Brief 5 - Rethink/ Redirection

After today's crit I am slightly changing this brief. A lot of people commented that they think it is a lot to take on board to re-design menu's for four restaurant's and their in house branding. This would be a huge undertaking and there is a risk of repetition in design; meaning that I will be designing the same things for each restaurant and there is a risk that I wont be learning anything new for each restaurant. If I am not learning anything or gaining anything then it is pointless.

Fred made a point that I need to focus on the PROBLEM. Initially I thought that the problem was that the menu's had seemed to be forgotten about and didn't show much consideration with their branding. However, all businesses that I am working with are successful.... so what are the menu's going to help solve?

I need to re-evaluate what I am trying to solve here.

For the menu's I am trying to strengthen the customers experience. All places have a reasonable amount of custom. However, strengthening the brand's identity and the experience whilst dining there could increase the money spent by customers.

The main reason any restaurant would change anything is to increase profits.

The restaurant's I chose are successful and have no real problem to solve. Therefore I think I need to take a different direction and focus on bigger companies who can afford to take bigger risks and have bigger money allowances for these changes.

To enable me to have a more hands on aspect to my research I will still be choosing restaurants in the Leeds city centre area. This will enable to to visit the restaurants and understand better how to improve them.

As it relates to my rationale I will be choosing restaurants in the high end market. By default these restaurants will have stores nationwide and even worldwide possibly.

I will be trying to increase profits by the re-design of a menu so I need to find places who aren't using their menu's to their full advantage.

Here is a list of restaurants in the Leeds city centre area that also have multiple stores:

Yo-sushi - Harvey Nichols
Chaophraya
Akbar's
Blackhouse
Strada
The Living Room
Pickles and Potter Deli
Malmaison
Loch Fyne
Gourmet Burger Kitchen
Pizza Express


I would like this brief to be very unique in the way that menu's are used and their interactivity. I don't want to just re-design a menu by looking at materials and layout. I want it look at all aspects like what are customers needs in certain restaurants (fast food, slow paced), is there any technology out there that is new to the market and could help to revolutionise how people chose what they want to eat in a restaurant and the dining experience as a whole.


I need to think about:

Innovative menu

Make money + increase sales

Customer interaction