Typographic menu (Post#10)

For my menu, I've decided to have it in 400mm x 400mm size because I think with this dimension I would end up with a quite tall and elegant looking object. Just like what I did in my wine labels, in order to reinforce the idea of Cicero, I have also applied my idea of having grid lines as part of my design.

THE BACK COVER        &         THE COVER

The good thing about this shape is that, it is big but it wouldn't take much space of the table.

DPS

For the inner pages of my menu, I've decided to have the background in single colour gradient inorder to give it an elegant effect. Here, I've also got my corporate typefaces. Display type will always be set in Times New Roman while the explanatory ones will be in Helvetica. To make the page headers standout, I got them in red and bigger type.

I've chosen to have each page header to be in vertical position as I think it would interesting if there will be something that is contrasting the main copy. This will again support my concept as every first line of the copy needs to be aligned with the last letter of the page header.

On each page, I'm going to have a single column of text and an imagery of food that supports the typography. These images can be seen in the final outcome of my menu.

In my menu, I've set the name of each food in larger typesize. I did this because I think of typography as being about logic. The way we have a contrast is logical because when we're reading text, we always want to see the title first, and then read the text that says something about it.

Handling the typography this way, makes it clear and easy to read

I think eventhough I have those grid lines as a part of the design, it is important that the menu would also look good even without them. Therefore, for my wine list that is taking up two pages, I've decided to keep the vertical line on the second page as this will give something that is working against the text.

I think this will make the design really classy.

For the cover, because I've set up the words 'Mains', 'Starters' etc. in vertical position, I think it is just right if I am going to have the word 'Menu' in same position as them as well. I'll be keeping it on the same height but perhaps have it in bigger typesize.

Since it is the cover, I've decided to give it a different background colour.

I think I could also show distance measurements on the cover as well. However, I'm not planning to do this all the way through the menu as I think its enough just to have grid lines on.

This is just an idea.

Actually, this is wrong because I shouldn't measure in points; I'm suppose to be using Cicero measurement. I need to work out how many Ciceros in an inch or something or work out what that distance is and put it in Ciceros. What I'm doing here is contradicting to what I'm saying; my restaurant's name is Cicero and yet I'm using points.

On the back of the menu, I've just put the definition of Cicero.



I think this design is working; having loads of space will help the readers focus more on the text.There is a right sequence of typography and right emphasis. It shows us where we start reading, what's the most important part of the text, the next important and so on. Simple layout yet looks very sophisticated!