lunch menu

Photo's on the menu

I've finally finished the layout for the evening menu, but am struggling to find a suitable image to use on the 'Eat' section of the menu. Everything I've tried so far seems to look a bit odd alongside the photo of the bar. I'm going to keep searching until I find something fitting.

Finished front/back cover

Inner Evening Menu

Final design, just missing the photograph of the food.

First Menu Page

Missing a food photo at the top.

Evening Menu

I have decided to design the evening menu on a single sheet of A3 again, but folded in half to create a booklet. This is because there needs to be a method of attaching the daily specials, and I thought that I could design a layout for the specials on landscape A4 and have a cord attached to the fold of the booklet with enough space to slide the piece of paper in. I could have small tassels on the ends of the cord to attach it without using knots.

The images above are the front and back of the booklet so far, with the back using a photo of the bar I took yesterday. I'm using the same 'Eat' and 'Drink' tag line as used on the website.

Afternoon Menu

The bottom image is the original afternoon menu I was asked to redesign, and the top is my design.

Business card, testing variations

Headed Paper

Drink.

Today I went back up to the Brit to gather some more primary research, in particular photo's of the bar area for the drinks menu. It didn't take me long to obtain the images I needed, as there was little point in taking extensive photo's of the Brit itself due to the torrential rain (not an image you want to promote to prospective customers).

I've now used some of the images, and the design above for 'Drink' is the back of my 'Eat' design (with the food pictures on the front). Obviously the text is still for food, as this is just to give me an idea of how it would look.

Business cards...

An idea I had whilst working on the maple leaf designs; business cards with a maple leaf in the corner, where the space between the leaves is cut out to leave a quirky corner shape. This is just a quick mockup, so I can print it and see how it looks when I cut the corner out by hand.

Maple leaf variations... trying to make it multi-seasonal!?

Maple leaf

This is my favourite design so far, however it has too big an autumnal feel to be used as a year round menu. I'm going to look at using a different leaf in place of the dead maple leaf, to make it look more appropriate for year round use.

Maple tree

Another design using the maple tree vector. The idea behind the maple tree came from the large maple in the centre of the village green, which the Britannia overlooks. I'm now going to try using a maple leaf vector, and see how that looks.

Latest Design.

This is my most recent design idea for the menu layout. The bad quality photo is a sample from istockphoto.com, where I have been searching for images of the Langdale Pikes and surrounding area for use in my designs. Once I've tried out a few different image previews in my designs I'll decide which photo's to purchase.

Response...

After receiving the auto response from Paul Fry I emailed his brother and business partner Rick. He responded a couple of days later, telling me to phone the manager Clare re getting photo's of the Brit, and said he'd look into getting the files / permission to use them from the photographer who did their previous material.

Better quality picture

Another menu layout, awful picture quality!

Header Number Twooo...

Slash Dot Dash Dot Slash Dot Com.

Changed my _ _ _ _'s to ................'s

First Menu Design

First menu design, using poor quality images. I think I've made a good start, considering this is my first idea, and the images I have to work with being few and far between, as well as horrendous quality.

Cracking on!

I've finally started cracking on, after deciding I had no choice but to plough on with the few, poor quality images I could find. I realized that this was my only option, as poor quality images on a good design are better than no design at all. I've done one header idea so far (see above).

Stuck in a rut!

Today I have mostly been sketching out design ideas... although I have plenty of ideas and can picture them working well, I have no files to work with so can't progress. This is really depressing me to be honest. I've started mocking a couple of them up with poor quality images, but feel this is a bit of a waste of time. The only positive I can think of is that it's giving me a taster of the kind of major problems i'll have to overcome when working as a designer for real.

Some of the quality signage currently at the Brit.......

Old fashioned photo's at the Brit, which i've included in most of my design ideas...

Monday monday

I spent the day yesterday visiting a couple of printers, to see what style of menu's they could print, and get an idea of pricing. The first place I visited, Ditto, had a fairly helpful woman working who showed me some menu's she had designed and printed, but informed me that she could only laminate them and not hard coat them. This means that a plastic lip would run around the edge of the menu, but it would cost around £2.50 - £3.00 per menu printed. I then went to Badger Press and met a not-so helpful man who was rather snooty towards me, said they could print whatever I needed and I'd have to bring the job to them then they'd give me a quote. He then berated me for using InDesign rather than QuarkXpress. Great way to gain custom.

More Correspondence....

Some email correspondence post the initial meeting. Unfortunately I received an auto response informing me that Paul was on holiday, so plan on phoning the Britannia tomorrow to find out about coming up to gather photographic imagery.

Email prior to first meeting

I then spent the evening doing some extensive research in to the Britannia; analysing it's logo, website and food menus, and researching the Inn itself. I then compared it to the competitors mentioned by Paul as well as others, before compiling a list of questions for Paul in our meeting.

The Britannia Inn

After realizing it wasn't feasible for me to do a work placement over summer due to a distinct lack of design agencies in The Lake District and funds to travel elsewhere, (I've been working 6 days a week all summer and still haven't quite paid off my overdraft) I decided to continue with the freelance style of work placement i'd already had a taste of with Broadstone. I began approaching businesses in the area asking if they would consider having their business rebranded, or an aspect of it (such as menu's) redesigned. I eventually gained a positive response from Paul Fry, owner of The Britannia Inn, Elterwater. He told me they had recently had their website upgraded, but would definitely allow me to have a go at redesigning aspects such as the menu's.

We have arranged a meeting for me to come to the Inn, get a feel for the place and discuss what work I could potentially do

for them. In order to prepare for the meeting I've had a look over the Britannia's website;

www.britinn.net

and am quite impressed with the logo and colour scheme used in the site. The Britannia's logo is a nice, clean design, making use of distinctive local scenery (the mountain range featured is the Langdale Pikes) although I feel the kerning needs slight adjustment ( the 'T' and 'A' moving slightly closer together). Overall I felt the current logo fits its purpose, no significant improvements could be made that would justify the expense involved in updating it on all hotel materials, uniforms etc.

As for the website itself, although it makes use of suitable imagery and colours I feel it is a bit dull and could be improved, possibly with the use of Flash. This would make it more exciting to look at, and would enable more visual aspects of the business (stunning location etc.) to be advertised without customers having to look for the photo gallery.

I couldn't pick up anything about the design of the menu's from looking at the online version, but got a feel for the dishes themselves. The food is an eclectic combination of popular favourites, up-market pub grub, and some more unusual and exotic dishes. There were three separate menu's; Lunch, Afternoon, and Evening, and then a wine list. There were two settings for the meals; the bar and patio area (for informal dining, this would be targeted at walkers and passing trade) and the dining room (more formal dining, advance bookings). I considered having two separate designs for the different dining areas, and also made a note to enquire about the wine list (separate or included within menu?) and the different menu's (one comprehensive menu with different sections, or three individual documents?).

I then did some research in to the Inn itself to get more of a feel for the place and found out:

• It's almost 500 years old
• It seems like an 'olde worlde' pub; oak beams, slate walls, traditional decor etc.
• It is located in the Langdale Valley, home of the famous Langdale Pikes, one of the most popular walking locations in the UK.
• It sells traditional English pub food (but more sophisticated) alongside some exotic dishes.
• It is proud of it's range of local ales and traditional beers, including its own brand 'Brit Special'.
• It hosts an annual beer festival, and fireworks display.

I'm very excited about working with the Britannia, and am eagerly anticipating the scheduled meeting with Paul Fry.