22 Developers Compete To Find The Creator Of The Worst Volume Interface Ever
Ironically, one of the best competitions ever.
A 28-year-old woman refused to leave the volume controls alone, so she opened a weird little rabbit hole: “worst volume interface” designs. And once you start clicking through these developer experiments, you realize something terrifying, these people did not just make bad UI, they made UI that actively tries to ruin your day.
It turns into a full-on contest, 22 developers tossing in their most unhinged ideas like “volume cannon,” “volume exam,” and “volume ping pong.” Some of the controls are literally games of chance, some make noise as loud as you want, and a few go straight into visual chaos like color action volume and subscription-based sound. Now it’s not just complicated, it’s competitive.
Here’s the wild part, one of these designs is so obnoxious it might actually make you question how sound works.
Let the competition begin!
1. Balance the scales
This would be a fun game.
2. We can call this the volume cannon
This one is undoubtedly a recipe for distraction.
3. Volume exam
We would 100% use this.
4. Random choices
The numbers shall choose you, not the other way around.
5. For patient people only
Top 5 for sure.
6. The dice decides
A game of chance.
7. Let the latitude decide
8. Make noise as loud as you want
One of our favorites, for sure.
9. Connect the dots
10. Lid angle sensor
This is the same kind of chaos as the gaming room surprise, where roommates argued after moving in together.
11. It gets even worse
Color action volume.
12. Tic Tac Toe volume version
13. We miss Clippy. Don’t you?
14. The geeks will love this one.
15. This would guarantee peak frustration
16. We may have found the most annoying one yet. Take your crown, designer!
17. There’s no hurrying up with this one.
Volume ping pong.
18. Spin the wheel
19. Volume subscription
We’ve found the winner! Let’s declare this competition over, haha.
20. Overstimulation in volume format
21. Easy peasy
We like this one.
22. Horizontal challenge
It would take almost an hour to get the perfect volume.
The “Balance the scales” idea sounds harmless until you remember this whole list is built to turn your volume up into a puzzle.
When “The dice decides” shows up, you can almost hear the developer laughing as the numbers choose you instead of the other way around.
Then “Make noise as loud as you want” hits, and suddenly the interface feels less like a control and more like a dare.
By the time “Volume subscription” claims the crown, it’s basically game over, because who wants to pay to hear anything?
It’s incredible how much thought and effort people must have put into designing the volume controls we all know and use today.
These designers gave a lot of thought to creating the worst possible volume interface. They did such a great job that it would be impossible to pick the worst among these designs.
Imagine one of these designs being the standard volume control. Half of the world’s population would probably lose their minds.
Which one takes the cake for being the most frustrating for you? Tell us in the comments below!
If “Volume subscription” wins, everyone’s walking away hearing nothing and blaming the UI.
Still think “one button” is harmless, read how a woman begged her husband to press it.
