HARRY RAMSDENS - menu development

Now that I had a range of illustrations scanned in, I could then begin to build up a print that could be applied to the products for the restaurant. I felt that this would create a luxurious visual, appropriate for the pricing of the food sold at Harry's. It would also compliment the logo design, which is quite simple and solid. 

Front

Below shows the process of how the print has been built up  to the dimensions of the menu. As everything was such a different shape and size, it was quite difficult to get the print to look consistent and "snug". A lot of the illustrations didn't work too well next to each other because of their shape, so it took quite a lot of development to get something that I was content with. 

I then started to experiment with the logo on the front of the menu. I was happy with how well the two worked together, with the solid navy really standing out against the intricate illustrations. 

I kept playing about the layout until I was happy with how everything was sitting. I didn't want it to be too cramped, so I tried to create spacing so things didn't become over complicated. 

Exterior

I then moved on to looking at creating the rest of the menu exterior. I initially wanted the inside flap to display Harry's history, to strengthen the briefs request of a focus on the heritage. However, I really struggled with the layout of this page, and when text was added it was way too word heavy against the illustrative cover.

It was therefore suggested that I simply keep the exterior wholly illustrative, using block colour to break it up. I could then think of other ways to display Harry's history within the menu, for example through the titles of the dishes, or by including a special insert. 

Interior

I wanted the interior of the menu to be quite simple, in contrast to the busy exterior. It needed to be straight to the point, but also visually consistent. To create this consistency, the same two typefaces were used, and smaller, singular versions of the illustrations were included. The menu was split up into starters, specials, mains, sides, desserts and beverages. I tried to include a slight play on words to make the menu itself more engaging and interesting. 

Insert

Seen as I decided against including an entire section on Harry's history, I felt that it would be a nice touch to add in an insert that gave a little brief history into the restaurant and it's heritage. This strengthens the briefs request to focus on the restaurants culinary journey. This insert will be clipped onto the menu, protected by a piece of trace. It can then be removed and taken away as a keepsake/memory of the visit to the restaurant.