Menu Design: Negative Space

[Menu Design: Negative Space]

Amateur marketers have a natural inclination to say “everything” they can in an advertisement. This is largely influenced by the old days of pay-by-the-column inch. Since they bought “space” they wanted to fill it. Notice though, when one area of a newspaper is copy-heavy with lots of text all over and then there is a negative space which is free of copy (think of an Apple advertisement), then the eye is drawn there. The eye goes to the negative space. Likewise – on a menu – when you have a lot of items and copy and are trying to cram a lot on to one page, the human eye will look for a starting point. When you put a pocket of negative space, you pull the eye there. So, in limited use – coupled with other menu merchandizing techniques – putting negative space around an item can call attention to it and help you sell it.

Restaurant Consultant