Arthurs Restaurant Menu and Logo Design
Printroom’s creative studio had been tasked with the fantastic opportunity of rebranding the restaurant within London’s infamous store and brand, Liberty of London.
The restaurant had gone through more than a couple of redesigns in recent years and didn’t seem to be pulling in the number of customers that they had hoped for.
One factor that the Restaurant Manager had noticed that could have been a possible issue was that the cafe didn’t showcase any recognisable elements that Liberty is famous for. If the dining experience doesn’t make you feel that you’re buying into the brand and lifestyle, you may as well get a meal deal from a supermarket.
Before anything, the studio got to work on how to rebrand the company to be able to have the exquisite Liberty style put into the restaurant.
They looked extensively into the history of Liberty and its founder Arthur Lasenby Liberty. A true essence of what the company means as a brand had to pour through the restaurant’s aesthetic to make the restaurant feel like part of the shopping experience.
So far, this hadn’t been executed in the best manner. The decor could have been that of the Great Gatsby, not even close to the recognisable and original patterns created by Mr Lasenby and his successors.
The studio took into account their target market, and why they enjoy Liberty’s products. Liberty is well-known primarily for its patterns and materials. The patterns needed to be present in some form within the restaurant. A risk of this is that like all patterns; they go in and out of season; or in and out of fashion! By putting these patterns into the menus, it meant that the seasonal foods offered in the menus could embrace the relevant seasonal patterns. To clarify, it would feel like your meal was Liberty branded and you wouldn’t be able to have an experience like this anywhere else.
The font chosen was the font from the Liberty logo itself. A seemingly obvious choice to be able to tie the brand in with the restaurant easily.
Structured on the current interior decor, a colour palette was built to create a sense of luxury. It gave the feeling of an elevated dining experience by using traditional soft pastels and a navy that you’d often see on Liberty prints, mixed with metallics indicating lavish jewellery to accessorise.
The luxury of a metallic copper was noticeable in subtle aspects of the current interior. The salt and pepper shakers were made of a brushed metallic. Parts of the bar had gold and copper tones also.
When creating the menus, the hardback exterior of them needed to fit in with the restaurant.
The shape of the menu itself was unique, just like the iconic status of Liberty. It helped add a sense of individuality. It was the height of an A4, but with reduced width, much like you’d see with a wine menu.
The navy colour from the palette was used for the overall background for the hardback cover; both for the inside and outer sides. An appropriately-sized logo sat in the middle of the cover to show elegance and delicacy, just like the brand. The logo was put in the pastel pink from the colour palette for contrast with the navy background.
The screws that are to keep in place the seasonal menu inserts were explicitly chosen to be a brushed copper, just like the salt and pepper shakers. It also gave the menu its own “jewellery” in a way.
Once the menu design concepts were presented to the client; approved and finalised, they were sent through to the Printroom production team. The team worked on making sure that the materials used were hard-wearing and fit for purpose. They needed to keep in mind that food and drink may be transferred onto the covers and inside pages. Many restaurants need to wipe down their menus in order for them to be clean and sanitary; ready for use the next day.
The covers were made using Printroom’s hardback book machine, and then manually inserting the loose pages for the seasonal menu, Secured with the copper screws. The first and last pages of the loose pages for the menus had a full page of a pattern print. This pattern was then implemented in smaller areas across all pages in between. This method of design allocates for being able to change the pattern for the next season. Simple, yet powerful!
The result of the project is that of an elegant dining experience, as you’d expect from the Liberty of London Brand.
Just like the materials, patterns and clothing, you’d see the definitive essence of Liberty, but also the seasonal changes.
This enables the restaurant to mix its traditional values with modern and ever-changing fashion design.
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