geriatric fonts

Last night D and I went out to one of the nearby resorts to remember being tourists for a bit. It was lovely: the bongos from the luau almost drowned out the piped audio track in the lounge, and the stage lights across the water from another resort luau almost reminded me of Christmas spotlights.

Once the luau's finished, things settled in to a more human visual/auditory experience (as opposed to less humane = Vegas). We relaxed and I thought about ordering something to eat. Upon looking at the Pupu menu, however, I decided I'd have cereal at home. I couldn't read the menu. David, with his visual acuity improved, could read several key words if I held the menu at the end of my arms. He picked out "luau, smoked, flattened, poof" and I saw "sharky, lipstopper, hum, slimed".

As retailers, we are often told that we need to think of our aging population and the effects this has on all aspects of shopping. As a result of this information, we try to plant magnifying reading glasses throughout our store for people to be able to read the paint and glue labels, the product instructions, or even the books there.

Somebody needs to tell the graphic designers that menus are used in dimly lit places by old people. Cute fonts that look like they're carved out of lava by tiny menehune will not increase sales.

In honor of our not eating anything there last night, I revamped my blogs to "large" and "x-large" fonts wherever possible. Why didn't I do that before my experience?