BACKGROUND
Rich Robison, then co-owner of Kuchu Shabu in Park City, approached me to design a menu for his restaurant after an associate of his (who I’d done graphic design work for in the past) recommended me. Kuchu Shabu’s signature food is shabu-shabu, a Japanese dish cooked directly by the consumer in a pot of boiling water right at the table. Obviously, there’s a lot that can potentially go wrong there, so it was crucial to Rich that the menu be simple and informative in order avoid confusion, injury, or the consumption of raw meat, all while fitting his existing brand.
PROCESS & TECHNIQUE
Rich already had a fairly specific idea of what he wanted for the overall design of the menu, so despite going through almost twenty revisions before it was finally printed, the basic aesthetics remained largely the same throughout the menu’s development. Notable additions on my part were the symbols indicating the primary source of protein in a given dish, the highlighted areas using the Kuchu Shabu gradient, and the addition of the “How to Shabu Shabu” section (Rich didn’t use a pre-made font for his Kuchu Shabu logo, so I developed the additional characters in the header of this section from scratch. I designed the illustration of the shabu shabu bowl as well, emulating the style used for the mascot in their logo).
TYPEFACE: Brandon Grotesque
COLOR SCHEME:
CLIENT-PROVIDED INSPIRATION
The image on the far left was an example of a Tonkotsu menu Rich wanted to emulate while incorporating the Kuchu Shabu branding, ultimately serving as the primary source of inspiration for this project. The image on the right was an early draft of the menu done by another designer which the owners wanted to see improved.
While Rich was essentially happy with the overall design of the very first draft I sent him, the menu would still go through many reiterations to accommodate small changes before finally landing on the final design. Here you can see some examples showing the progression of the design as the restaurant's menu continued to develop.
