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Think of the time you had to prep a work resume. Hell? Yeah, that's pretty universal. Working with a plentitude of text and an allotted chunk of space isn't a breeze... and let's not get started with the categorization and the distribution.
On that note - menu design clearly isn't easy.
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| Checkpoint Charlie |
Paperview Graphic Design based right here in Beirut is behind the branding of much of the places we know and frequent - including BistroBar, Checkpoint Charlie, White, Walkman, Clé, The Bar - Four Seasons, and the list goes on and on (and I'm just discussing their F&B portfolio!).
Their pool of clients is super interesting because each one has a well-defined identity. When I think of these places, I immediately think of the characters that go along with them.
I got in touch with Lorette Shebaya, creative director and owner at Paperview and am incredibly grateful that she shared some of the most well-kept tips of her trade.
Their pool of clients is super interesting because each one has a well-defined identity. When I think of these places, I immediately think of the characters that go along with them.
I got in touch with Lorette Shebaya, creative director and owner at Paperview and am incredibly grateful that she shared some of the most well-kept tips of her trade.
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| Checkpoint Charlie |
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| MAD |
What types of projects do you enjoy working on most?
At the office we all love food and alcohol so the food and beverage industry was the right place for us to be! And luckily we have dream clients that give us creative freedom.Creating logos is one of the best parts of the job, seeing an idea go from your mind, to a sketch on paper, to a screen, to a finished press printed logo, and sometimes to huge club screens and even translated in costumes is quite cool.
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| Iris |
We really love high quality paper. Using quality paper and printing effects makes all the difference. We try to use different printing techniques, and different paper for each and every client
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| Indie |
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| Indie |
Do you have any tips for designing menus?
1. Design rules and proportions are there for a reason, the golden mean… is your friend2. Hierarchy of information is key to a clear and useful menu
3. Try new materials, always look for new binding options
4. Yes, we all get the text of a menu a day or even hours before an opening date… always prepare a provisional menu
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| Clé Provisional Menu |
6. Know before you start designing a menu if the menu will have constant changes, does the food change seasonally? Does the client want to print the inside of the menu in-house? Will the menu be digitally printed or printed at the press? Will the menu be exposed to the elements? (If its humid, 100% cotton paper is not your friend). Will the menu be photography-based?
7. Will the restaurant be franchised?
8. Don’t cut corners
9. Never miss a deadline, it's unacceptable and unprofessional
10. Don’t read or layout the menu when you are hungry, it just makes hunger worse.
11. Don’t be afraid to import what needs to be imported, (clips, rubber…) its not as expensive as you think, the world is your oyster!
12. Don’t “borrow forever”/steal other peoples work
13. Work with the best in the business when it comes to production and printing, it will save you money and time, do it once do it right.
14. Will the menu be available in more than one language? If so will both languages be on the same layout?
15. Will the menu be read in dim lighting?
16. Quality comes first, from design to production, don’t cut corners (no abou janab work!!)
17. Get a good copywriter. Clarity, correct grammar and punctuation can take you from drab to fab.
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| Cassis Bistro Bar |
What, in your opinion, constitutes a brilliant menu?
A great menu in my opinion is a memorable menu, one that is first and foremost clear, one that reflects the bar/restaurant/environment it is meant for, one that highlights the menus strengths, and one that puts functionality first, without compromising aesthetics. We know it’s a pretty good menu when it gets stolen from the restaurant. That’s always good news (for us…not for the client). |
| Caprice |
How does designing menus for the Lebanese market differ from elsewhere?
In Europe, for example, some of the best world-renowned restaurants function on a menu that is an A4 sheet of paper folded in half, printed simply in black and white with a generic font, and if you're “lucky” it's been laminated. That would not go down so well here in the Middle East.In the Middle East we like to impress, we like to showcase our hospitality, make you fell the effort that went into impressing you. After all, food is love in our culture.
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| BistroBar |
What's the most difficult stage in the concept and design?
Menu design as a whole is quite challenging; with so many changes, details, hand work, budget constraints… it's not a walk in the park. But we have been doing this for quite a while so we have the process under control, we know what to look out for and we know how to problem solve.Production. This stage is probably the most stressful but in the end one of the most gratifying parts of the job; following up on production, colour correction, getting the right materials in on time, meeting the deadline, you could probably count menu design as a perishable good in that sense, missing the due date is just not an option.
But once they arrive and the items have been sent off to the outlets its quite gratifying.
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| Copla |
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| The Bar - Four Seasons |
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| The Bar - Four Seasons |
What's in the future for Paperview?
At the moment we are very busy with branding, graphic and corporate identity projects, but… we have a little something brewing in the background, we can’t say much about it now, but we can tell you that it is a luxury paper-related project.See more projects on the Paperview Website
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