La Fontaine Menu
Case Study
PROJECT GOAL:
For this project, we were asked to create a menu for a made up fine dining restaurant. The branding of the restaurant had to be reflected through the menu and showcase a variety of dishes (such as appetizers, entrees, desserts, drinks, etc.). The dishes used in the menu had to be real dishes that fit with the aesthetic and branding of our restaurant.
PROJECT EXPERIENCE:
To start off this project, I first had to plan out what kind of style and feel I wanted my fine dining restaurant to have. To understand what design aspects make a restaurant have a “fine dining” appeal, I first researched existing fine dining restaurants found around Las Vegas, most specifically found at the Strip. Since there are various types of restaurants on the Strip, I was able to see different types of styles, atmosphere, and understand what kinds of dishes they serve. With that in mind, I created a mood board that showcased styles and colors I thought were interesting.
The next step was to then start sketching out ideas for the menu. In this step of my process, I tried to incorporate and experiment with different types of styles and details. At this point, I wasn’t exactly sure what kind of restaurant I wanted or what kinds of foods I wanted to include in the menu. My only focus was to try to incorporate many fancy, decorative elements.
After much consideration, I decided I wanted a French style restaurant. To do that, I had to choose what sketch idea would best fit that style. At first, I was torn between the fifth and third sketch, but eventually decided to go with the third sketch since I really liked the idea of having a mosaic border around the menu. I also thought the overall design would look very nice with a light color palette. With that decision, I created a mosaic border and used light earthy colors. The reason for choosing such a color palette was because I thought it looked very delicate and clean, fitting with the French style I was aiming for.
For the name of the restaurant, I decided on La Fontaine, which means “the fountain” in English. Since this restaurant and menu is something I made, I kind of wanted to incorporate a part of me into it. I used my last name, Fuentes (meaning “fountains”), as the inspiration for the restaurant name.
PROJECT OUTCOME:
I honestly enjoyed working through this project. I learned a lot about the different types of styles and aesthetics fine dining restaurants have that gives them that high-end and fancy appeal. This project allowed me to explore those different styles and plan out how to organize certain design elements to showcase them in a similar, fancy appeal. As with any project, I do think there is room for improvement, but I’m fairly proud of the final product.
The final step was to incorporate all the dishes on the menu. This was honestly the hardest and most tedious part of the project. It took me such a long time to choose what kind of foods I wanted to put on the menu. I had to dive deep into learning about French cuisine, understand what dishes were used as appetizers and entrees, what their ingredients were, and how to describe them in a way that screamed gourmet.
