Digital menu boards: screens that sell in cafes and bars

A digital menu board is a menu designed for a screen, usually a standard TV at 1920×1080, and read from several metres away by people deciding quickly. Design it like a sign rather than a printed menu: fewer items per screen, bigger type, a dark calm background, prices aligned in one column, and motion only behind the words. The screen sells best when a customer can find their drink and its price before they reach the till.

Digital menu board sizes

Almost every menu screen is a TV or a commercial display with the same 16:9 panel. Design at the screen's native resolution so nothing is scaled, which keeps small text sharp. A 4K screen will show a 1920×1080 design cleanly at double size, though designing at 3840×2160 gives finer type if your screen and player support it.

If you mount a screen on its side, check the screen or player can rotate its output. If it cannot, export the portrait design and rotate the file a quarter turn before loading it.

Making a menu screen readable from the queue

There is no universal minimum, because it depends on screen size and distance. The reliable test is physical: put the design on the actual screen, walk to the back of the queue and read it. If you squint, it is too small or too crowded. As a starting point for a 1920×1080 design on a typical counter screen:

• Eight to twelve items a screen is plenty. More than that and nobody finds anything.
• Pick one typeface with clear numerals. Prices are read more than names. Fonts for social media lists faces that stay clear at a distance.
• Leave a wide margin. Some TVs crop the edges slightly; keep text at least 60 px in from every side.
• Group, don't box. Space between categories does more than lines and frames.

Colours and backgrounds for menu screens

A screen is a light source. A white background at full brightness glows across the room, washes out the words and tires the eye. A deep, low background with light text makes the menu the brightest thing on the wall, which is where you want attention. Dark mode design covers the same principle for apps.

Use the accent for one thing only, usually the special or the item you most want to sell. If everything is highlighted, nothing is. Check contrast against the darkest and lightest parts of the background, not just the middle; colour contrast and accessibility explains how.

Motion on a digital menu board

Motion is what screens can do that print cannot, and it catches people looking up from their phones. Keep it in the background: a slow drift of colour, light moving across the surface, a special that rises in once per loop. Item names and prices should never move, because people read them over several seconds.

A gently moving background has a practical benefit too: a completely static image left on for twelve hours a day can leave a faint ghost on some screens, OLED panels especially. Export the loop as MP4, which nearly every TV and signage player accepts from a USB stick or app. Seamless loop video shows how to make the join invisible and animated gradient backgrounds has ideas for the motion itself.

How to set up a menu board from start to screen

1. 1

   Write the menu first

   Cut it to what sells. Group it into categories of eight to twelve items, one category per screen.

2. 2

   Choose the layout once

   Heading top left, items in a column, prices aligned right. Use the same layout on every screen so people learn it.

3. 3

   Design at the screen's size

   1920×1080 or 1080×1920, with a 60 px margin and a dark background.

4. 4

   Test from the queue

   Put it on the real screen at the real brightness and read it from where customers stand.

5. 5

   Export and load

   PNG for still screens, MP4 for moving ones. Name files by screen and date so the right one goes up.

Keeping prices and specials up to date

The point of a screen is that it can change. Keep a master design per screen and change only the words, so a price rise or a new seasonal drink takes minutes and the look never drifts. Breakfast and evening menus can be two versions of one design, swapped on a timer if your player supports scheduling. Printed menus, table cards and the window should use the same fonts and background; restaurant menu design covers the printed side.

Gradiently's Studio has menu templates that wear your own Mark, so the background is unique to your place and makes room for the words by itself. With Pro you can export moving boards as MP4 up to 4K, and keep prices in a spreadsheet: bulk create fills each screen's text and tables from it, which suits a group running the same menu in several sites.