Digital Menu Board Design Tips

Are you considering a transition to digital menu boards for your restaurant? If so, you’ll want to keep reading as I share some digital menu board design tips. You’ve probably seen the digital menu board that is hard to read, changes too quickly, or is so cluttered you get lost. When you install your next digital menu board, follow these tips, and you’ll be well on your way.

Why does digital menu board design matter?

The point of a digital menu board is to efficiently guide your guests to place an order. But it goes beyond that. You want them to order more and more often. 

When a digital menu board is confusing and unappealing, your customer becomes stressed and frustrated. They make a choice feeling like they settled just to complete their order. After all, everyone is waiting for them. When they have that experience, they don’t order as much as they might have ordered, and they may not return. We know what that means for your business.

How to Design it Right

Here are some simple tips to design revenue-generating digital menu boards.

• Create an eye-appealing design with a clean look, using a white background, black text, and two or three of your brand colors.
• Write short, tight, and powerful descriptions of each item. Don’t list the ingredients, and don’t make the descriptions long. Say more with less, but better words.
• Use pictures that highlight your most popular and profitable selections. Resist the urge to have a picture of every item.
• Consider limiting your menu. If your menu is too cluttered and hard to read, you may have too many selections. You can still offer those selections, but you don’t have to list them. You could include them in a rotating screen with Limited-Time Offers (LTOs) and Specials.
• Resist the urge to rotate the screen. When a screen changes every few seconds to show more options, customers get lost, stressed, and frustrated. They may just give up. Reserve the screen rotation option for display LTOs or changing between day-part menus.
• Situate your most popular and profitable items closer to the top of your menu. Think about how we read – top to bottom; left to right. Put the things you want to sell where customers will see them first.
• Organize your menu for easy scanning. Use prominent headers and group common items together.

If you’d like help with your digital menu board design, send us a note or call us. Our graphic design team is ready to serve.