How to Use Graphic Design to Benefit Your Restaurant

Restaurants can only thrive if they attract a good number of customers who regularly come back. Having high-quality branding and graphic design from the get-go can help you make a lasting impression on potential customers. The way customers view your restaurant is very important so you should invest a lot of time and focus on what graphics you want included in your establishment.

Many restaurant owners don’t have graphic design expertise, so hiring a graphic designer to help create the look and feel of your brand can be a huge benefit. They can also aid you in signalling the quality, price and style of your business to your target audience.

We will explore how high-quality graphic designs can benefit your restaurant and give you tips on what you can do to incorporate this.

Create a narrative

Graphic design and digital signage are good ways to share your restaurant’s story with existing and potential customers. Showing footage from behind the scenes, videos of the sourcing process, interviews with staff or sharing recipes can all be ways to portray your restaurant in a good light to your audience. It can help make customers feel as though they know your restaurant better and will form brand loyalty.

There are extra graphic design techniques you can use to help create a narrative for your restaurant, such as:

• Adding story elements to menu descriptions to make dishes more enticing
• Infuse story elements into the decor for customers to read while eating
• Use nostalgia graphics to invoke emotions from your customers
• Collaborate with local artists that your customers might recognise
• Add interactive elements in family restaurants to keep children entertained

Dynamic Menu Display

Improving how your menu is displayed through the use of graphic design techniques can be very beneficial for your restaurant, as it offers customers something different from traditional paper menus.

A digital menu board is a modern display system used in modern restaurants and other culinary establishments to improve how a menu is presented and showcased. These screens usually present dynamic visuals like images, videos and animations to grab the attention of customers and give them an engaging experience.

Having this type of menu display has several advantages, such as dynamic content updates, flexible scheduling, cost savings, upselling opportunities and brand consistency. These dynamic menu displays can include call-to-action (CTA) buttons on the screens, which encourage customers to look at the other menu options. McDonald’s is an example of a fast food restaurant that uses this strategy perfectly and has designed a perfect call to action on their display menus.

Waiting Time Enhancement

Enhancing the waiting time of your customers can be a great decision for restaurants, as it can stop them from getting bored during service if things don’t go to plan in the kitchen. The use of digital screens with interactive graphic designs can mitigate the dull wait of waiting to receive an order.

Restaurants can also use other graphic design methods, such as displaying local news, weather updates, jokes and trivia throughout different places in the establishment. This keeps customers entertained during their visit, which creates a positive mood. You can also subtly promote your offerings in the process.

Social Engagement

Graphic design has become a very important part of restaurants' social media and online marketing campaigns. Creating unique graphics can set your restaurant apart from other competitors on social media, so having fresh ideas that aren’t seen anywhere else can give you a big advantage. Canva is a very popular graphic design application that is used for creating branded and promotional imagery.

Customers are more likely to respond to restaurant marketing efforts if they have a consistent brand message across their social media platforms. This will increase the chances of new customers visiting your restaurant and returning for future visits. Customer loyalty can also increase as you will be able to easily recognise your brand whether it’s online or in-person.

Aesthetic Interior

Although graphic design is primarily used for a variety of promotional purposes, it can also be used to improve the overall design of your restaurant interior. You can create a brand new theme for your restaurant with the use of graphic designs and completely change the whole aesthetic.

This can be particularly useful if your restaurant hosts an event or party. Design agencies will be able to help you create custom invitations, menus, table mats and luxury cushion graphics to improve the entire feel of your restaurant. It can be a unique way of driving more customers and traffic to your brand, as other competitors might not have the same level of graphic design.

Food Photography Editing

Even if your food always looks exquisite, you will still need to use photograph editing on your food imagery to make it stand out to customers. Almost all restaurants use this technique on their promotional pages or banners to encourage more customers to visit their establishments. Food photographers tend to be masters of their craft and will go to the biggest lengths to present their food positively.

Adjusting the exposure, white balance, light level, shadow level, saturation and contrast can drastically alter an image. It’s all about finding the right balance until your food looks the most appealing.

Email Marketing

Another way restaurants can successfully leverage graphic design is through email marketing. This can be used as a golden ticket in getting more customers to notice your restaurant, as you announce a wide range of people. Whether it’s regarding an opening night, a new menu item or a restaurant makeover, you can use email marketing to leverage whatever you want.

It won’t be good enough to just send out a marketing email with the information on there. Restaurants need a high-quality graphic design to go along with the information to make it more eye-catching and let customers know more about your style. Choosing the perfect type of graphics and following best practices is important if you want to get the most out of graphically designed emails.