/gd/, I'm doing a menu. I'm hellbent on doing it myself

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OP here, pic also related.
It's something I did for a St Valentine's contest we held. I know it's not perfect, but it's honestly easier for me to just do what I want to do because I can't communicate what I have in mind to the designers.

>>260512
Nobody likes crowded menus. The focus should be on either pictures of the food, or the text. Take HopCat's menu for example (a bar and burger joint in my city) [ Menu Link: http://www.underconsideration.com/artofthemenu/project_images/hopcat_lansing_PDF_03.gif]

They have no pictures, and the yellow one white (shockingly) isn't painful to read, then again it's a pale yellow, not a strong one. Their menu is simple, and of all the restaurants I've dined at, it was the best designed.

Then again, I'm biased with a strong love for minimalism and simple things, so take from this what you will.

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>>260515
ignore the link, that was a dick move I pulled. Pic is the menu.

>>260512
Yeah if you are going to "do it yourself" and have pictures you will need a seriously flexible and good photographer. So you won't be doing it yourself.

If you are avoiding photos- good choice, in house jobs should never have them unless you purchase stock images.

Honestly it sounds like you are in over your head, there are a ton of things to consider you probably have not thought of.

I'd offer my contact info, and cut you a deal at 1/2 hourly rate, but you already come off as a stingy know-it-all cunt.

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>>260515
What you mentioned was what I had in mind, that's why I spoke of Applebee's. Their local branch has a really slick-looking menu.
>pic related

>>260517
Did, thanks.

>>260518
I am a huge know-it-all cunt, but also I've had a lot of bad experiences.
I'm talking about dudes charging me 5 bucks for correcting menu names that I spelled out to them BEFORE they started designing the menu. Graphic designers here are abusive as fuck.

Also, we had a photo session recently and couldn't use them in the menu we're using now.

>>260518
TL;DR I'm not diy-ing this to prove anything. It's really just not worth it to hire a pro where I live.

>>260519
Well have fun, you get what you pay for.

My hope is that no one here feeds you acute help, and that you post the finished product for us all to laugh at.

>>260522
Will do.

>>260512
>key fuck ups
Putting pictures of food on a menu

>>260531
Why? Is it wasting space?

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>>260533
Think of McDonald's advertisements. Pic related. You will never, ever, in a million years, receive a product that looks like that. You could be Bill Gates, Barack Obama, or some random guy who found a buck on the street and wanted a burger.

It puts ideas of the final product in the customer's mind, and when the product comes out not looking like that, they'll be disappointed. It may not ruin their meal, but it will affect their happiness.

TL;DR Menu pics are huge letdowns, 100% of the time.

InDesign is your friend, OP. Easy to learn the basics for something like a menu

>>260531
>google
>"menus in japan"
>images

I mean, it works for them... Also, most people are much more likely to buy a foodstuffs if they can see what it "looks like"

>>260683
japan itself is just sensory overload

>>260514
I like the idea of the Applebee's menu, it's nice and concise. Go with that. But put the fucking accents, OP.

ROFL photoshop is not for anything with type. Menus need to be done in indesign but can have photoshoped are illustrated stuff.

Get a real designer (doesnt have to be from mexico the great thing about graphic design its all digital)

>>260512
Use indesign for multiple page menu
Use illustrator for single sheet menu
Good luck OP. You'll need it.

>>260680
>>260712
Thanks, already dow loaded InDesign but it's less intuitive than Photoshop.
Still finding out how to use it.

>>260728
I'd say Illustrator is reasonable for 1-10 pages, 10-20 pages is eh, depending on the frequency with which you produce such a document, and 20+ go indesign.

With illustrator, you get a toolset that is more efficient for controlling individual elements, and a copy and paste in place function that allows you to easily duplicate template elements across pages.

Indesign, if you're not already used to it is a cumbersome tool relative to illustrator.

Best advice: Consider your menu design as an extension of your overall branding. Ensure consistent design in fonts, images and feel across the board.

Having said that, the image you've taken a pic of isn't half bad - relative to other restaurants. But the bar isn't tremendously high. There are few menus that make me think... yes, that is a nice menu.

>>260512
Where are you from? I'm from Mexico as well, and you would be surprised how many good designers there are. Maybe you just surround yourself with mediocre people.

>>260747


To interject, draw owns AI at page layout and is essentially as powerful as ID, that is all.

>>260512
use indesign not photoshop

1. Good luck your in over your head.
2. Make sure your menu isn't a novels worth of text. A great restaurant has a small, simple, focused list of options which will be easy to manage. Hopefully you know this or your restaurant will be closed down within a year.
3. Make sure your entire menu can fit on a 3 fold 8.5x11 (standard sheet of paper) brochure. This way you can make take home menus, enlarge the design to 11x17 for sit down menus, and present everything quickly and easily without the customer getting option fatigue.
4. Make your menu font and pricing simple and black and white. Why? Because this is your first menu. The price of chicken and beef is fluctuating and when you need to change your pricing, you can get little sticker labels printed on your computer at home and make bootleg edits on your menus and not have to shell out another $400-700 to reprint and have 1000 useless menus. hopefully your menu boards in your restaurant are easy to edit
5. Use pics. its fine if you just take pics from online, it cost too much for someone to sue you right now since your just starting out, the worst that can happen is that you accidently use a copyrighted pic of a taco and they send a cease and assist letter you can ignore for a few years until they threaten to take you to court, then just remove the pic on your next order, but you also live in mexico, doubt anyone is going to try you.
6. Don't use your own pics. Again just get good looking high res pics from online.
7. Don't use a pic for everything. Everyone knows what fries and white rice look like, focus on putting the most colorful, interesting foods on your menu.

>>261106
>a cease and assist letter
I don't think that's how it works.