Worst information design ever?
Posted September 21, 2007 at 6:27 pmI love Penzeys. God knows how they wound up in Pittsburgh, but they did, and my sister turned me on to their spices a few years ago.
Well, I just got their most recent catalog, and was psyched to see that there is now a retail store in the Northern Virginia area. Yippee! But in going online to find out the details, I came across what must be the worst information design ever.
Okay, I’ve had a glass or two of wine, but seriously, is there any order to this? It’s not by city, by state, by area code, by street address or even by hours. Since it would be beyond belief to do random listings, my guess is that it is in order of store openings (Brookfield, WI is their home base and Falls Church, VA is their newest store). Umm, not exactly my choice of organization scheme for your average web visitor.
Penzeys. Great spices, lousy info design!
September 21st, 2007 at 8:27 pm
There’s a bricks n mortar Penzys store in VA?! I’m so excited!!! (Though yes, their website does seem to, how do you say, suck.)
March 6th, 2008 at 5:56 pm
This is too funny. As of March 2008, they have arranged the locations alphabetically. You would think that would be a correct design choice? NOPE! They alphabetized it by CITY name! So, if you’re looking for a store in Wisconsin, and want to find the next nearest store locations, you have to weave through every entry to find the other Wisconsin cities. Appleton and Wauwatosa, two cities in the same state are on opposite ends of the list, separated by Torrance, California.
Maybe this–like new math–is new geography.
(geewhiz)