Modular Menu System
Starbucks stores feature a robust assortment of food and beverage to meet customers at different need states and phases of the day. Each season, the menu boards are used to highlight new and unique offerings such as seasonal lattes or plant-based innovations. As offerings increased over the years, the menu boards became more complex — each promotional season had its own visual identity and styling.
An effort to bring the in-store menus closer to the newly established Starbucks Creative Expression kicked off the process of exploring what the menus could look like using a unified and seasonal-agnostic expression of the brand. However, as the work continued, it became clear that this was a chance to re-think the system as a whole.
An effort to bring the in-store menus closer to the newly established Starbucks Creative Expression kicked off the process of exploring what the menus could look like using a unified and seasonal-agnostic expression of the brand. However, as the work continued, it became clear that this was a chance to re-think the system as a whole.
The modular menu system began as a self-briefed initiative based upon the opportunity to create a more streamlined creative process. 50 core templates were created to account for every possible combination of food and beverage offerings. The templates work within a system, featuring guidelines on how to mix-and-match to ensure visual hierarchy every season. Image size, layout and typographic callouts help drive consumers towards new and high-priority offerings. Leading a team of production designers, the core menus were versioned out across multiple sizes and global markets.
This work paved the way for a complete overhaul of core food and beverage photography as it eliminated the need to re-shoot the same beverages each season. In the end, this new system streamlined the menu workflow and cut down hundreds of hours that were once spent designing, reviewing, approving, producing and printing all-new creative each quarter.
This work paved the way for a complete overhaul of core food and beverage photography as it eliminated the need to re-shoot the same beverages each season. In the end, this new system streamlined the menu workflow and cut down hundreds of hours that were once spent designing, reviewing, approving, producing and printing all-new creative each quarter.
