Thread

1. HanShotFirst · 1789588770 · focus · HN ↗

   I've noticed a very sudden uptick in these AI designed signs and menus in my area. I fully understand why they are used by small business owners (fast and cheap), and I think getting angry at or threatening a business owner for using them is a huge overreaction.

   That said, my own aesthetic sense is very much turned off by them. It is hard for me to articulate why, but I can name four reasons:

   - The food never actually looks good, real, or delicious;

   - The information is presented in a haphazard way, with text randomly thrown all over the place;

   - There is really only one kind of "style" of these signs that I've seen, and it's sad to think that this style (or lack thereof) may become ubiquitous;

   - In a world where AI feels increasingly shoved down our throats, it is unnerving to so suddenly see its rise manifested in the physical world.

   1. sippingabonedry · 1789590378 · focus · HN ↗

      I have some bad news for you:

      • The pictures on cereal boxes aren't entirely real, either. They use school glue, not milk.

      • Your burger has never looked like the one on the menu (see Falling Down)

      • I've never eaten at a Chinese takeaway where the food looked like the light-up menu board, either.

      How has AI art made your food meaningfully less delicious?

      1. JumpCrisscross · 1789590522 · focus · HN ↗

         > How has AI art made your food meaningfully less delicious?

         If a menu has pictures, I expect the food to look like the picture. That said, this is really only a problem for the store in respect of returns. If nobody is returning the product because it didn't look as advertised, there probably isn't any harm being done.

         1. sippingabonedry · 1789590818 · focus · HN ↗

            > If a menu has pictures, I expect the food to look like the picture.

            Has food ever looked like the picture, though? I find this position unrealistic outside of an Amazon return excuse.

            1. ssl-3 · 1789595171 · focus · HN ↗

               Yes, it has happened at least one time.

               I once ordered from a Waffle House once exactly like this:

               "I'll have the Texas Bacon Cheesesteak Omelette, with hashbrowns all the way...and I want it to look like the picture."

               And to my disbelief, they don't throw a chair at my head.

               Instead, the cook came over and asked about that -- usually, they'd finish cooking the omelette filling with the eggs because it tasted better that way, and he wanted to make sure that I wanted the fillings wrapped up as in the photo (kind of like a burrito) instead.

               I saw him holding the menu with one hand to use as a reference when plating it. He presented it with a big smile. And, indeed, it did look exactly like the photo in the menu.

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