This coffee shop’s menu is large for a coffee shop. They carry lots of flavors and offer many coffee drinks as well as cold drinks. They also have lots of pricing rules in cases where drinks include flavoring/whipped topping / espresso shots in their prices. This all caused the previous menu to be confusing and overwhelming to customers.
The solution I came up with was to simplify the menu somewhat (but not too much), and to design it so it clarifies some of the confusing points while comfortably displaying all of the many options available to the customer.
I created a mock-up so the shop owner would be able to see how it would look in the end. I have included it in the image below. Compare to actual photo above.
To do this I decided the menu boards needed to be larger and somewhat numerous. I also added color, in part to help distinguish between hot and cold menus, and in part because the shop is colorful place and very art-oriented. I also added icons to describe when flavoring/whipped topping is included in the price and when it costs extra. This even helps the baristas understand it better too. I added icons for espresso shots. This helps customers to know how many shots they put into each type and size of drink and whether the drink includes espresso at all.
Many customers in the area are not familiar with terms like “latte”, “breve”, “frappe”, so I designed a poster from scratch which describes the drinks offered by the shop and how they are made (taking into account the specific way this shop makes them).
When designing the menu, I needed to keep the cost of materials down. I chose to use relatively inexpensive white boards as the “frame” and then I chose to have the menus printed out as posters with a thicker paper weight. I attached hooks to the backs of each white board myself and crafted a system by which they hang at a downward angle, making the menus easier to read and helping to minimize glare. Then I mounted the posters to the white board with double sided tape. Because of the low cost of printing the poster, it will be easy enough to update the contents of a menu by having a new one printed and re-mounting it. The owner is very hands-on and is willing to do many things herself to reduce costs.
Brandon Henson 