PROBABLY THE BEST MENU I'VE EVER LAID MY EYES ON. CAFE 101.

There is a lot of really good design in Hollywood. Hell, the entire city of Los Angeles for that matter. It's one of those cities that went through a major renovation in the 60's through the 80's using a lot of modern visual appeal. However as the years rolled by, those trends fell by the wayside to make way for more commercialized and updated design. But the architecture and overall style still remain. You know how your driving through somewhere and you spot a shopping center that was clearly built in the 70's and they never bothered to renovate it as it started to deteriorate? I love that. There are a lot of places like that from my midwest past that I go nuts for. It's almost timeless. .....maybe a little tragic too. 
While in Hollywood for business, I visited Cafe 101 for breakfast. I really loved the decor of this this place. There was tacky wood grain for as far as the eye could see, mod style lighting, and the gaudiest of colors. We're talking olive greens, puke browns, ugly yellows. and sickening oranges. I LOVED everything about it. 

But the thing that really caught my eye was the menu. I've always had a strong fascination with menu design. A few of my freelance contributions have been for cafes and restaurants, so I've put together a few in my day.   There is something about the layout that is so simple yet so intricate and detailed. I mean, really, what is a menu? It's really nothing more than a bunch of text conveying various food items and their prices. You can have a picture here and there, but for the most part, it's usually avoided. (At least in some of the classier joints.) For example, compare a menu from Denny's to a menu from a fancy french restaurant. They are both radically different, yet so connected to one another. In the end, it all revolves around conveying a single message. "Hungry? What do you want?"

The menu at Cafe 101 fits so well in place like this. Yes, it's 60's modern . Yes, it's intentionally tacky. Yes, it has that certain flair that many of today's hipsters are clamoring for. ....and it just looks really nice. There is good spacing between items, highlighted callouts when necessary, clean layout, and most importantly, easy to read and understand. Some of the visual aesthetics like the wavy lines around the call outs is a nice touch. I like how the items are displayed in a bold, all capitalized, crisp font, while the descriptions are thin small caps. I think they might even be two completely different typefaces as well. I also love the text wrapping in the sandwiches and pasta items panel. Not an easy feat to achieve with a menu. And let's not forget about the amazing color scheme. Color plays a major part in my own design thinking and this menu demonstrates a good solid understanding of color to me. The orange/sky blue/tan motif is one of my personal favorites. Wouldn't you know it? This menu screams loud and clear with these colors. I also have to mention that their use of the wood grain texture is a superb touch. Now, if it's one texture that i go crazy for, it's wood grain.
 
Tacky 70's wood grain and a good saturated orange: It doesn't get much better than that.  

This menu manages to control the clutter and refine itself all while staying true to it's tasteless nature. I feel that a lot of menu's fall into this trap of being too conservative and clean. Like, they're afraid to let loose for a moment and try something experimental in part that they don't want their customers to struggle with trying to order. And that's understandable. Cafe 101 achieves both sides of prism as it balances on chaos and caution to deliver a fun and quirky menu sure to draw some eyes.

P.S. I recommend the breakfast burrito and hash browns.

Crappy Dracula :: Fantastic Dracula LP layout

I met Justin during the Spring of 2009. He played roadie for my then band, Plexi 3. We were out for only about a week and I remember that time as being one of the best tours ever. Not for the shows or anything, but just having a total blast with the coolest people. Justin was in the band Crappy Dracula. To be honest, I hadn't really been exposed to them at the time. I knew they were playing around Milwaukee, but I just totally blanked on seeing them. Of course this changed once we got to know each other better.

 When they were getting around to releasing their first record, "Almost", I was brought in to help them layout the packaging. There wasn't really so much design work that could have been implemented because they already had the direction laid out. I was merely helping them put their ideas into motion. I really liked working on it because it really gave me a chance to to go against the grain of good design. I had even pushed to use as much 'comic sans' as possible. Seriously, what kind of sense does that make?

The second record was a little more of the same. They already had all the images and sketches ready to go and my job was put the puzzle pieces together. The cover was to highlight the picture, so I crafted a quick and easy sketch-like headline. The style was a little more "hand rendered" this go around. The typography for the set list and the inner sleeve used big bold type. I felt the scratchy sketch-like band logo and record title complemented the bold type quite nicely. The idea was to make a complete mess of design and I I feel I achieved it. Break the rules, man.

I do wish I could have had a little more design control over manipulating the overall package and incorporate a little more finesse, but I'm happy with the way it turned out. My favorite part of this record is the coupon label. Notice the record spine too. It's ummmm.... a spine. Get it?
Listen to the band and it will make all the sense in the world. 
www.crappydracula.com