Restaurant Menu
There's a sushi restaurant around the corner that serves delicious food. But their menu was poorly put together (gross spelling errors in both languages). I dropped in today with these samples of what could be used in place of their current version. Upon seeing these alternative menus the owner said she'll go with this format come mid/late fall when they revise (add to) their current menu.

The "logo" is of my own design. I ensured the only real black in the farthest right third (the part that ends up as the first page) is in the word "Sushi". It stands out from all other lettering on the page. These files are a bit beyond 8.5x11 and include crop marks.

Any artistic suggestions will be seriously considered and you will be notified of any changes based on your ideas.

--------------

To View The Images
These are 800x600 images, scaled down to make downloading easier.

(0.3 Mb file) | (0.4 Mb file)

I think it's a really clean, professional, design and layout.

My only criticism (and I really had to think about it to come up with one) is perhaps a change in variation of colours. If the business uses red and green colours then ignore my suggestion, otherwise instead of red and green I would use colours that remind us more of food. Orange is a good one because it's something humans associate with appetite, and you can see lots of orangle in the plate of food. I would then select something earthy to compliment it. Green may be ok, but perhaps a different, more food-ish, shade of green. Perhaps the gradient could fade through 2 different shades of green (like the colours of the avacodo) to make it a little more dynamic .

You don't need to notify me if you adopt my suggestions--I don't excercise copyright on advise

@microUgly

I was thinking that the menu looked great until I read your reply. Dude, you are amazing. You think about stuff that doesn't even occur to me.

I agree that color variation is usually a good thing, but not always. For something like a menu, it might be better to use fewer colors to limit distraction. Readability has to be kept at a maximum.

Like micro said, if the restaurant has a color scheme, you need to keep to it. From the picture, it looks like it's red, green, and white. If that's true, good job. But if it's not (or there's no established color scheme) you should really consider changing it. The current colors remind me of an Italian restaurant, or a pizza place. (That might just be my American perspective though.)

Hey, y'all!

Thanks for the input. Listen, before I run some experiments of color changes, my reasons for the colors I chose. (I've seen some serious improvements done to other submissions posted here). I'm not locked into any color scheme, so I'm open to suggestion.

OK, here are my reasons: the "red" represents the center of the Japanese flag.

The green represents freshness/nutrition/etc.

SureWhyNot wrote:Readability has to be kept at a maximum.

I was strongly tempted to post scans of the current menu. You'd think I was freakin' Michelangelo! But I feared the result would be "comparing 'bad' to 'good'" when what I really wanted was getting something good to become best.

microUgly wrote:I think it's a really clean, professional, design and layout.

I sent a copy to a printer and he said he wasn't expecting anything on this level when he looked at it. That's critical for me.

microUgly wrote:My only criticism (and I really had to think about it to come up with one) is perhaps a change in variation of colours. If the business uses red and green colours then ignore my suggestion, otherwise instead of red and green I would use colours that remind us more of food. Orange is a good one because it's something humans associate with appetite, and you can see lots of orangle in the plate of food. I would then select something earthy to compliment it. Green may be ok, but perhaps a different, more food-ish, shade of green. Perhaps the gradient could fade through 2 different shades of green (like the colours of the avacodo) to make it a little more dynamic .

Thanks, microUgly. Good call. Let me tweak the colour-scheme a bit, shake it up, and post a few more thumbnails. I know I cannot satisfy everyone, but at least if I can bring 2 or 3 more colour choices to the bargaining table the restaurant won't feel locked into one scheme. Avocado, eh? Yummy, but dark.

Let me give it few tries. Should have something to post within 24 hrs.

BobSongs wrote:Avocado, eh? Yummy, but dark.

I means the colour of the flesh, not the skin But obviously it's only an example.

microUgly wrote:I means the colour of the flesh, not the skin But obviously it's only an example.

heeheehee Yeah, I knew that. Was just pullin' yer leg, laddie! I understood what you meant as I pondered on it a bit more. My first impression was of the dark skin. You'll notice the bottom is more avocado green, but the green above it could be yellower to more closely resemble an avocado (which is often used in sushi, btw).

OK. Here's the update (originals maintained on different layers).

(0.7 Mb file) | (0.8 Mb file)

I got wild and creative. Dumped the "Italian" feel for a Sushi restaurant (what was I thinking!?).

OK. So, give round two a go. Please ignore my first attempt. Don't compare them. Improvements to a design can hamper solid criticism. BTW: I much prefer the new look. But I'm sure I'll prefer the next revision.

What's the watermark? Looks like seaweed or something. (My not being able to identify it isn't a criticism--regardless of what it is it adds texture which I think is good).

Just because I'm an A/H, I actually miss the red because it complemented the logo But I don't think it matters because when it's folded you won't look for that association. The colours certainly compliment the photo.

So I do have one real criticism/suggestion and that is to shrink the information below image on the front. You might not shrink the phone number if it's the kind of place that takes a lot of phone orders, or the address. But I think it would look better with more white-space on the front page around the image and logo--squash the rest of the details down at the bottom.

microUgly wrote:What's the watermark? Looks like seaweed or something. (My not being able to identify it isn't a criticism--regardless of what it is it adds texture which I think is good).

Exactly. I wanted it very "water-mark-like" without getting in the way of any text. But once one pulls away from the menu a bit one realizes it's seaweed. The page that's all menu has the same positioning of the seaweed plus fish and crab sprinkled here and there. To "water-mark" it I used the blur feature combined with the Alpha level set to 20. That just dawned on me after reading some of the posts: >>BOING<< Why not add sea ... things?

microUgly wrote:Just because I'm an A/H, I actually miss the red because it complemented the logo But I don't think it matters because when it's folded you won't look for that association. The colours certainly compliment the photo.

*wipes eyes* Oh, you kill me. My wife and I both felt the copying of the colours from the menu's picture might even things out a bit. It's possible I could restore the red for the menu-only side, but keep the new shapes (rounded tops, square bottoms) and their new fonts.

microUgly wrote:So I do have one real criticism/suggestion and that is to shrink the information below image on the front. You might not shrink the phone number if it's the kind of place that takes a lot of phone orders, or the address. But I think it would look better with more white-space on the front page around the image and logo--squash the rest of the details down at the bottom.

Consider it done. That's a particularly good one.

Hey: once I'm done, I'll post the original menu. You'll see why I felt compelled to do something.

I think adding a watermark is a great idea! Very professional looking!
Here's an idea for a watermark - large Japanese characters - unobtrusive and tastefully done.
Maybe the owner of the restaurant knows the Japanese symbols for the name of the restaurant.
Would be a nice touch of branding your superb menu.

Guest wrote:I think adding a watermark is a great idea! Very professional looking!
Here's an idea for a watermark - large Japanese characters - unobtrusive and tastefully done.
Maybe the owner of the restaurant knows the Japanese symbols for the name of the restaurant.
Would be a nice touch of branding your superb menu.

Wow! Excellent idea! OK. I'll take you up on that. I won't do the "random Japanese character" thing that ends up saying "My mother's foot is the dragon of the right lung". Perhaps even a Bonsai Tree in there too.

And the place that'll supply lots of Japanese characters? Wikipedia.org.

NOTE: I saw the customer with the revised menu and they like it. Now it's a waiting game. Their side is: "Let's wait until the colder months come. Then we're going to revise our menu to include hot foods such as noodles and soups." That makes a lot of sense. Rather than letter sized paper it'll be printed on legal.

I'll keep ya'll posted on what the final becomes and then I'll post the original menu for comparison.

Thanks for the kind words!