Tuesday, November 10, 2015

Menus

The Arby's menu uses color coding to draw the eye to categories as well as make the menu visually appealing. They also include a picture of every sandwich, which is very helpful for people who don't know what they want before arriving. The pricing can be slightly steep depending on what you get, but they put enough meat on the sandwich to make it worthwhile. 

The cracker barrel menu is the best menu I've seen at a dine-in restaurant. It holds to the theme without sacrificing its usefulness. The color scheme is very simple, but again, color coding subtly finds its use. You can see that some items are shaded in white, and some are in reddish brown, and still others are outlined in red. All items have full and descriptions that not only make it easier to pick what you want to eat, but pick the combination choice that suits you and your wallet. The pricing is heavy, but that's to be expected from a sit-down restaurant. The food is good too.

Cookout's menu is... Honestly comical. It's really packed. Color coding does help, but without the combo menu (not shown here), you're basically completely lost. This menu is very large, but seems more utilitarian than intuitive. It's more there to tell you what they have than what you should order. The combo menu is relieving to this problem, but is usually offcentered from this much more confusing menu. The pricing is awesome for the quality and quantity of food.

Tuesday, September 22, 2015

Board Games

Monopoly is a square with smaller rectangles inside of it, which surround a big square. I like it. It's organized. It comes with two decks of cards, several fat stacks o' money, creative collectible playing tokens, dice, houses, and hotels, along with title deeds of the various properties. This game is great because every time the players go all the way around the gameboard, gameplay and economy have changed completely. Monopoly isn't my favorite game to actually play, but I do like how dynamic it is. (Aww, forgot about Settlers of Catan... Oh well)

I guess it's not technically a board game since there isn't a board. Sue me. It's fun. This game includes a scorecard, a buzzer, a timer, a very large two-sided deck of topics with taboo words, and a very inventive card stand that enables fast-paced play. The color scheme is very friendly, and the gameplay itself requires teamwork while pouring on the pressure. Fun. Oh, and fun fact. If you use the buzzer to communicate your answers in morse code, eventually your family will hide the batteries from you.

Cadoo is a simple game. Ha, just kidding. No it isn't. Just look at that kit! What a mess. It's a four-in-a-row game like tic tac toe or Connect Four, but to gain the right to place a token, you have to complete a wacky challenge. The game includes two decks of challenge cards, a scorecard, a timer, a custom die, a small tub of play-doh, markers for four players, a board, and some really classy 3D glasses. It may be a kid's game, but it's still very creative.

Tuesday, September 15, 2015

It looks better in CMYK, trust me


Candy Wrapper Samples

My favorite. And I love the design too.

...I think we all know why this is here.

Hate the candy, love the branding.

You gotta love that they don't even try for subtlety.

I like the logo. It's clean, yet detailed.