A menu has to be read quickly, often while a customer is also talking or deciding, so layout and hierarchy matter as much as the food or drink photography. We design menus for restaurants, cafes and bars, as in our work with Smokeshed BBQ, balancing brand personality with genuine readability.

Structure comes before styling — sections need to be grouped logically, with the most popular or highest-margin items given visual priority, before any decisions are made about fonts, colours or imagery. A beautifully styled menu that’s hard to scan quickly ends up frustrating customers and can slow down ordering and table turnover, which matters as much to a venue as how the menu looks.

Pricing needs particular care in the layout, since customers often scan prices before dishes, and how prices are positioned and formatted can subtly influence ordering decisions. Typography also has to hold up at typical reading distance in venue lighting that’s often dimmer than an office or home, so type size and contrast are checked with that real-world context in mind rather than judged on a bright screen.

The intended finish shapes the design too — a laminated menu handled repeatedly needs different consideration to a single-use printed insert or a digital menu displayed on a screen, and the artwork is prepared accordingly.