WHY is the signage on the Queen Alexandra Eye Pavilion—the main ophthalmology hospital for south-east Scotland—in a fancy hard-to-read typeface with insufficient colour contrast and a too-small font?

Are they TRYING to evade their customer base? 🥸

@cstross I think they are just negging you into getting treatment

@cstross
Clearly it's the Flying Saucer Alien People yet again.

They think they're blending in, but no. There are these little tell-tale signs that they don't really understand humans.

@cstross reminds me of the time they asked me to sign the small print sedation consent form right before the cataract operation: both eyes with cataract, pupil widened from eye drops, horribly insufficient glasses for my -10 diopters. I had trouble finding the line to sign on and maybe the ophthalmology hospital now owns my soul.

@cstross

Or are they using their signage as ultimate proof their services are working?

"You could not read that sign coming in, right?"

@cstross

Did they include a braille description?!

@mossyrua @cstross I was recently in a building with temporary, laminated signs that includes braille—printed, not embossed. I’m assuming they are placeholders for when proper signs arrive.

eta: I was with my mother who is considered legally blind and uses a white cane away from home. We had a laugh about the signs. She doesn’t read braille.

@cstross
Prove your worthiness by demonstrating your ability to see what is not visible(to you)!

@cstross Reminds me of when I needed to go to A&E in Tunbridge Wells.

In went into reception (which was unmanned), scratched my head at the signs for a while before picking the most likely suspect and the. Proceeded down a maze of twisty corridors and two flights of stairs by to be told Inwas in the wrong place and that Inhad to retrace my steps, exit through reception, then walk round the back of the building to find it.

There was a sign outside, not too close to reception. 😮‍💨

@cstross An acuity test? If you have no trouble reading the signs and arrive for your appointment on time, or early, you clearly are in less need of their services.
@JamesPadraicR It was a street sign. Positioned on the side of the building to be seen by drivers. (It's not on a through road, though.)
@cstross exactly like when the back pain medication is on the bottom shelf

@cstross

Sub-text surely is "if you can read this, you don't need us. go away"

@bytebro @cstross
Or conversely "if you are having trouble reading this sign, maybe you should come in for a consultation"
@cstross It reads, "If you can't read this, you're in the right place".
@cstross is it actually a pavilion? Because that's weird
@ghosttie It's *called* the Eye Pavilion but it's actually a 7- or 8-story concrete block. Go figure.
@cstross @ghosttie Speaking of non-indicative names, Wikipedia informs me that the hospital started out as the "Eye Dispensary for Edinburgh" in 1822. Considering that was pretty close to the peak of resurrectionists digging up corpses for medical experimentation, I have questions about exactly what they would dispense.
@cstross It's for the same reason that there are so many applications with fonts that can't be adjusted: they didn't think to consult their patients/users.
@cstross If you can read this, come back later.