Choosing colours for a restaurant menu

Contrast first

Restaurant lighting is usually dim, warm or candlelit, and that eats contrast. A mid grey that looks elegant on screen comes to nothing on the table.

The rule: very dark text on light paper. For reference, the web accessibility guidelines ask for a contrast ratio of at least 4.5 to 1 for normal text and 3 to 1 for large text (W3C, WCAG 2.2). They’re written for screens, but they work as a minimum for paper. Some examples on white:

Light shades (golds, soft oranges, greys) work for large headings, rules and ornaments. For descriptions and prices, a dark ink is better.

The screen is not the paper

What you see on a computer is made of light (RGB). A printer mixes inks (CMYK) and can’t reach every colour on the screen: very bright greens, blues, oranges and pinks come out duller on paper. So:

• Print a test before you sign off a colour, and if you’re using a print shop, ask for a paper proof.
• Don’t expect an identical colour from your printer, the copy shop and a commercial printer. Every machine and every paper gives a slightly different result.
• Fluorescent colours don’t exist in CMYK. The electric pink of Neon, with its dark background, is designed for screens and social media, not the office printer.

There’s more on paper and finishes in how to print a menu.

Coloured backgrounds and ink coverage

A full-bleed coloured background seems like a good idea until you print it:

• It uses a huge amount of ink or toner, and on a menu you change often that shows up on the bill.
• Home and office printers leave a white margin around the sheet, so the background never reaches the edge.
• On inkjet printers the paper can cockle, and large solid areas can come out banded.

If you want a background tone, buy paper in that colour (cream, kraft, laid) rather than printing it. Two warnings:

• There is no white ink in ordinary printers: white text on coloured paper won’t print.
• Coloured inks shift on coloured paper: a red on cream paper turns brick-like; on kraft it darkens. Test first.

How many colours

For most menus: one colour for the text and one accent. Examples from our designs:

• A single ink: Riviera does everything in blue and Milano everything in black. They print well anywhere and come across as very confident.
• Near-black ink and one accent: Mariner pairs navy with red; Embers, near-black with ember orange; Bodega, a very dark wine tone with burgundy.

If you have a logo, take the accent from it. And use the accent with discipline: section headings, featured dishes and the odd detail. If the descriptions, prices and allergens are in colour too, the accent stops standing out.

Colour by type of venue

There are conventions customers recognise: greens for plant-based cooking, blues for seafood, earthy and ember tones for grills, wine reds for wine bars, black and lots of white for chef-led restaurants. They work because they’re recognisable, not because a colour “stimulates the appetite”: those claims get repeated a lot and have little evidence behind them. What colours mean changes with culture and context.

Some starting points:

Use them as inspiration, not as rules. A pink seafood restaurant can be memorable if it fits the place.

Don’t rely on colour alone

Difficulty telling colours apart is more common than you might think. The most frequent kind, red-green, affects about 1 in 12 men and 1 in 200 women of Northern European ancestry, according to MedlinePlus.

So any important information has to make sense without colour:

• Allergens with icons of their own shape, numbers or names, always with a key. Never just a coloured dot.
• Vegan, gluten-free or spicy with an icon or letters (V, VG, GF), not a dish name printed in green or red.
• Try it in black and white: print a page in greyscale. If everything still makes sense, you’re on the right track.

In MenuDesign each allergen has its own drawing, and you can switch to numbers from 1 to 14 or to names; the vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free labels have their own icons and a key. More in how to show allergens on your menu.

Change the colours in MenuDesign

Every design comes with a tested colour combination. In the Design panel you can change the text colour, the accent and the paper, try ready-made combinations or go back to the original. Your logo can keep its own colours, take the design’s ink or use the accent, so everything works together and nothing competes.

If you’re printing, leave the paper white and buy coloured paper if you want it. If the menu is for a screen or social media, that’s where dark backgrounds and bright colours belong. Browse the 50 menu designs or start in the editor.