Lemongrass - Thai Takeaway Design
Had a nice surprise this week. A friend who had asked me to look/play about with a menu she’d made for her dad’s Thai takeaway contacted me to say the logo I’d done for it was being used as their shop sign! I’ve designed so much stuff that’s only seen on computers that when it does get made into something that’s bigger than me… very cool!
She sent me a photo which you can see below.
The design process for the menu was very informal. I chatted with my client on MSN, sending designs every few minutes, and adjusting them to her specifications. This made communication a lot easier because the design was being made in real time.
Initially, she sent me a Publisher document with the content, and an intricate pattern which she had drawn down the side. She explained that she wanted this strip to be visible when the menu is closed.
This is one of the first designs I came up with. The font I chose of the name of the takeaway is more sylised to give it a fresh and personal appearance. The ‘dishes’ heading text uses the same font, but in black to give it a professional look. I replicated the drawing to be set behind the titles and in gold to make it look like a more high quality take-away.
Then I thought I’d play about with the colours a bit. The pink was inspired by a very unusual and striking Japanese restaurant near where I live which has a hot-pink and purple colour scheme. My client preferred the green and gold design because of the connotations with lemongrass, so I continued with this design.
In the design below, I brightened the colours to make them look more fresh and appealing. I also tried a swirly image behind the name of the takeaway.
The next design looks very similar to the one before it, but the swirly pattern behind the takeaway name is slightly different.
One of the things I wish I’d asked sooner was what sort of paper the menus would be printed on. I assumed it would be on standard white paper. At this point, my client said they would be printed on a glossy paper, which changed the way I thought about how it should look. On standard matte paper, small printed text doesn’t work well if the background is darker than the font colour, but on glossy paper, the text is much sharper and easier to read. So I tried a black background, and changed the ‘dishes’ headings to gold.
My client really liked this design, and used it as a template for the real thing.
On Tuesday, she gave me the printed menu. Below are a couple of photos of it. A few elements have changed as more content was added.
Wednesday, March 12th, 2008 at 10:15 pmand is filed under Blog, Portfolio. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
5 Responses to “Lemongrass - Thai Takeaway Design”
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My Photos
March 13th, 2008 at 8:54 pm
hiya,
Looking very good, nice work.
^licks^
Jamie & Lion
March 16th, 2008 at 12:39 am
WOW!
I’m so impressed, it must be amazing to see your design up there! Well done, Anna!!!!
April 19th, 2008 at 1:37 pm
That looks awesome Anna.
Well impressed.
I know what you mean about seeing you work in print.
There’s something very cool about it. It kinda feels more “real”.
April 27th, 2008 at 10:33 pm
Didnt realise this was up, and my younger sister typed lemon grass in google n this came up she thought it was dads webiste lol, just thought id say how grateful we are to have so much help from you with the menu, and then the menu became the logo and sign of the place. thank you. and HAHAHA i can see my uncles and sisters in the picture,
p.s and obviously anna it goes without saying you have the priviledge of free food x
May 28th, 2008 at 8:41 pm
Nice to see a young designer showcasing their work - keep it up!
– Richard