How not to design an interface

Interfaces are a long time fascination with me. Interacting with people is hard for humans and even more so for inanimate objects. Take a look at this menu I saw recently.

Can you show me an example of a menu with a worse layout? I had to ask for help to be sure I understood which item went with each picture, even though I love japanese food!

The bottom half isn’t any better. Do you see the hiddeous menu background? How about the way the dishes aren’t photoshopped to remove the non-dish elements? I’d at least try to photograph the dishes straight down so every piece looks as big as possible.

Maybe I’m spoiled from online shopping experiences. I expect one picture, one description, and one price for each item. Each should be laid out in a logical manner. Heck, this isn’t even a GridBag layout.

My microwave, dishwasher, and TV remotes are all equally stupid. Someday soon I’ll come back and post about how broken their interfaces are.

Now on the other hand, a nice interface I’ve just discovered is the one minute key duplication machine at my local Home Despot.

Asides from the obvious security concerns, this is a neat idea in an elegant package with a dead simple interface. Stick your key in the hole. If the machine approves it grabs your key and won’t let go until you complete the on-screen instructions. It even gives you a choice of keys at different prices. Best part is the clear window into the guts so you can watch your key being copied.

You’re only there a minute but they still find a way to keep you entertained. Also it’s a great way to debug the system. I wonder how they clean the swarf away automatically…

Do you have an example of an interface you love/hate? Post it online and link it here.