Two Things: Artistic Menus

Today starts a three part series called Two Things - each day, I'll post two inspiring things in a given category. I hope you enjoy it!

I've recently been enjoying UnderConsideration's blog, Art of the Menu. It shows images of well-designed menus from various restaurants. A couple menus jumped out to me recently that I wanted to show you all.

The menu for Mr. Zub's Deli is so fun! I love the bright color combination, and the use of turquoise with yellow. I hadn't thought of that combination, but it works really well.

This is such a happy menu, don't you think? The playful arrow and the circle with "Yum!" inside make it whimsical and happy, and yet it still looks modern, trendy, and not cutesy. I also think the use of a stick of butter (I guess that's what it is?) on the front of the menu is kind of funny. I'm not sure what it's supposed to mean or if it should make me want to eat there, but it looks neat graphically. In the main menu (seen on the back piece of paper), like how focused on typography it is. The different sized type in the same font looks interesting but not so busy as to be overwhelming.

Another menu I like is the one for Yeah! Burger. I like the bright colors, the cute illustrations, and the happy feeling. And I think I spy some Gotham going on there, too (the bold sans serif).

The style is actually pretty similar to the one for Mr. Zub's Deli, but this one is a little more understated because of the illustrations and the less strict grid style. This menu looks nice, but it's also easy to use. They definitely took care to design it in a user-friendly way - they even tell you the three steps to deciding what you want your burger to be and give you some of their own combinations, too. I'd probably go for a Bison Burger with Southern White bread, cheddar cheese, grilled Vidalia onions, and buttermilk ranch. Yum! The color choice is also nice on this. The hues are all in the same color family, but there's enough contrast to make it interesting.

Do you all like these menus? I'd love to know what you think!