wet floors. That's... kind of amazing, actually. How come these aren't being used, like, basically everywhere yet? We need them on all wet floors!

"My cinema chair has a heating function."

When my local theater got heated seats, it felt like Christmas. These are seriously the best thing ever, especially if you're watching a movie in a really cold theater. Just try not to fall asleep...

"Christmas gift bags that encourage you to re-use them."

That's pretty useful! Of course, I've taken to reusing bags without a tag at all, but it's nice that these come with extra tags. It's way better than awkwardly trying to remember whose gift is whose.

"I made a desk with built-in outlet and USB-c ports to power my laptop and screen."

I know that there are some desks out there that have built in outlets, and I love them! It must be so handy to have an outlet you can easily access, instead of trying to reach behind your desk just to charge your phone.

"These little salt and pepper shakers that are supplied with my hotel room."

I honestly just love how cute these are! Sure, they're probably going to have more salt and pepper than you'd probably use in an average hotel stay, but it's a lot better than having regular-sized ones that the hotel would probably switch out after each guest.

"Bike Trench for stairs."

Apparently, these are a thing in Europe. They need to be a thing here, too. People ride bikes, and stairs also exist. Not that I've ever done it, but carrying a bike up a set of stairs seems kind of hard. This is simple, yet effective.

"The people who built this canal decided to make a shallow part and went around on both sides of the bridge support instead of just one."

Does it help with water flow, or have any other kind of advantage? I don't know. I do know, though, that it looks cool, and sometimes that's all a design needs.

"Biscuit tin that has a working clock built into the lid."

Some people use these kinds of cookie tins to store sewing supplies (I know I have one somewhere) or other small things. But this one is also a working clock, which means it would have another useful function. Cool!

"The coffee machine at my college has a diagram of the different choices."

See, this is what I think innovation is all about. Showing cool diagrams of the proportions in each kind of coffee drink in a coffee machine. Not everyone can tell you the difference between a latte and a cappuccino without a reference, after all.

"Eggo waffles finally added a way to reseal the open bag."

Honestly? It took them long enough. But better late than never, I guess. Finally, though, we can take a single waffle out of the bag and not have to worry about letting the rest of them get freezer burnt!

"The Penguin Classics version of 1984 by George Orwell has its title and author censored."

This is honestly, like, the perfect design for a copy of 1984. Since the book is all about surveillance and whatnot.

Plus, it's so iconic, it would be a recognizable book, even with the censorship (and if you look close enough, you can still see the title and author engraved in the book cover).

"This hand dryer in the airport washroom looks like a pilot hat."

Sometimes, you have to sit back and appreciate the fun designs people come up with for specific places. This airport bathroom literally screams "I'm an airport bathroom," all because it has a pilot hat hand dryer.

"All day breakfast joint at the University of Illinois."

It's so amazing how such a simple concept can turn into such a cool design! Just by making the C and D in "Cracked" look like eggs, it makes all the difference. I can't get over how clever it is.

"Perfectly camouflaged cell antennas."

You probably wouldn't notice those antennae at first, and even when you do notice them, they don't look too bad. An antenna can be kind of an eyesore, but this makes them so much more bearable.

"I bought 2 rolls of Velcro tape and it arrived secured whit a smaller piece of white Velcro tape."

This kind of Velcro packaging seems kind of obvious, and yet... not really that obvious. I mean, it's Velcro, it's going to stick to itself at some point anyway, so might as well use that as a way to keep it all in place.

"Urinals in Amsterdam have a fly drawn on where they want people to aim so that they can save on cleaning costs."

This is... kind of gross. And yet, it's probably super effective. Why not do what you can to minimize cleaning something like a urinal, right?

"Restaurant toilets forces you to sanitise your hands on the way out."

I know for a fact that there are plenty of gross people out there who don't wash their hands after using the bathroom, even if they're in a public place like a restaurant. But if you use this door, you can't escape having clean hands!

"This Airbnb has a dual heat lamp/air vent in the bathroom."

This kind of vent/heat lamp combo is definitely handy, especially for colder months. It also has the added effect of making your bathroom look like a crime scene, which is totally fine if you're into that sort of thing.

"Cheese cutter from the Swedish museum in Philadelphia."

A design doesn't always have to improve function. Sometimes, it can just be cool. And the design of this cheese cutter is definitely cool. Will it make cutting cheese go any faster? Probably not. But look, it's a Viking cheese cutter!

"Local pizza place uses a garlic knot to prevent the cheese from touching the box."

So let me get this straight: not only do you get to have a tasty pizza that hasn't lost any of its cheese to the top of the box, but you also get a free bonus garlic knot? This is truly genius level intellect.

"The clock of a local hair saloon."

Look at how cool this clock is. Its hands are scissor blades! This is such a great way to remind people that this is, in fact, the storefront of a hair salon. How clever.

"The barcode from a box of mushroom ground coffee."

I'm not gonna lie, I have no idea what mushroom ground coffee is (and I'm not even sure if it would taste good). But I'd probably pick up a box just because the barcode is so cool.

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