Restaurant Menu & Expansion
ART 251
Erin Beckloff
Students were tasked with creating a restaurant menu layout on InDesign for an assigned restaurant and menu text. Students were limited to a tabloid no larger than 11x17 but it may be trimmed to any dimension. The goal of this project was to create an effective composition using the grid and manipulating typographic variables to create visual interest and hierarchy.
I started the research for this project by creating a visual analysis of different typefaces and color schemes that I could use in my final menu design.
I started by creating 10 simple hierarchies only using one typeface and color. Here are 3 of the 10:
Next, I composed 10 more compositions which include color and more evolved hierarchy that would help me decide on my final compositions.
Using the most successful compositions as references, I created 2 complete menu designs.
I decided that my first menu design was more successful. The red outline made the design more visually appealing as well as gave the menu a more modern look.
Expansion
For the menu expansion, the students were assigned to create a minimum of 3 icons, a pattern, and a word mark logo that create a visual cohesive system.
I started by creating icons, word mark logos and a pattern.
I changed the icons by making all of them monochromatic line art so they fit together. I decided to also change my pattern to make it more Asian style. I created my first revision with all of the added elements.
For my final menu expansion (on top of the page), I changed the word mark logo and decided to place "Asian Funk Fusion" in the middle. In addition, I changed the whole backside of the menu by placing the text on a two-column grid and creating a color block to fill up the white space. I also added a paper texture in the background. My menu expansion effectively uses the grids to create a successful hierarchy and the applied elements fit together to create the overall composition.
