These People All Had Really Simple, But REALLY Genius Ideas, And I Love Them For That
1.This smarty pants who found an excellent additional use for a pool noodle.
2.This animal lover who had a good idea.
3.And this pet parent who created the simplest hack to keep their fur baby from chasing squirrels.
4.This smart seamster who shared a simple, but genius hack to sew in a straight line.
"It's sew obvious."
"It really seams effective."
"I love this thread."
5.And the person who came up with this smart door latch that doubles as an accessories holder in a public restroom.
"And they threw in the umbrella holder?! I love Japanese design and architecture!"
6.The person at DFW airport who added these lights to the bathroom stalls so you can tell which are available.
7.The genius traffic light designer who made this one with an hourglass to help count down the time left before the light changes.
"PEDESTRIANS: START YOUR HURRYING!"
8.And the person who came up with the idea of adding crossing lights on the ground that turn green/red — helpful for people who are basically glued to their phones!
"This is pretty common where I live in Korea; almost everyone looks at their phones when walking, so it makes sense."
9.The person who figured out this simple "hack" for drying a toilet brush.
10.The person who had the idea to sort this furniture hardware by step rather than type.
"This makes me unbelievably happy."
11.And this bird of a feather who laid it out REALLY simple.
"I LOVE thoughtful packaging. Makes me irrationally happy when I discover this sort of thing."
12.This clever cook who shared a neat trick to measure honey in a baking recipe.
"Also, if the recipe calls for any sort of oil, just measure and pour that before you do the honey, and it will slip right out."
13.And the smarty who added this drawing on a pasta box to help gauge the quantity of pasta you need/use.
"How to calculate the correct amount of pasta to cook:
1. Estimate the amount you think you’ll need.
2. Wrong."
14.The restaurant owner who had the foresight to install both unscented (for before eating) and scented (for after eating) soap dispensers.
"This is at KazuNori, a place that serves mainly sushi hand rolls. You wouldn't want a fragranced soap scent lingering on your hands to interfere with the taste of the food. But then afterward, you might want scented to cover up any (potential) fish smell."
15.The person who came up with this simple life improvement — fan pull chains that have a light bulb and fan blades at the end to indicate which chain to pull.
16.And this restaurant owner who had these neat lights installed to get your server's attention silently.
"I’m more amazed by how they made the word 'turn' work both ways."
17.The smarty pants who designed this ruler to have cascading millimeter marks so it's easier to read.
"This ruler...RULES."
18.This super smart grandpa who sorted his extra sauce packets into a case.
"We do this at the hospital, too, when delivering meals. I dubbed it the 'snackle box.'"
19.This mom who painted an outlet to blend in with its surroundings.
"They are all around the kitchen, and to be completely honest, they are pretty hard to find."
20.Whoever designed these benches to be reversible so you can choose your view.
"Trains in Sydney had seats like these last time I was there. You could choose to face forward like a normal person, or if you really wanted to live wild, travel to your destination facing backward."
21.And then, the person who made this bench on rails so you can always be in the shade.
"Or round a fire pit, so you can move the seating away from the smoke."
22.And, wait!! MORE benches!! The clever designer who came up with this bench/ad, which is just really cool-looking IMO.
"Break me off a piece of that BUS STOP BENCH!"
23.The clever person that designed this store to have different surfaces to "road test" strollers.
"What they really need is a curb to test it on. Every pram or stroller I’ve had has been great on level terrain, but the moment you try and take it over a bump or curb, that’s the real test."
24.The person who incorporated kick buttons on these elevators.
"We have them at my work. I always thought it was so you didn't need to touch the buttons, but found out they're actually for our movers who can't push a button due to them carrying items."
25.The smarty pants who designed this toilet to have a sink attached to the top — this is so you can re-use the sink water in the next flush in order to help save water.
"My relatives in Japan had one of these. Theirs looked relatively fancy in comparison to this. It really made their tiny guest bathroom useable. There was absolutely no room for a toilet and a sink otherwise."
26.The genius that designed this shirt with buttons on the inside as well to help prevent annoying boob-gap.
"Nice!! Now, if they would just give us pockets, we would finally be set!"
27.This intelligent paper bag designer who just wants to help.
"I remember those bags from Food4Less. I always thought it was so obvious, why would you need instructions? But then, I watched other grocery store employees and some people definitely need those instructions."
28.The helpful person who designed these stairs with a groove on the side to make carrying bikes easier.
"Bike runnel is the term if you're curious."
29.The person who designed this umbrella to only show the logo when it rains.
"That’s so fucking cool. How?! What a time to be alive."
"Hydrophilic regions."
30.The mastermind who created this pan with a thermochromic indicator to show if it is hot.
"T-Fal has had those for decades, although all of the ones I've seen have the heat indicator in the pan itself, not on the handle."
31.The person who decided to incorporate a window on this toaster.
"How toast your bread is. New adjective. Love it."
32.The smarty who designed this spatula with a little stand.
"I always thought that was there so the spatula wouldn't slide into the pot or pan."
"Things can be two things."
33.The canny person at this library who created "binge boxes" to loan out.
"PG-65. That's great."
"What does it mean?"
—45KA
"They feature actors over 65 and appeal to an older audience. It's a binge box for grandpa."
34.And the equally clever person at this library who made cake pans available to check out.
"One of my locals does tool lending. Super helpful for pricy tools that you’re only going to use once or twice."
35.The absolute genius who added this small, but highly useful, feature to an oven — showing the time you started cooking.
"I wonder if the engineer who proposed that received the proper acknowledgement?"
"I hope there's cake and perhaps appetizers."
36.The earth-conscious inventor of these cardboard hangers in a store.
"Cardboard can be sturdy as hell. I got cabinets delivered, and they were boxed in cardboard. That was the hardest cardboard I've ever had to cut up."
37.And this eco-friendly bar owner who opted to start using pasta as straws instead of plastic.
"They last a whole lot longer than paper straws that disintegrate before you finish your drink AND are much better for frozen drinks and milkshakes that take longer to finish drinking. Paper straws go soggy less than halfway through the frozen drink and collapse on themselves when you try to suck."
38.These young Girl Scouts, aka geniuses, who posted up outside a local dispensary to sell cookies.
"They know their clientele."
39.The person who packed this tube with a tongue depressor attached to prevent it from rolling around.
"I work at the post office. I’m told they do this so that the tubes actually get scanned going through the machines (basically a conveyer belt that scans on the top and bottom). Otherwise, they spin and/or don’t get scanned correctly.
If they don’t get scanned, the tracking numbers don’t get updated, and people get all mad. By doing it this way, they get scanned at each processing plant."
40.The genius who came up with this gate design that allows horses but not vehicles.
"As someone who works on a ranch, I cannot explain how useful this would be where I work. People like to drive down the private roads the farm is located on to see the horses, but we need to keep the gate open to bring the horses back after a ride."
41.The genius designer who created this cool dining table that houses a secret spiral staircase.
In case you're wondering, this leads to a "generic" basement. OP explained, "There was only exterior access to the basement via slippery wooden deck stairs when we moved in. Needed interior access so our indoor cats could get to their litter boxes and we could easily get to the laundry, breaker box, etc."
42.The handy cat parent who repurposed an old TV into a lovely cat bed for their cat's birthday.
"Two hundred channels, and nothing but cats."
43.This landscaper who leaves a rectangle of wildflowers so bees can use them.
"My office started doing that now, too, for the bees and generally to increase biodiversity. It looks great, really colorful, and lush — much nicer than having a boring lawn around an office for no reason."
44.The designer of this hotel phone in Iceland that has a special button to wake you up if there are northern lights in the sky.
"Iceland is such a wonderful country. When we lived there, in Reykjavík, if there were Northern Lights in the forecast, they would dim the city lights."
45.The person who designed this cool jacket with a hand-me-down label.
"If you’ve ever owned anything from L.L.Bean, you know this is legit because it lasts forever. I have a backpack from kindergarten that is still in good shape 15 years later."
46.The thoughtful movie theater employee who created this helpful chart that tells people if there is an end credit scene.
"They want you to leave so they can start cleaning, LOL."
"Yup. I don’t waste my time sticking around, and they get to clean the theater sooner. Everybody wins."
47.The retail store designer who had the wisdom to make this hanger for a dressing room.
"Ratio should be more like 1 hook for 'Yes,' 3 hooks for 'No,' 10 hooks for 'Maybe.'"
48.The clever tire-maker who incorporated a tread depth measurer built into the rubber.
"Should be a safety requirement on all tires! Brilliant. (The numbered design, not just the usual indicators.)"
49.The clever person who dreamed up this device that shows how much blood a local blood bank has.
This is in Melbourne, Australia in case you were wondering.
50.Finally, the high-key genius who created this Oreo cookie holder that attaches to a glass, thus making them smarter than literally all of us.
We salute you.
H/T r/mildlyinteresting and r/designporn
