the brief.
After re-designing the dinner menu I was asked to update the drink menu to bring it in line with the current aesthetic, thereby standardizing the customer's experience and cohesion between multiple menus.
In addition to this, a menu with seasonal specials was also created in order to create a limited time promotional option and experiment with potential dishes for future iterations of the main menu.
drink menu.
The client wanted a less cluttered, more informative, organized, and minimal layout. Such a wide variety of drinks first needed to be separated into cohesive and easily understandable categories, then the more popular and profitable drinks required a visual display to provide a visual focus point to customers.
Acting as a minimalistic visual metaphor, the drinks and sections are intended to look like shelves and cupboards, adding to the emphasis of a drinks menu rather than the scattered dishes on a table akin to the dinner menu.
seasonal menu.
To make the seasonal menu seem more promotional and exclusive I decided to forego the typical blank white background and instead use an illustrative pattern for the background. However, the layout and typography still allow it to be related to the standard menu while also setting it apart as more eye-catching in comparison.
The illustrations done by hand symbolize the more handcrafted and thought out nature of the seasonal specials. One major design barrier was balancing the clutter of the pattern and visual hierarchy of the actual dishes, making sure that while the dishes remained the highlight with the background providing the extra visual depth and basically making the menu stand out.
Above: Individual illustrations depicting Japanese foods and cutlery found in the restaurant.
Bottom Left: Title/'Icon' which typographically connects with the drinks and dinner menu.
Bottom Right: Collation of illustrations to create background pattern for the seasonal menu.
