Is it okay to dislike a grocery chain for its design decisions?

[elfs]

Most of you have probably already seen the automated checkout lines in many grocery stores. The one down the block from my house has one, and I used to like it. I used to because it was actually very simple and once you got to know it, easy to get through. They updated it a couple of months ago and, while I still use it, I have developed a deep, abiding loathing for the damn machines.

Because they chose that font you see above.

Chainlink (that's not actually chainlink there, but a free knockoff that's pretty close) is one of those "decorative" fonts that implies butchness, connectivity, technocracy. It has all of those design elements, and many designers I know fall for its trick at first. But the infatuation quickly wears off: chainlink is so graceless at being a decorative semiserif font with masculine lines that you quickly go from being infatuated with it to being sick of it. It's not even like Comic Sans; it's not a matter of overexposure. Chainlink is just one of those fonts that is so clearly and obviously bad eyecandy that you get an ache the second or third time you see it.

The auto-checkouts at the QFC down the street have chosen to use three different typefaces: A decorative font I couldn't name for the display page (including the store's logo), Helvetica for almost everything (the price and quantity display, most of the touchscreen buttons, and the close-captioning on the left for those who can't hear the bright chirpy voice), and Chainlink for... well, it's hard to say what for. Some buttons (including the red (why the frack red?) [PAY NOW] button), the "Thank you for shopping with us" notice (which always makes me want to say "Fuck you very much too," mostly because of the font), and a few other seemingly random places.

The new design is awful all around. The new "Do you have any coupons?" page has yes/no buttons that are opposite the "pay now" and the "pay with a card" buttons, so for 90% of their customers that hand has to seek back and forth on the screen, slowing them down. The "No barcode" sequence has added a new page between the button and the touchpad for entry so you can choose to search the database by category: putting the search button on the touchpad screen, which has plenty of real estate, would have been much nicer.

But mostly it's that font. That godawful, testosterony, "I'm young and stupid and a programmer not a designer and I think this font looks manly and great and I'll sneak it in where I can" font.

Comments

[solarbird]

It really is terrible. It looks like someone took one of the Babylon 5 specialty fonts and tried to recreate it from memory knowing absolutely nothing about how fonts work.

[acelightning.livejournal.com]

[gromm.livejournal.com]

I can't say that I hate those damned machines for their font, but for two other reasons:

1) They exist in the sort of place that wouldn't bag your groceries for you, even if it meant a sixfold reduction in the length of lineups. Which, typically, are very long at these places because they're cheap. Their prices might also be cheap. At least at first glance anyway.

2) Because these machines exist solely to reduce the number of staff available at the store, the number of staff will be reduced. In which case, in the event of some unexpected (and actually highly likely - you should know as a programmer) behaviour which the program can't handle, you must wait many, many times longer than you would have to if that same behaviour were handled by a human being. First, you must wait for someone to actually help you out - because they're horribly understaffed already. Then you get to wait as they "find a manager" or some such, because they're not authorized to deal with credit card errors, for instance. I've not bothered to wait long enough for the manager yet. I recall waiting some 15 minutes before giving up.

I've developed this dislike at the only store I've seen that uses these blasted things - the Real Canadian Superstore at Metrotown mall. RCS is not exactly well known for their customer service to begin with. In fact, they have the single worst customer service of any grocery store I've ever visited, hands down. It's more like customer disservice than anything. They treat you like a criminal the moment you come in - and not in that friendly Wal-Mart way with the greeters that secretly are on the lookout for people who look like they might steal, but with greeters that demand that everyone rent a locker for their backpacks. You also *pay* for shopping bags (which exists, as one teller once told me, "because otherwise you'd see it in the prices on the shelves"), and they make you pack them yourself. Let's just say that not many arthritic old ladies go there, even if it's their only choice for miles around.

But the worst part of this particular store is the crowds. Their no-name brand (literally called "No Name") is the cheapest around, and this is an insanely busy mall to begin with. It's literally difficult to get around the store even if you don't have a buggy. With a stroller, it's often next to impossible without a cutlass and a pistol. And then you get to the front of the store. There's supposed to be something resembling an aisle for about oh, 10 to 15 feet behind the tills. Possibly even more. But thanks to the dead-slow lineups, it's always wall-to-wall people. You're supposed to use this aisle to turn down the next one, but you can't. At least not without a cutlass and a pistol.

Oy. This seems to have turned into a rant. Oh well. A shrill for a shrill I guess. ;)

[creepingcrud.livejournal.com]

For what it's worth, my experience using these sorts of automated checkout lanes has been a bit more positive. Around here (Pittsburgh), the cheap places can't afford the technology, I think, and the places that do use them primarily are supplementing the more or less adequate number of staffed lanes, so it mostly serves as a nice alternative to waiting in the express lane. There are a few things that bug me, but they are not as egregious as the ones you or Elf are using.

[amythis.livejournal.com]

Have you seen the documentary Helvetica? You can get it from Netflix.

[(Anonymous)]

The local Somerfield (British supermarket) here tried them, and they worked great for us...

Only they scrapped it because -
A) the staff hated them
B) the reason the staff hated them was people kept putting frozen food directly on the barcode scanner and screwing up the scanning, presumably from the refraction.

[eddvick.livejournal.com]

Too right that font sucks. It's like talking in capital letters.

My fave panel from the recent foolscap convention was "Typography 101"; we hafta hafta do "201" this coming year!

[lisakit.livejournal.com]

I never really thought of it as "manly". It's always seemed more militaristic or even hostile to me. Judging from the strength of your reaction I think you may be feeling the threat vibes from it too. Helvetica on the other hand has always been a good readable font, gets the job done without bells, whistles and insult.

[cthulu-for-pm.livejournal.com]

There's a picture framing place a few blocks from where I work that does its advertising in Comic Sans MS. Chainlink is actually pretty good in comparison.