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Businesses with ugly AI menu redesigns

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Re: Businesses with ugly AI menu redesigns

#311

Post by bccdee »

buellerbueller wrote: post #302
bccdee wrote: post #301

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Is it a garage that has the same hygiene standards and medical equipment as an office? Maybe! A garage can be cleaned very thoroughly, especially if you renovate with that in mind. I wouldn't bet on it, though. A good doctor probably could operate out of a garage, but they wouldn't. And a good restaurateur would take time to think about their menu. These signals select for people with domain knowledge and experienc…

>All else being equal, would you rather eat a hot dog from a cart with a nice sign, or from a guy sitting on the sidewalk who sharpied "Hotdog $3" on a piece of cardboard? You keep introducing these silly confounding variables. I wouldn't eat from any hotdog vendor who is sitting on the sidewalk, regardless of their signage. If both had carts, the signage wouldn't affect my decision, particularly because hotdogs are…

I'm introducing examples. It's logical to judge a thing based on its context and circumstances, because those can tell you about the thing. A menu can tell you about a restaurant in the same way that the presence or absence of a cart can tell you about a street-food vendor.

> hotdogs are shit in my opinion

Then by all means, substitute the street food of your preference. Unless you disdain street food in general, which would be irrational, unless eating at a specific place is meant for its societal signaling value rather than for its food :)

Re: Businesses with ugly AI menu redesigns

#312

Post by xnx »

dev0p wrote: post #48

The loss of personality is real. The most heartbreaking ones I've seen are in schools, or anywhere that children are involved. For example, at my local preschool there was a wall flyer with information about what to bring the swimming pool. It had the most crudely drawn fishes and crabs and seahorses that I had ever seen. It was clear that whoever drew that had no prior experience with anything even remotely resembli…

I can only hope the novelty quickly wears off for everyone and they too realize there's no value in such filler "art".

Re: Businesses with ugly AI menu redesigns

#313

Post by zbentley »

simonw wrote: post #125
customguy wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's the argument here? People don't like spit in their food, how many people can tell their food got spat in? Does that mean they're somehow wrong or to be belittled for not liking spit in their food?

It's not an argument, it's an open question: do people who express a dislike of AI know when they see a poster that was generated with assistance from AI?

I'm sure many/most don't know that specifically. But as a sibling poster pointed out, people do have a strong sense for "bullshit"--defined here as fairly crass and/or greedy, low-effort marketing or design. Plenty of people detected bullshit before (correctly or not). I suspect that they often detect it more often or more potently now, both as a result of more desperate non-AI marketing/UX and as a result of increasing corporate use of AI. When they identify bullshit, they're able to map that through the current zeitgeist to "this might be AI", or "I am going to call it AI because I don't like it".

I suspect this cohort is a lot larger than the cohort that directly, independently identifies "that was made with AI". But that's just, like, my opinion, man--take it with a grain.

If true, this phenomenon is conflating years of increasingly invasive/desperate marketing spends, widespread product enshittification, and AI usage, but is simultaneously a genuine indication of a big segment of people's distaste.

All that is separate from revealed preference--however disliked, both past and AI-generated-present marketing of the SALE SALE SALE BUY NOW OR YOU'RE INADEQUATE variety works on a lot of people. So whether "dislike of AI" translates into meaningful behavior changes is anyone's guess. But I think there is a phenomenon being identified here, whether or not it's just AI or something more nebulous.

Re: Businesses with ugly AI menu redesigns

#316

Post by Anamon »

I'm sure I'm in a bubble to some degree, but around me it feels like the negative reaction to anything GenAI isn't restricted to tech circles (though I live in a fairly tech-y town) and crosses the generations except for the oldest.

And at least for me the negative reaction is most extreme for food. Because the one clear message that using GenAI output sends is, "I didn't care." And is that really the message you want to send when you're trying to sell food?

These pictures have spread particularly much on food trucks around here, and my strict rule is that I won't even try any of them. If you have so little confidence in your dishes that you don't even want to show me a picture of it, why should I trust it and put it in my body?

It shows the most extreme lack of caring, for a business category where care is one of the things most important to me. You know that someone proud of their cooking isn't going to cut corners or serve you something they don't stand behind. This shows they have no such pride, so I'm going to assume they by extension also have no such things as hygiene standards. G

Re: Businesses with ugly AI menu redesigns

#317

Post by Breza »

dev0p wrote: post #48

The loss of personality is real. The most heartbreaking ones I've seen are in schools, or anywhere that children are involved. For example, at my local preschool there was a wall flyer with information about what to bring the swimming pool. It had the most crudely drawn fishes and crabs and seahorses that I had ever seen. It was clear that whoever drew that had no prior experience with anything even remotely resembli…

I totally agree with you! I love seeing a flyer at my daughter's school that was obviously made by a student. It shows that they care enough about the thing to put real work into promoting it. Heck yes I'll buy a donut from coffee cart so you can go to some camp, fifth graders!

Re: Businesses with ugly AI menu redesigns

#318

Post by Breza »

PyWoody wrote: post #27
dec0dedab0de wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Writing in signs and menus in chalk has been a signal for a high quality restaurant for as long as I can remember. With photos of the food, and/or ring bound menus being the worst.

I knew someone that actually got a degree in like letterprinting with a minor in menu design. She went from town-to-town creating these beautiful chalk menu designs and lived a pretty modest life. One day a tattoo parlor asked her to make a sign. She did. They asked if she had ever thought about getting into tattooing. She hadn't. They gave her an apprenticeship. After completing her apprenticeship, she's now booked…

One of my friends from grad school got a Masters of Public Policy then decided she would rather chalk menuboards for a living, spun up an LLC, and does amazing work. I admire people who are so willing to chase their dreams. I joke with my five year old that I still don't know what I want to be when I grow up, except it's increasingly not a joke.

Re: Businesses with ugly AI menu redesigns

#319

Post by matthewowen »

dosisking wrote: post #237
matthewowen wrote: post #148

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was talking to my daughter a few weeks ago about a coffee shop that was opening soon and I said that based on the posters in the window it probably wouldn’t be very good. She didn’t really understand how I could draw that conclusion and I explained that you could tell that they had been stretched to fit the available dimensions in a way that clearly distorted the images and text. And that like… if you’re careless a…

There is a good chance you will be wrong, but it's not like you will actually check whether or not you were wrong. You are assuming that you are correct, and have already come to the conclusion that the coffee shop is not good. But even if it is good, you will not admit that it is good, because then you will have to admit that you were wrong. Hopefully, your daughter just politely nodded her head, and did not actuall…

Ironically, you just made even more inferences than I did!

Re: Businesses with ugly AI menu redesigns

#320

Post by matthewowen »

moron4hire wrote: post #251
Planktonne wrote: post #185

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you're really passionate about serving the best quality coffee, you'll be passionate about the experience around that, and you'll put effort in even if it doesn't pay off. AI-generated art signals that you didn't put effort in, and so aren't passionate about the experience, and so aren't really passionate about the central thing. "At least you tried" is not a high standard, but it's the one that AI art fails.

I've thought about the specific example of distorted menu photos before as well and to me it also signals intelligence level in the proprietor. I can't imagine myself in that position, looking at that and saying, "yup, that's good." And I also have a hard time imagining not understanding why it looks bad, what one could have done to not make it bad. It feels like a distinct decision to be lazy. And like you said, if…

It's very hard to operate an espresso machine.

If you want to pull good shots you need to be adjusting grind (etc) every day and throughout the day. So it's a case where you have to check and adjust output continuously.

So for me that's especially a case where like, do you pay attention to detail and take time to fix obvious mistakes is probably the number one requirement.

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