Hot take: that new coffee shop downtown has the worst contrast I've ever seen on their menu boards

Visited Brew Haus on 3rd Street last Saturday and couldn't read half the drink options because they used light gray text on a white background, and when I asked the barista about it she said 'oh yeah, we get that a lot' - why do places keep doing this?

2 comments

2 Comments

riley59515d ago

Three years ago I was at a diner in upstate New York where they had the specials written in yellow chalk on a beige wall under a dim light. I honestly thought the soup was $38 until my friend squinted and said "no, it's tomato bisque for $3.25." The waitress came over and I asked her about it and she just shrugged and said "the owner's nephew designed the chalkboard." I still think about that soup pricing confusion sometimes when I can't read a menu board.

webb.xena14d ago

Honestly I used to be one of those people who was like "oh it's fine, you can still kinda read it" but that soup story just hit different. I had a similar thing happen at a bakery where they used this fancy cursive font on a pastel pink board and I legit thought they were selling "croissants" for $42 until I realized it was actually $4.25 for two. The cashier laughed at me like I was the idiot for not being able to read their "aesthetic" menu. That's the thing though, design should work for people not against them. It's not about being fancy or minimalist, it's about actually letting people give you their money. I bet that diner lost a bunch of customers who just walked away instead of asking.