Refining specifications of decorative/indicative balance in menu design

Abstract

The general notion of balance in visual design is apparent, but what is lacking is a more precise specification of how that balance is defined in concrete terms and achieved with specific design techniques, the exact location of the tipping point, as it were, between effective and overused colors, forms, and imagery. This paper will report results from an empirical study of restaurant menu design, with findings that can be generalized to web page and help menus. Participants agreed that too much color and too many images overload the senses, making it almost impossible to glean any information about the food. Participants also agreed that colorless presentations felt bland and uninviting. Menus designs that achieved balance were found to deploy unified decorative effects and a limited number of indicative strategies, consistent with principles discussed by Manning (2006, 2008).

Information comics: An overview

“…This visual language includes both visual and verbal elements and is not limited to use only in comics. For example, it is used in children's picture books, the instructions for building your new bookcase from Ikea, restaurant menus, safety icons, PowerPoint presentations, scrapbooking, etc., and even to an extent in academic articles like this one [21][22][23][24][25]. Peircean visual design is applicable whether text is subordinate to visual elements or vice versa, or both visual and verbal elements are balanced.…”

Decorative and indicative contrast: When a Good Thing Goes Bad

“…Prior research by Nicole Amare and Alan Manning [5]- [11] and Noël Alton [1], [12] has developed a model for design based on the semiotics of Charles Sanders Peirce. This model will be used to help explain the visual information designs used in this study.…”