Restaurant menu design: layout, type and print sizes

Good restaurant menu design comes down to three things: an order that follows the meal, type that reads in low light, and prices placed so the dish is judged before the number. Group dishes into a few clear sections, keep each one to a name, a short description and a price, and leave enough space that nothing feels crammed. Then print it at the right size and give the QR version the same look. The details for each step are below.

Menu layout: order and hierarchy

People read a menu the way they will eat: something to start, something to share, a main, maybe dessert. Put sections in that order and give each a heading clearly larger or heavier than the dishes beneath it. Within a section, place the dishes you most want to sell near the top, where eyes land first. Visual hierarchy explains why this works on any page.

Editing is the best design tool you have. A shorter menu is faster to read, quicker to cook and easier to keep fresh. If a section has more than eight or nine dishes, consider splitting it or cutting the slowest sellers.

How to show prices on a menu

There are a few long standing conventions in menu writing, and they are about calm rather than tricks. Let the dish come first, keep prices quiet and avoid formatting that turns the menu into a price list.

Descriptions should help someone choose, not decorate. Name the main ingredient, the method and one detail that makes it yours: "Hake, brown butter, capers, charred leeks." Mention allergens the way your local regulations require.

Best fonts and font sizes for menus

Menus are read in candlelight, by people without their reading glasses, sometimes at arm's length. Pick type for that room, not for your screen. One display font for headings and dish names, one plain text font for descriptions, and no more. Font pairing has combinations that work.

• Dish descriptions: around 11 to 12 point on paper, with line spacing about 1.3 times the size.
• Dish names: one or two points larger, or the same size in a heavier weight.
• Section headings: clearly larger, often in capitals with a little extra letter spacing.
• Contrast: dark ink on a light ground for long lists; light type on dark only for short menus.
• Script fonts: fine for the restaurant name, hard work for a list of dishes.

Menu sizes for print

Design at the print size in pixels at 300 dpi, so the printer gets a sharp file. A4 and A3 are standard across the UK and Europe, US Letter in North America. A5 works for drinks cards, kids' menus and table cards.

Gradiently has menu templates in the Studio, and on Pro exports a print PDF with bleed and crop marks. Because the background is a Mark rendered at the size you choose, it stays sharp at A3 rather than being a stretched screen image, and it softens itself behind the text so every dish stays readable.

QR code menu design

A QR menu should be a page built for a phone, not a photo of your paper menu that diners have to pinch and zoom. Keep the same sections, fonts and colours, so the two feel like one menu.

1. 1

   Build a phone page

   One column, sections as headings, large tap targets for jumping between food and drink.

2. 2

   Match the printed look

   Same fonts, same order, same colours, so nobody feels sent somewhere else.

3. 3

   Print the code large enough

   Give it plenty of space on a table card and test it from a seated distance in your actual lighting.

4. 4

   Say what it opens

   A short line beside it: "Scan for the menu and allergens."

5. 5

   Keep both up to date

   When a dish changes, change the paper and the page on the same day.

Matching your menu to your socials

Your menu is the most handled piece of branding you own. When a new dish arrives, the feed post, the specials board and the printed menu should all look like the same restaurant. Design them from one background and one type pair, and resize rather than redesign.

For the feed side, see restaurant social media posts, and for chalkboards and screens behind the counter, menu board design.